Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/140

* PLEADING. 112 PLEBEIANS. dcfcndnnt's countpiclaim, and the plaiutilT may demur to ilofcmlaiifs answer or countpiclaim, and if the demurrer is overruled, the lili};ant is generally allowed to plead to the merits. Formal defects can only he taken advantage of hy motion before trial, and <;reat freedom of amendment is allowed. Despite its apparent simi)licity. the code system has given rise to many dilliouUies not unlike those existing under the common-law system, and the question of further reform is still being agitated. Consult: Gould. Treatise on the Principles of Pleading in Ciril Actions (Olh ed., Albany. 1808) : Perry, Common Law Pleadintj, Its History and Principles (Boston, 1897) : Storv. Commentaries on Ki/uit;/ Pleadings (10th ed.," Boston, 1802); Phillips. Priniiidcs of Pleadimjs in Action undir the Codes of Civil Procedure I'lH'.IT) ; Beale, The Law of Criminal Pleading (Boston. 1899). Consult, also, the authorities referred to under Civil, Law; Equity; Ckiminal Law; Code; etc. PLEASONTON, plez'on-ton, Alfred (1824- 97). An American .soldier, born in Wasliington, D. C. He graduated at West Point in 1844."and was assigned to the dragoons, with whom he .served on the frontier and in Mexico. In 18.5.5 he was ))romoted to a eaptaincy, and in Feb- ruary. 1802, was promoted to be nuijor in the Second Cavalry, and participated in the Penin- sular campaign, liis command co'ei'ing the re- treat of the Federal army to Yorktown (.ugtist 18-19, 18(i2). He was commissioned brigadier- general of volunteers in ,Tuly. 18r>2. and during the succeeding Maryland campaign he commanded the advance cavalry division. In the battles of South Moiintain and Antietam his troops took conspicuous part. He jiarticipatcd in the battle of Fredericksburg, and at ('hanccllorsville espe- cially (listinguislicd himself liy diccking the flank attack of the Confederates on the Federal right. On .Tune 7, 18(iH. he was given command of the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac, which he led in the Pennsylvania campaign that ter- minate<l at Gettysburg (.July 1-3, ISfi.l). where, on .Inly 2d. he was brevetted colonel in the Regular Army for gallant and meritorious ser- vices. The next year he was transferred to the West, where be defeated General Price at Marais- des-Cygnes (October 2"), 18(14). and drove the Confederates out of Missouri. He was brevetted major-general in the Regular Army in ]St).5. and on January 1.5. 180fi. was mustered out of the volunteer service with rank of major-general. Two years later he resigned from the army, and after holding the positions of collector of inter- nal revenue and commissioner, became, in 1871, president of the Terre Haute and Cincinnati Rail- road. PLEASURES OF HOPE. A poem by Thomas Campbell (17!t!l). discussing the burning ques- tions of the time, the French Revolution, the partition of Poland, and negro slavery. Though very successful in its day. it is tedious and rhetorical. PLEASURES OF MEMORY. A didactic poem by Samuel Rogers (17!»2). the only want of which. Hazlitt remarked, is that of taste and genius. PLEASURES OF THE IMAGINATION. A poem by ^fark Akenside (1744). a didactic analysis of the pleasure excited by what is great, wonderful, and beautiful. PLEBEIANS (OF. plehcicn, Fr. plehcicn, from l.al. iitiiicius, relating to the common peo- ple, from plelis, common people; connected with plcnus, full, Gk.7nij.irXTJyai,pimj>tCnai. Skt. pur, pra, to till, OChurch Slav, pliinii. Lith. pilnas, Olr. Idn, Goth, fulls, OHG. fol, Ger. roll. AS., Eng. full). The common people of Rome; one of the two elements of which the Roman nation consisted. Their origin, as a separate class, is to be traced partly to natural and partly to artificial causes. The foundation of Rome, prob- ably as a frontier emporium of Latin trallic (according to Mommsen's suggestion), would bring about the place a number of inferior em- ployees, clients, or hangers-on. of the enterpris- ing connnercial agriculturists who laiil the primi- tive basis of the material and moral prosperity of the city. These hangers-on were the original plebeians or non-burgesses of Rome, whose num- bers were constantly increased by the subjugation of the surrounding cities and States. Thus, tradi- tion staU's that, on the capture of Alba, while the most distinguished citizens of that town were received among the Roman patricians, the greater part of the inlialiitants, likewise transferred to Rome, were kejit in submission to the populus or patricians of Kmiic — in other words, swelled the ranks of the jilcbeians. Similar transfers of some of the inluibilants of concpiered towns are assigned to the reign of Aneus Martins. The. order of plebeians thus gradually formed soon exceeded the patricians in numbers, partly in- haliiting Rome. a_nd partly the adjoining country. Though citizens, they were neither comprehended in the three tril)es, nor in the cur ice, nor in the patrician grnlcs, and were therefore excluded from the coniitia, the senate, and all the civil and priestly offices of the State. Tiiey could not intermarry with the patricians. The first step (according to traditionary be- lief) toward breaking down the barrier Ijctween the two classes was the admission, under Tar- quinius Priscus, of some of the more considerable plebeian families into the three tribes. Servius Tullius divided the part of the city and the adjacent country which was inhabited by j)lcl)eians into regions or local tribes, assigning land to those jdebeians who were yet without it. The plebeian tribes, with tribunes at their head, formed an organization similar to that of the patricians. The same king further extended the rights of the plebeians by dividing the whole body of citizens, patrician and plebeian, into five classes, according to their wealth, and form- ing a great national assembly called the eomitia ccnturiala, in which the plebeians met the patri- cians on a footing of equality; but the patricians continued to be alone eligible to the senate, the highest magistracy, and the priestly offices. These? newly acquired privileges were lost in the reign of Tarquinius Superbus, but restored on the establishment of the Republic. Soon afterwards the vacancies which had occurred in the senate during the reign of the last king were filled up by the most distinguished of the plebeian eqiiites, and the plebeians acquired a variety of new privileges by the laws of Valerius Publicola. The encroachments on those iirivileges on the part of the patricians began the long-continued struggle between the two orders, which eventually led to the plebeians gaining access to all the civil and religious offices, acquiring for their decrees (plehiscita) the force of law. Under the Hor-