Comparisons are so frequently both unfair and invidious, that I had determined, upon my arrival at Bombay, to abstain from making them, and to judge of it according to its own merits, without reference to those of the rival presidency.

But a majority of the board insisted on at once proceeding to fill the vacant presidency, their chief argument being that the new incumbent might have time to prepare for the fall term, and, further, that no outside parties might be formed and no politics should be allowed to interfere.

[-28-] When Lucius Munatius and Gaius Silius had been registered as consuls Augustus reluctantly accepted the fifth decennial presidency of the State and gave Tiberius again the tribunician authority.

They ran as follows: Lombardy was to be surrendered to France and then handed over to Italy; the Italian States were to be formed into a Federation under the honorary presidency of the Pope (this was intended to soothe French Catholics); Venetia, while remaining under Austrian rule, was to be a member of the Federation, and the Dukes of Tuscany and Modena were to resume their thrones.

[-28-] When Lucius Munatius and Gaius Silius had been registered as consuls Augustus reluctantly accepted the fifth decennial presidency of the State and gave Tiberius again the tribunician authority.

Legislative power was to be invested in two bodies,the Reichstag, representing the people; and the Bundesrath, composed of delegates from the allied governments, the perpetual presidency of which was invested in the king of Prussia.

A reaction favoring a monarchy was indicated; but meanwhile a new constitution provided for a quadriennial presidency, with a single legislature of seven hundred and fifty members.

As a matter of fact, General Huerta was pushed into his interim-presidency before he really had a fair opportunity to learn how to command an army.

Declivities like these are descended quickly, and the deplorable presidency of Mr. Buchanan stands to testify to this.