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leges, shall be secured by such individual liabilities of the corporators, or other means, as may be prescribed by law.

Section 3. No state bank shall hereafter be created, nor shall the state own or be liable for any stock in any corporation, or joint stock association for banking purposes, to be hereafter created.

Section 4. "The stockholders in every corporation, or joint stock association for banking purposes, issuing bank notes, or any kind of paper credits to circulate as money, shall be individually responsible, to the amount of their respective share or shares of stock in any such corporation or association, for all its debts and liabilities of every kind.

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Section 5. No act of the general assembly, authorizing corporations or associations with banking powers, shall go into effect, or in any manner be in force, unless the same shall be submitted to the people at the general election next succeeding the passage of the same, and be approved by a majority of all the votes cast at such clection for and against such law."

WISCONSIN.-Section 1. "There shall be no Bank of issue within this state." Section 2. "The Legislature shall not have power to authorize or incorporate, by any general or special law, any bank or other institution having any banking power or privilege, or to confer upon any corporation, institution, person or persons any banking power or privilege. Section 3. 66 It shall not be lawful for any corporation, institution, person or persons, within this state, under any pretence or authority, to make or issue any paper money, note, bill, certificate, or other evidence of debt whatever, intended to circulate as money.

Section 4. "It shall not be lawful for any corporation within this state, under any pretence or authority, to exercise the business of receiving deposits of money, making discounts or buying or selling bills of exchange, or to do any other banking business whatever.

Section 5. No branch or agency of any bank or banking institution of the United States, or of any state or territory within or without the United States, shall be established or maintained within this state.

Section 6. "It shall not be lawful to circulate within this state after the year 1847, any paper money, note, bill, certificate or other evidence of debt whatever, intended to circulate as money, issued without this state, of any denomination less than ten dollars, or after the year 1849, of any denomination less than twenty dollars."

IOWA.-No corporate body shall hereafter be created, renewed, or extended, with the privilege of making, issuing, or putting in circulation, any bill, check. ticket, certificate, promissory note or other paper, or the paper of any other bank, to circulate as money.

Corporations shall not be created in this state by special laws, except for politieal or municipal purposes; but the legislature shall provide, by general laws, for the organization of all other corporations, except corporations with banking or discounting privileges, the creation of which is prohibited.

The evils which the public suffered from the excessive debt and inordinate bank-expansion, were a lesson of experience which has not now been lost. Its effects upon the public mind are recorded in all the constitutions, and at this moment, when the losses have been recovered and general prosperity tempts to a renewal of the paper schemes of former years, those restraints are beneficially felt. The men, "greedy of other men's property and prodigal of their own," the hungry wolves who live on other men's earnings, are indeed combining with renewed hopes and re

awakened energies to prey upon the proceeds of the popular industry, and boldly attempt to overleap, evade or burst through the constitutional provisions which prevent a corrupt and time-serving legislature from squandering the property of the industrious upon the riots of the unworthy. Yet those very attempts, audacious as they are, will only impress upon the public mind the importance of the restraints, and at the same time indicate, like the attacks of an enemy, the points which most need strengthening.

One of the chief blessings of our glorious Union consists in the fact, that by its provisions the separate state governments are deprived of the power of levying customs duties, by which, under pretext of protection to transfer private earnings into corporate coffers, renders unnecessary all the patronage which would flow from state custom-houses, coast guards, preventive services, and the interests which would live on government bounty, under pretence of being “protected" from the competition of the industry of neighboring states. The exercise of these powers by the state governments, would have promoted, in an eminent degree, the natural tendency of capital to accumulate in the hands of the few. They would have aided the capitalists in preying upon the laboring man, whose property is his hands, whose reliance, whose food, whose productive freehold, whose all, is his labor, whose living is earned by industry alone, and that living is always made less comfortable by laws which tend to augment the luxury of the few.

Among other improvements which the new constitutions exhibit, is the limitation of the time spent in legislation, and the pay of the legistatureswhen by general laws the whole business of granting charters is abolished, when loans of credit and government speculations in banks and public works are put an end to, a very considerable portion of the business which formerly occupied those law-makers is spared them, and their duties become circumscribed into a very small compass. Accordingly, most of the states find that 40 or 50 days, every two years, is quite often enough for the assembling of the legislatures. In some of the constitutions the number of days which each session shall occupy is directly stated, in others the number of days for which pay shall be drawn is stated. The provisions may be summed up thus:

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These provisions are all intended to keep members to work, and promote the dispatch of public business. But it is difficult to frame provi sions which may not be evaded. Thus, the Illinois legislature receives $2 per day for 40 days. It has already occurred that adjournment took place

at the end of that time, leaving unfinished business which required an ex tra session at $2 per day to finish. In Indiana, the regular session cannot last longer than 60 days, nor special sessions more than 40 days. In Maryland the sessions must rise on the 10th March.

In the last ten years some other general issues have been agitated, but the public mind has not been so fully prepared in relation to them as upon those of debt, corporations, elective judiciary, and limited legislation; we allude to women's rights, homestead exemptions, and land reform. The latter, indeed, is at present, and must continue for centuries, a mere nullity in this country, where the finest land, in any quantity, can be had for nothing. Land reform, where land is free, is an absurdity; a high price for land in thoroughly settled districts, is the form in which the occupier pays for many other privileges besides that of merely living upon the land; such as access to market, facility of getting supplies, and the various benefits of society. When these advantages are not to be had, the land is of little value, although superior in productive qualities.

The right of suffrage seems to have undergone no change. In all the states every free white male of the age of 21 is alone entitled to vote. In Michigan and Wisconsin, persons of Indian descent are permitted to vote; but, in all, blacks are excluded, except with property qualifications. The Indiana Constitution expressly states that "no negro or mulatto shall have the right of suffrage ;" and, in those states most exposed to the influx of blacks, stringent laws are required to keep them out. The Constitution of Missouri provides :

"It shall be the duty of the General Assembly, as soon as may be, to pass such laws as may be necessary. First, to prevent free negroes and mulattoes from coming to and settling in this state, under any pretext whatever. "

That of Indiana is as follows

Negroes and Mulattoes.-Sec. 1. No negro or mulatto shall come into or settle in this state after the adoption of this Constitution.

Sec. 2. All contracts made with negroes or mulattoes coming into this state contrary to the provisions of the foregoing section, shall be void; and all persons who shall employ, or otherwise encourage such negroes or mulattoes to remain in this state, shall be fined in any sum not less than ten dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars.

Sec. 3. All fines which may be collected for a violation of any of the sections of this article, or of any law hereafter passed by the Legislature, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this article, shall be appropriated and set apart for the colonization of such negroes and mulattoes and their descendants, as may be in this state at the adoption of this Constitution, and may be willing to emigrate.

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The Illinois Constitution has a similar provision, as follows: General Assembly shall, at its first session under the amended Constitution, pass such laws as will effectually prohibit free persons of color from immigrating to and settling in this state; and to effectually prevent the owners of slaves from bringing them into this state, for the purpose of setting them free." This clause was submitted separately to the people, and adopted by twenty thousand majority. These provisions have been supposed to conflict with that clause of the Federal Constitution which makes all citizens of the United States entitled to the privileges of all the states. At the time the Constitution was formed, blacks

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were not citizens, and cannot so be considered now. The clause does not say any description of persons whom any state may hereafter make citizens. Massachusetts, for the mere indulgence of a turbulent disposi tion, has repeatedly quarrelled with South Carolina for laws similar in effect to those required by the Constitutions of the Western states, and yet she has never complained of Illinois or Ohio.

Maryland, we believe, was the last state in which imprisonment for debt was retained, and that has now been swept away by the admirable constitution just ratified by its people. Constitutional reform was much needed in Maryland on many accounts, more particularly in relation to the unequal representation which existed there. So great was the injustice felt to be by many, that serious thoughts of physical resistance were entertained by some parties, unless the privileged majority should consent to a convention. Happily, however, agitation produced its legitimate influence, and the now admirable Constitution has been the result of an able convention.

After the lapse of nearly half a century, the necessity of constitutional reform has generally manifested itself, and some few steps in advance have been made. We trust now that the matter will not sleep, but that, at periods within 20 years, some further well-digested reforms will be introduced into the organic laws of all the states.

Notwithstanding the repeated efforts of France, and the example of the states of America, no state constitution has, as yet, taken permanent ground in Europe. The reason seems to be, that the fundamental idea on which a constitution must alone rest, viz., the sovereignty of the people, has in no degree, as yet, been fully appreciated. Thus the fresh Constitution of 1838, defective as it was, solemnly guaranteed the right of universal suffrage; and, although it was the work of a half-dozen corrupt, conceited, and superficial men, was adopted by the country. A President was elected, and a legislative body assembled under it. Those were elected by the universal suffrage of the whole French people; yet so little respect was entertained for the instrument, that this Assembly enacted a law in the first term of its existence, depriving one-third of their constituents of a voice in the government. Such restrictions upon the right of suffrage were imposed by a mere law, that nearly three millions of souls were disfranchised. The minister of justice reported:

Electors inscribed under the Constitution
Electors inscribed under the law of March, 1850.

9,618,057 6,809,281

Frenchmen disfranchised by the servants they had elected......... 2,808,776

It is now probable that the French President will procure a restoration of the right of universal suffrage to serve his personal interest. This disregard of written instruments arises from the fact, that in a monarchical country, where the uneducated people have always looked up for power, the habit is stronger than the right to exercise the power themselves. It is true that in New-York the Seward party have passed a law to borrow money for purposes of party corruption; but they have preserved a show of respect to the Constitution, by attempting, however sophistically, to show that the debt is not forbidden. The success of such a measure, violating the spirit of the Constitution, may soon embolden them to violate its letter, by a simple law passed by participants in the plunder.

THE “HUNDED DAYS OF NAPOLEON.”

WHATEVER relates to the career of Napoleon Bonaparte possesses an interest that belongs to no other portion of the world's history. His sudden rise from obscurity, being flung, as it were, from the vortex of the French Revolution upon the stage of action; his brilliant course and his downfall, come to us so full of romance, that we hardly know whether to credit them as realities. With no other friend than his sword, he entered the lists with the titled nobility of Europe, and soon outstripped them all in the race; and without the influence of birth or fortune, he seated himself upon the throne of Saint Louis, and swayed the sceptre of France. For almost a quarter of a century, he was, by turns, the benefactor and the scourge of France and the rest of Europe. He obtained a mastery over the minds of men, which no other one in modern times has ever possessed, and he swayed nations almost with the same ease that the winds control the sea. His downfall and retirement into almost the same obscurity from whence he came, furnishes us with one of the most truthful lessons ever written in history, and wisdom, which speaks alike to the hearts and minds of men, may be gleaned from every page. It teaches us how frail is all human greatness-that the honor and power of kings, as well as the hopes of humble men, can pass away in a single day. It shows us how uncertain is worldly glory, and that we should fix our hopes of happiness upon something more stable than that which ceases to exist with the downfall of dynasties. How sudden and terrible was his reverse of fortune! One day he was the emperor of millions, who feared and obeyed him; the next, he was shorn of his power, and his name the jest of the lowest rabble of the Faubourgs. These changes are the vicissitudes of life, and they never occur, either to men or nations, without leaving to the world a useful lesson for coming generations

The "Hundred Days of Napoleon" embraces that period extending from his return from Elba, where he was banished, in 1814, to his final abdication in 1815, and is the most interesting portion of the history of Europe, either ancient or modern. The history of this period is so called, because the time between the happening of these two events was just one hundred days. Probably no portion of history for the same length of time presents to the reader a train of events which have caused more wonder and admiration, or had a greater influence upon the European world.

The decline of Napoleon's power may be dated from his unsuccessful campaign in Russia in the year 1812; but it is useless now to stop to detail the causes which led to these reverses; they are known to every reader of history. The advantages which the Russians gained over him in this disastrous expedition gave new energy to the allies, and afterwards new foes presented themselves on every side. Instead of having a single power to combat, he found all Europe arrayed against him. The campaigns of 1813 and 1814 were replete with brilliant events, and they called into ac

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