restore offices forfeited, or property or interests vested in others in consequence of the conviction and judgment. The pardon produced by the petitioner is a full pardon for all offences by him committed arising from participation direct or implied in the rebellion, and is subject to certain conditions which have been complied with. The effect of this pardon is to relieve the petitioner from all penalties and disabilities attached to the offence committed by his participation in the rebellion. So far as that offence is concerned, he is thus placed beyond the reach of punishment of any kind; but to exclude him by reason of that of fence from continuing in the enjoyment of previously acquired right, is to enforce a punishment for that offence notwithstanding the pardon. If such exclusion can be effected by the execution of an expurgatory oath covering the offence, the pardon may be avoided, and that accomplished indirectly which cannot be reached by direct legislation. It is not within the constitutional power of Congress thus to inflict punishment beyond the reach of Executive clemency.

From the petitioner, therefore, the oath required by the act of January 24, 1865, cannot be exacted, even were that act not subject to any other objection than the one just stated. It follows, from the views expressed, that the prayer of the petitioner must be granted.

A dissenting opinion in both cases was read by Mr. Justice Miller, and concurred in by Chase, C. J., and. Davis and Swayne JJ. The minority of the court hold, in reference to the act of Congress, that it is within the legislative power of that body, in its control over the courts and their officers and that it is not void as being either a bill of attainder, or an ex-post-facto law; that the oath required as a condition to practising law is not a punishment, and that therefore the pardon of the President does not relieve the party. The reasoning applies equally to the Missouri case.

TEXAS. The members of the State Convention, elected under the proclamation of Provisional Governor Hamilton issued November 15, 1865, assembled at Austin, the capital, on Feb. 10, 1866. This body comprised some of the best talent and oldest citizens of the State. Some delay took place in organizing the convention, in consequence of an effort to require the members to take the amnesty oath for a second time. It was unsuccessful. J. W. Throckmorton was elected president of the convention. The Provisional Governor stated that the apathy among the people with regard to the convention had been so great, there was reason to believe that less than half the registered voters participated in the election. He urged upon the convention a denial of the right of secession, the recognition of the abolition of slavery, the repudiation of the war debt, the grant of civil rights to the freedmen, with the view of conferring upon them at a future day political privileges. The session of the convention continued until April 25th, when it closed by adjournment sine die. The following ordinance was adopted, declaring the original ordi

nance of secession to be null and void:

Be it ordained by the People of Texas in Convention assembled, That we acknowledge the supremacy of the Constitution of the United States, and the laws passed in pursuance thereof; and that an ordinance

adopted by a former convention of the people of Texas, on the 1st day of February, A. D., 1861, entitled "An ordinance to dissolve the Union between the State of Texas and the other States united, under the compact styled 'Constitution of the United States of America,'" be and the same is hereby declared null and void; and the right heretofore claimed by the State of Texas to secede from the Union, is hereby distinctly renounced.

With regard to the debt contracted during the war, the following ordinance was adopted: Be it ordained by the People of the State of Texas in Convention assembled, That all debts created by the State of Texas in aid of the late war, directly or indirectly, are hereby declared null and void: and the Legislature shall have no authority, and they are hereby forbidden, to ratify the same, or to assume or provide for the payment of the same, or any part thereof.

SEC. 2. Be it further ordained, That the Legislature of this State shall have no authority, and are hereby forbidden to assume, or make any provision for, the payment of any portion of the debts contracted or incurred, directly or indirectly, by the Confederate States, or by its agents, or by its authority.

SEC. 3. Be it further ordained, That the Legislature of this State shall have no authority, and are hereby forbidden to assume or make any provision for the incurred, or warrants issued by this State, from the payment of any portion of the debts contracted or 28th day of January, 1861, until the 5th day of Au gust, 1855, except warrants issued in payment of services rendered, or liabilities incurred, before the said 28th day of January, 1861.

The eighth article of the State constitution was struck out, and in its place was inserted the following article conferring civil rights on freedmen :

SEC. 1. African slavery, as it heretofore existed, having been terminated within this State, by the Government of the United States, by force of arms, and its reestablishment being prohibited by the amendment to the Constitution of the United States, it is declared that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist in this State; and Africans and their descendants shall be protected in their rights of person and property by appropriate legislation; they shall have the right to contract and be contracted with; to sue and be sued; to acquire, hold, and transmit property; and all criminal prosecutions against them shall be conducted in the same manner as prosecutions, for like offences, against the white race, and they shall be subject to like penalties.

SEC. 2. Africans and their descendants shall not be prohibited, on account of their color or race, from testifying orally, as witnesses, in any case, civil or criminal, involving the right of injury to or crime against any of them in person or property, under the same rules of evidence that may be applicable to the white race; the credibility of their testimony to be determined by the court or jury hearing the same; and the legislature shall have power to authorize them to testify as witnesses in all other cases, under such regulations as may be prescribed, as to facts

hereafter occurring.

An ordinance was also passed granting to the Legislature under the constitution power to give the consent of the State to the erection of a new State or States within the present limits; also another making it the duty of the Legislature to issue bonds to restore the funds to the University. A motion to make the white inhabitants of the State a basis of representation

was laid on the table. A motion to strike out the word "white" was lost by a vote of 26 to 47. A motion to leave it optional with the Legislature to add other inhabitants of the State to the basis of representation was lost by a vote of 26 to 38. Seven members of the convention were in favor of intelligent negro suffrage. One of them read a document occupying two hours in favor of the measure, and a debate was postponed for two days, that there might be an opportunity to print the paper. A residence of five years in the State was made a qualification for membership in the Legislature. All ordinances, resolutions, and proceedings of the convention of 1861, were declared null and void. All persons were exempted from pecuniary liability for acts done in obedience to the statutes of the Confederate Congress-or in pursuance of military or civil authority given by the Confederate State Government. These were the most important acts of a general character passed by the convention, which embraced in its labors a full revision of the State constitution. Before adjournment, June 4th was designated for the general election by the people of State officers, and the approval or rejection of the amendments to the constitution. The vote on the constitutional amendments was 48,519, or majority in favor of ratifying the same of 7,719.

Two tickets were presented for State officers, designated a Republican, or Radical, and a Conservative Union. They embraced candidates for all the State offices, and members of the Legislature and of Congress. The total vote cast was 60,682, of which the Conservative Union candidate for Governor, Throckmorton, received 48,631, and a majority of 36,580 over E. M. Pease, who received 12,051. The Legislature consisted of 33 Senators, and 90 members of the House. In the former there were two Republicans, and in the latter five. There were several candidates for Congress in each of the four districts, with no political distinction between them.

The session of the Legislature commenced on August 9th. On August 13th, instructions were received from the Federal authorities at Washington, directing the Provisional Governor to transfer the civil authority to the State officers elected. The Governor elect immediately entered upon his duties, and on the 18th sent a message on State affairs to the Legislature. There was in the State treasury at this time $96,000. During the provisional government the receipts had been $344,446, and the expenditures $233,293, with some amounts to be paid, leaving a balance as above stated. Of the amount received, $227,197 was derived from taxation, and the balance chiefly from the sale of United States five per cent. bonds and coupons. By the action of the State Convention all the outstanding ten per cent. warrants, and State bonds issued for services rendered, or expenses incurred, since January 28, 1861, were repudiated. Under a previous law, parties who held

ten per cent. warrants were permitted to return them into the treasury to be cancelled, and to receive eight per cent. State bonds in their stead. A subsequent law authorized the funding of all kinds of outstanding warrants, including such as were issued prior to January 28th, as well as after that time. Under this law 294 bonds of $1,000 were issued. Of these about $92,000 consisted of ten per cent. warrants recognized by the convention as a subsisting State debt. It therefore became necessary to call in all the bonds, the ten per cent. and noninterest warrants, in order to ascertain the portion of them recognized as good by the convention. For this reason no statement of the debt has been made. An amendment of the tax laws was required. In consequence of their defect, it was estimated that 444,838,216 acres of land had escaped taxation since 1836, and that the amount of tax lost was $1,201,036.

An ample amount of the public domain of the State has been set aside, together with onehalf of the proceeds arising from the sale of all land, as a basis for a perpetual school fund. A common school system has not yet been put in operation in the State, because it must be sustained by the interest accruing from the principal of the fund. Considerable sums belonging to the fund have been used in other departments of the State, thus requiring the indebtedness to be arranged before a beginning can be made in a successful system of schools. The university fund is similarly embarrassed.

The system heretofore pursued relative to internal improvements has been to loan the school fund to railroad companies. This has proved to be the speediest mode of securing success to these enterprises, and, if the war had not intervened, would have furnished to the school fund a safe investment, and to the people a certainty of success in the completion of all the railroads necessary to the wants of the country. This system, however, was weakened by an indiscriminate granting of charters. The great size of the State makes a system of internal improvements indispensable, especially as it is unsafe for the school fund that it should be invested in such securities.

During the war, the asylums of the State, although necessarily neglected, were kept in operation. By the census of 1860 there were between 200 and 300 insane persous in the State. An asylum is in operation in Austin, with accommodation for 50 or 60 persons. The number of patients, in August, was 54; admitted during the year, 40; whole number treated, 88; discharged, 22. It is stated that the number of the insane has been greatly increased by the war. The institution is in part supported by State aid. The Deaf and Dumb Asylum contained about 22 pupils. The institution for the blind was broken up about the time of the surrender by want of funds to carry it on. The penitentiary is represented as in a very satisfactory condition. At the close of the war the number of convicts was 118. The in

crease in the ensuing twelve months was 264. Of the inmates, 95 are white, 41 Mexicans, 4 Indians, 117 negro men, 4 negro women.

A geological survey of the State was in progress during three years preceding July, 1861. With the exception of iron and coal, little has been done in the discovery of valuable minerals. A large deposit of iron ore is on Jackson Creek in Llano County. Large masses of soap-stone are found in the same county; also large veins of ore, containing a small per cent. of copper. Iron ore is also found in Bowie, Davis, Marion Counties; coal is found in Bastrop, and its adjoining counties, and in many of the counties east of the Trinity River. Some of the beds are five feet thick in nearly a horizontal position. Gold, silver, copper, and lead, have also been found in the State.

The session of the Legislature, which commenced in August, continued about three months. Some of its acts were of an interesting and an important nature. Provision was made for the protection of the frontier, by authorizing three battalions of rangers, consisting of 15 companies each, having 87 privates and 11 officers. Another act requires the master of a vessel to report the names and circumstances of all alien passengers before landing them, and makes him and his owners liable for all charges caused by the indigent passengers. A general apprentice law provides for the binding of minors, with or without the consent of parents, especially all vagrant or indigent minors; another act gives a lien on the crop and stock for advances to assist in making the crop. All contracts for labor, exceeding one month in duration, must be in writing, and witnessed by a justice of the peace, notary, etc. A stay law extends the time of issuing execution to one year on the first fourth of the judgment, two years on the second fourth, etc. The exemption law protects from execution 200 acres and the homestead, or town property, not exceeding $2,000 in value, etc. Police courts in the several counties are authorized to collect an amount, equal to one-half the State tax, which is to be applied to the education of indigent white children. A joint resolution was passed declaring that the Federal troops in Texas were not only unnecessary, but a source of much evil; and as the "people of Texas had returned in good faith to their allegiance to the United States, therefore the Governor was requested to use all proper means to obtain their removal. Resolutions were also passed in each House, which approved of the declaration of principles, etc. of the Philadelphia National Union Convention. The whole number of general laws passed was 191; of special laws, 224; of resolutions, 28. Of the whole number, 161 were acts of incorporation, of which 30 were of manufacturing companies.

The amendment to the Federal Constitution (Art. 13) was referred to a committee in the Legislature, who reported as follows:

The people of Texas, in convention assembled,

have already, by their ordinance, acknowledged the supremacy of the Constitution of the United States, in which Constitution the above-named article thirteen is embraced as part of the same; the courts of law so hold and administer said article thirteen. The Legislature has no authority in this matter; any action on the same would be surplusage, if not intrusive. The committee, therefore, ask to be excused from the further consideration of the same; and they therewith respectfully return the communication of the Honorable the Secretary of the United States.

The action of the Legislature on various subjects was reported to the President by the Governor, and the former made the following reply:

WASHINGTON, D. C., October 30, 1866. GOVERNOR THROCKMORTON: Your telegram of the 29th inst., just received. I have nothing further to suggest, than urging upon the Legislature to make all laws involving civil rights as complete as possible, so as to extend equal and exact justice to all persons, without regard to color, if it has not been done. We should not despair of the Republic. My faith is strong. My confidence is unlimited in the wisdom, prudence, virtue, intelligence, and magnanimity of the great mass of the people; and that their ultimate decision will be, uninfluenced by passion and prejudice, engendered by the recent civil war, for the complete restoration of the Union by the admission of loyal Representatives and Senators from all the States to the respective Houses of the Congress of the United States.

(Signed)

ANDREW JOHNSON.

On September 8th the town of Brenham was nearly laid in ashes, in consequence of a difficulty between some soldiers on one side, and colored persons on the other.

THALLIUM. M. Herberling has discovered that with hyposulphite of soda, the salts of thallium form a white precipitate soluble in boiling water, as well as in an excess of hot hyposulphite; in the latter case, a double hyposulphite is produced. As is well known, the chlorides form a white precipitate with these salts, which turns violet when exposed to light, like chloride of silver. With alkaline iodides they give an orange precipitate, which turns yellow. The precipitate forms less readily in acid liquids, and is less soluble in alcohol than in water, and also less soluble in iodide of potassium. Bichloride of platinum gives a yellow precipitate, which passes easily through the filter. At 16 C. 1 part dissolves in about 1,600 parts of water.

Thallium perchlorate is readily prepared by dissolving metallic thallium in aqueous perchloric acid, or by the double decomposition of thallium-sulphate and barium-perchlorate. From solution the anhydrous salt is easily deposited in colorless rhombic crystals, which are transparent, bright, well defined, and nondeliquescent. Thallium perchlorate does not lose weight when heated to 200 C., and the temperature may be raised to within a few degrees of the boiling point of mercury without decomposing the salt. On the further application of heat, a black mass is formed, and the salt finally volatilizes as thallium-chloride.

There has been a good deal of controversy as