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CHAPIN, Edward Hubbell, D. D., an American clergyman, born in Union Village, Washington County, N. Y., December 29, 1814, completed his formal education in a Seminary in Bennington, Vt. He commenced preaching in the year 1837 and was first settled over a Union Society of Unitarians and Universalists in Richmond, Va. Thence he removed to Charleston, Mas., in 1840s; then to Boston in 1846, to take charge of the 4th Universalist church in that city, of which he still remains pastor. He received the degree of D. D. in 1856 from Harvard University, which had previously conferred on him the honorary degree of A. M. Dr. Chapin has always been connected with the Universalist denomination; but his sympathies far outrun the technical boundaries of a sect. His religious views were originally affected powerfully by Dr. Channing's published writings as well as by the leaders of the Universalist faith; and he is warmly interested in all the literature and tendencies issuing from the most free and thoughtful circles of Protestant Christendom, that are beginning to receive the title of "the Broad Church movement." His reputation has long been established as one of the most powerful and effective pulpit orators in America. The prominent characteristics of his eloquence, apart from the earnestness and passion with which it is always vital, are imagination and pathos, interpreted by a voice of remarkable richness and volume. Few men are so liberally endowed with the capacity for vigorous and connected extempore address. It is his custom, however, to produce one carefully written discourse every week, which is spoken from manuscript, and in the morning service of his church to preach with very little verbal preparation. The church over which Dr. Chapin presides is situated in Broadway, and the morning and particularly the evening services, are so numerously attended that it is frequently difficult for a stranger to find a seat. The congregation comprises many of the young and active men of New York and persons of the most conflicting theological opinions. In addition to the labors demanded by so large a parish Dr. Chapin finds time for a great deal of service as a speaker before lyceums and literary associations; while as a temperance advocate and a platform orator in behalf of public movements in which moral interests are prominent, he exercises a continually increasing influence. His speech before the peace convention at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in 1850, is perhaps the most celebrated of all his successes in popular oratory. Dr. Chapin's published works consist of several volumes of sermons and religious lectures and a few occasional discourses. One of these volumes, "The Crown of Thorns," has obtained a very wide circulation, and its devout and cheerful spirit has made it welcome beyond the circle of those who are in sympathy with the Author's religious creed.

CAUCUS, a word of American origin, employed in the United States to designate a part of the political machinery of the country, which, though unknown to its written constitutions, resting merely on usage, forms a marked feature of the American Political system. The oldest written use of this word is probably in the following passage in John Adam's diary, dated Boston, February 1763: "This day learned that the caucus club meets at certain times in the garret of Tom. Dawes, the Adjutant of the Boston regiment. He has a large house, and he has a moveable partition in his garret which he takes down and the whole club meets in one room. There they smoke tobacco until you cannot see from one end of the garret to the other. There they drink flip, I suppose, and there they choose a moderator who puts questions to the vote regularly, and selectmen, overseers, collectors, wardens, fire-wards and representatives are regularly chosen before they are chosen by the town," &c. ° ° It has been plausibly conjectured that Tom Dawes's garret was originally a Mechanic's Club, which name, with a variation, it still retained after it had passed into the hands of politicians. Soon after the adoption of the federal constitution, the people of the United States became divided into two strongly marked parties, the federalists and the republicans. Even the local elections of the smallest places speedily came to turn for the most part on this great national party division. Each party held in each election district its own caucus to nominate candidates [cut away] Public notice of the time and place was given, and every voter of the party was at liberty to attend; but of course the attendance was chiefly composed of zealous politicians. A moderator and clerk being chosen, a nomination list was opened. Each person present nominated whom he pleased. Several copies of the list were made and distributed through the meeting, each person placing a mark against the candidate whom he proposed, and the candidate having the highest number of marks, was declared the nominee. This method, however, was evidently inapplicable where the constituency was large or the district extensive, as was the case when State senators or representatives in Congress were to be chosen. Hence the substitution of a representative caucus, delegates being appointed at meetings like that above described, held in case of cities and large towns in the wards, and in country districts in the townships. These elective caucuses commonly took to themselves the name of nominating conventions, and their introduction marks a third era in the development of the caucus system. A considerable period, however, elapsed before this convention system was applied to State or presidential nominations. The members of the State Legislature in the one case and of Congress in the other—those of each party holding their own separate caucus—took upon themselves to make these nominations. At first these Legislative and Congressional caucuses were held privately, the result being gradually diffused among the local leaders of the party by private correspondence. Afterward, however, they came to be formally and avowedly held. Committees were appointed to look after the elections, and beside a State committee the Legislative caucuses assumed the power of nominating the chairmen of the local county and district conventions. At length it began to be objected that in these legislative caucuses only those districts in which the party was in the majority were represented, and this and other causes led, between 1820 and 1830, to the substitution in New York and Pennsylvania of state conventions in their place—a custom since universally imitated. Congressional caucuses about the same time fell into disfavor. That held in 1823 to nominate a sucessor to Monroe was but slenderly attended; and its nomination was extensively disregarded, so that Mr. Crawford, its nominee, was behind both Jackson and Adams in the popular vote. At the presidential election of 1828, Adams became the candidate of one party and Jackson of the other, without any formal nomination. Indeed, it may be observed of the congressional caucuses, that so far as the presidency was concerned, they all, except the last, of which the nomination failed, did by select the candidate already designated by popular expectation. The Congressional caucus system being exploded, the Jackson, or democratic party, held in 1832 a national nominating convention, each State being entitled to the same number of votes as in the Presidential election, and similar conventions of that party have been held to nominate candidates for each succeeding Presidential term. The opposition, then known as whigs, adopted the same policy in 1837 and since that period all nominations for the Presidency, by whatever party or fragment of party, have been made by a similar agency. The Southern States, in which originally there were few elections by the people, except for the State Legislatures and Congress, and in which the English system of self-nomination and a personal canvass prevailed, long stood out against this caucus system. But as the choice of state governors and other state officers has been given to the people this system has gradually worked its way till it is now fairly established in all the States. ° ° ° Gross frauds and in some cases open violence, are resorted to, possession of the majority of the Convention ordinarily carrying with it as between the different cliques contending for its control, the leadership of the party. The caucus system is thus often converted into a contrivance for the distribution of offices among men more distinguished for intrigue than for talent, who, by combination and mutual support, and by serving each other's turns, are often raised to offices, and sometimes very high ones, for which, apart from a caucus nomination they would hardly have been thought of as candidates.