The Legislature of Massachusetts closed a very protracted session on the 24th of May. Among the measures passed, was a General Banking Act; a Homestead Exemption Law, with a limit of $500; the Secret Ballot Law, requiring all ballots to be inclosed in envelopes; a law to take the sense of the people whether a Convention shall be called to revise the Constitution of the State; a law changing the composition of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University; the Plurality Act, in accordance with which members of Congress at the second trial, and Presidential electors at the first, are elected by a plurality of votes. At the special election to supply three vacancies in the Congressional representation, Mr. Rantoul, Free-Soil Democrat, and Messrs. Thompson and Goodrich, Whigs, received a plurality, and were elected. Mr. Sumner has addressed to the Legislature a letter, accepting the office of United States Senator. He says that he will maintain the interests of all parts of the country, and oppose every effort to loosen the ties of the Union, as well as "all sectionalism, whether it appear in unconstitutional efforts by the North to carry freedom to the Slave States, or in unconstitutional efforts of the South, aided by Northern allies, to carry the sectional evil of slavery into the Free States; or in whatsoever efforts it may make to extend the sectional dominion of slavery over the United States." He looks upon the Union as the guardian of the repose of the States, and as the model of a future federation among nations; and he does not believe that any part of it can be permanently separated from the rest. Politics, he says, are simply morals applied to public affairs; and his political course shall be determined by those everlasting rules of right and wrong, which are a law alike to individuals and communities. An address from 170 members of the late Legislature has been published, denouncing, in the severest terms, the political combination which resulted in the election of the present Governor and Senator. The Supreme Court have pronounced a unanimous opinion, affirming the constitutionality of the Fugitive Slave law. Several persons charged with aiding in the escape of Shadrach, the fugitive, have been tried; but the jury were unable to agree upon a verdict.
The Governor of Maine, in his Message to the Legislature, complains of the illiberal conduct of Massachusetts, in regard to the land-claims within the State of Maine; and especially in refusing to aid in the construction of the Aroostook road, which passes mainly through those claims. The Legislature, previous to its adjournment till January, passed a stringent law for the suppression of tippling-houses; and made an appropriation of $2000 to circulate document relating to the survey for the North American and European Railway. It is reported that gold has been discovered in the northern part of the State, bordering upon Canada. Companies have been formed for securing the treasures of this Northern Eldorado.
In New Hampshire Hon. Samuel Dinsmoore, Democrat, has been elected Governor by the Legislature, no choice having been made by the people. In his Inaugural Address, he speaks of the Compromise measures as a part of the law of the land, the maintenance of which is demanded by every consideration of good faith and sound policy. The Fugitive Slave law he says, "is painfully repugnant to the feelings of the North, but is designed to fulfill a plain constitutional obligation, deliberately and unanimously assumed, with a full knowledge of its import, by those who framed the Constitution, and since affirmed and enforced by our highest political and judicial authorities."
A new Constitution has been adopted in Maryland, of which, apart from the usual legislative, judicial, and executive formulas, the following are the principal provisions: The franchise is vested in all free white male citizens, who have resided a year within the State, and six months within the county. A conviction for larceny or any infamous crime operates as a disfranchisement. The only religious test for office is a declaration of belief in the Christian religion; or, in case of Jews, of a belief in a future state of rewards and punishments. Participation in a duel, or bribery, disqualifies from holding office. The Legislature has power to provide for the disposition or removal of the free colored population. Clergymen are not eligible as members of the Legislature. No religious sect or teacher, as such, without express Legislative permission, can receive any gift or sale of land, except five acres for a church, parsonage or burial-ground. The Legislature can grant no divorces, nor pass any laws abolishing the relation of master and slave. The credit of the State can not be loaned. No State debt can be contracted without the imposition of a tax sufficient to meet the interest, and liquidate the debt in fifteen years. Corporations to be formed only under general laws; stockholders are liable to an amount equal to their shares; no officer of a corporation to borrow money of it. Imprisonment for debt is abolished. Lotteries are prohibited after 1858. Provisions are made for digesting and codifying the laws, and for simplifying the forms of legal procedure. The will of the people to be taken every ten years whether a Convention for amending the Constitution shall be called.
In Georgia Hon. Howell Cobb, late Speaker of the House of Representatives, is the Union candidate for Governor. Ex-Governor Charles J. McDonald, President of the late Nashville Convention, has been nominated by the secession party. In Georgia this party by no means assumes the extreme ground of their namesakes in South Carolina; they only advocate the absolute right of secession, and its expediency in certain contingencies. Party lines appear to be in a great measure lost sight of. Mr. Cobb, though a Democrat, is supported by no small portion of the Whig party, and denounced by a part of his own. In a recent speech at Savannah, he spoke in opposition to the course pursued by South Carolina, in assuming the sole decision of the momentous issues at stake, and endeavoring to drag the other Southern States into the gulf of disunion. He hoped that Georgia would give her to understand that no aid in such a project was to be expected from her.—— In Mississippi Hon. H.S. Foote is the Union candidate for Governor, opposed by General Quitman, who has been nominated for re-election. He, however, emphatically repudiates the charge of being in favor of disunion.—— In South Carolina the advocates for secession—immediate, unconditional, and at all hazards—for a time over-bore all opposition. The cautious and skillful policy of Mr. Calhoun, advocated by the cooler politicians of the State, was apparently abandoned. Recent indications seem to show that the prominence assumed by the advocates of secession was out of all proportion to their real strength in the State. The glowing visions of commercial prosperity presented by Mr. Rhett, to be maintained by making South Carolina the great entrepôt from which contraband goods were to be poured into all the Southern States, are dissipated by a writer in a leading Charleston paper, who demonstrates that a commerce of five millions, affording a revenue, by the proposed duty, of half a million, is all that the nation of South Carolina could expect, even though unmolested by the United States. Hon. J.R. Poinsett has published a letter in relation to Mr. Rhett's notable project, in which he says, "The Senator tells us that 'safety and honor are on the one hand, danger and degradation on the other;' and I agree with him except as to on which side lie the danger and degradation." Jealousy begins to show itself on the part of the country party against the towns, which are represented to be influenced by a "foreign population," as Governor Seabrook denominates citizens from other states. Every week shows an increase of strength and confidence in the party opposed to immediate secession, who for a time appeared completely overawed.
In the Constitutional Convention of Virginia the basis of representation has been settled by compromise. The House is to consist of 150 members; the Senate of 50. Eastern Virginia, with 401,540 whites, 45,783 free colored persons, and 409,793 slaves, in all 857,116 inhabitants, is to have 82 Representatives and 20 Senators. Western Virginia, with 492,609 whites, 8123 free colored, and 62,233 slaves, 563,965 in all, is to have 68 Representatives and 30 Senators. A new apportionment is to be made in 1865. A provision has been adopted prohibiting the Legislature from passing any law for the emancipation of slaves.
From Texas and New Mexico accounts continue to reach us of Indian depredations and murders. The Apaches commenced violating the treaty they had entered into within a month from its completion. Troops are to be posted in such a manner as to cover the water-courses along which the Indians take their way, ostensibly in pursuit of the buffalo, but really for plunder and murder. An encounter took place on the 9th of April between a body of Texan militia and a party of Indians, in which nine of the latter were killed; none of the whites were injured. A company of 200 dragoons has been ordered to assist the Indian Agents in procuring the release of captives, and punishing the Indians who have violated the treaty. A portion of the Mormons, known as the "Brewster branch," have purchased land and commenced a settlement in New Mexico.
From California we have intelligence to May 1. The Legislature adjourned on the last day of April. A law had been passed exempting homesteads and certain other property from legal seizure, in prescribed cases. The legal rate of interest is fixed at 10 per cent.; 18 per cent. may be taken by special agreement. In the municipal election at San Francisco the Whigs were successful. Large sums of money have been issued by private coiners, worth less than its nominal value. The refusal of the coiners to redeem this causes great dissatisfaction. There is little or no diminution in the frequency of outrages upon persons and property, or abatement in the determination to inflict summary and extra-judicial punishment upon the offenders. In San Francisco a prison is in course of erection by the labor of felons condemned to the chain-gang. The amount of gold produced in the course of the current year is expected to be very large. The great desideratum at present is to find some cheap and effective method of disengaging the microscopic gold contained in the auriferous quartz. The methods now in use fail to extricate more than one-fifth of the amount contained in many of the richest veins. A treaty has been negotiated with six Indian tribes numbering some 15,000 souls, who have been the chief annoyance in the region of the Mariposa and Merced rivers. A territory twelve miles square has been assured to them forever, together with the privilege of hunting up to the Sierra Nevada, and of fishing and gathering gold in the rivers. Supplies to a limited amount, together with teachers and mechanics, are to be provided for them by the United States Government.
The tide of emigration has begun to set once more strongly toward Oregon. A late arrival brought out six female teachers sent under the auspices of a society at the East. Discoveries of coal have been made at various points along the Pacific coast. Steam communication has been established between the mouth of the Columbia and the Willamette.