The Government of the United States consists of three departments,—­the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial; or the President, the House of Representatives and Senate, and the Judicial Courts.  The President and Vice-President are chosen by an elective body from all the States, the said body being selected by popular vote in each State.  The Vice-President is ex officio Speaker or President of the Senate, and in case of the chief dying, he becomes for the remainder of the term the President of the United States.  They are elected for 4 years, but may be re-elected indefinitely.  Should the votes be equal, the House of Representatives selects the President from the three on the list who have most votes, and the Senate selects the Vice in the same way.  The qualifications for President and Vice are—­native born, 35 years of age, and 14 years’ residence in the States.  The salary of the President is about 5100l. a year, and a residence at Washington, called “The White House.”  The salary of the Vice-President is 1680l. a year.  There are five Secretaries,—­State, Interior, Treasury, War, Navy, and a Postmaster-General; the Attorney-General also forms part of the Cabinet.  These officials also receive the same salary.  The Senate is composed of two members from each State, irrespective of population, so as not to swamp the small States.  The election is by the Legislature of each State, and for 6 years; one-third of their number go out every 2 years.  The qualification for a senator is that he should be 30 years of age, have been 9 years a citizen, and living in the State for which he is elected.  The House of Representatives originally consisted of one member for a certain amount of population, and as the increase in population was very rapid, the number of Representatives increased as a matter of course.  In 1843, it was one member for every 70,000 of population, but, to prevent the body from becoming unmanageable owing to numbers, in 1853 the House was limited to 234 Representatives, elected pro rata to the several States.  Slaves are reckoned in the proportion of three-fifths of their number.  The preliminary steps are, that every 10 years a census is taken, after which a bill is passed by Congress, apportioning number of representatives to each State, according to its population.  This done, each State passes a law, districting the State according to the number of members assigned it, and each district elects its own representative for Congress.  The election is for 2 years, and the qualification is 7 years a citizen, 25 years of age, and living in the State.  The salary is the same as that of a senator.  The names of members composing a division on any question in either house, are not printed unless they are demanded by one-fifth of the members present.  One of the clauses of their Constitution is very original, and runs thus:—­“Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behaviour, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.”