A money payment exacted from knights in lieu of personal service. The first instance of it occurs in the reign of Henry II. It enabled the king to hire mercenaries for his foreign wars, and to dispense with the services of his barons, and came to be regarded as a regular source of revenue. The right of the sovereign to exact it, however, was greatly restricted by Magna Charta. It was also known as escuage. Sea-dogs. English privateers in the early days of Elizabeth, who preyed on French commerce in the Channel, sailing under letters of marque granted by Condé and the Huguenots. When the differences between the Huguenots and Catholics were adjusted and the letters of marque withdrawn, they joined the Dutch “Beggars of the Sea” in their raids upon the Spaniards. Sealed Knot. A small band of Royalists formed as a secret committee to manage the affairs of the party in 1657. One of their number, Willis, was in the pay of Cromwell, who was thereby enabled to counteract their numerous plots for his destruction. Secession, Ordinance of. The declaration issued by South Carolina in 1860 dissolving its union with the United States. The other Southern States followed with similar declarations. Second Charlemagne. A sobriquet of Charles V, Emperor of Germany (1519-58). Second Washington. Henry Clay, the American statesman (1777-1852), was so called. Secret Treaty. A document published in the _Times_ of July 25, 1870, purporting to be the text of a treaty between France and Prussia, containing the following provisions: the recognition by France of Prussia’s acquisitions in the war with Austria; an undertaking by Prussia to use her influence with Holland to secure Luxemburg for France, and to aid France if she found it necessary to undertake the conquest of Belgium, providing a force if required to resist any foreign interference; an undertaking by France not to oppose Prussia’s designs for the unification of Germany. Whether this treaty was ever signed or not, there is little doubt that proposals of this nature were made to Bismarck by Benedetti, Napoleon’s minister at Berlin. Sections, Journée des. October 5, 1794, on which day the troops of the Convention, under Buonaparte, routed the National Guard of the “Sections” of Paris and established the rule of the Directoire, thus marking the end of the Revolution. Sects. _See_ Albigenses, Alumbrados, Anabaptists, Arminians, Arya Somaj, Assassins, Bianchi, Brahmo Somaj, Brownists, Calixtines, Cameronians, Doppers, Dukhobors, Erastians, Fifth Monarchy Men, Flagellants, Hussites, Iconoclasts, Illuminati, Independents, Jansenists, Karmathians, Latitudinarians, Levellers, Lollards, Molokani, Moravians, Mormons, Old Catholics, Quakers, Quietists, Senussi, Shakers, Shiah, Sikhs, Socinians, Skoptsi, Stundists, Sunni, Taborites, Utraquists, Wahabis, Waldenses. Secularization.