Grande. I do not hesitate to predict, that the population of Texas will, under an unimpeded system of emigration, amount within seven years to one million of souls." Vol. ii. P. 390.

We believe the above to be an under rather than an overestimate, both of its actual numbers and its future increase. Let the public mind be disabused as to the unfounded reproaches which have been cast upon this country, and duly enlightened as to its real advantages, and a wave of population would roll in upon it, from overstocked and effete and impoverished Europe, that would at once swell its hundreds of thousands to millions, and enliven its beautiful and luxuriant prairies and hill sides with human habitations, and convert its solitary wilds into smiling fields and blooming gardens. The voice of invitation also would not be sounded in vain in our own land, favored as it is; there are many highminded and honorable men among us, whose spirits have been crushed by the changes and disasters of the last few years, who would derive fresh courage from the excitements of a new country like Texas, and the great rewards it holds out to industry and enterprise. Let not such be deterred from changing homes, by their unwillingness to break up old associations and separate from relatives and friends; communities of such might be formed, that would mutually support each other. But we are deviating from our purpose, which was to look at Texas as it is, not as it probably is to be; we proceed therefore to the next subject of inquiry,

Its GOVERNMENT. This is so similar to our own, that in many respects it is but a copy of it, a copy, however, as Mr. Kennedy seems to imply, essentially improved upon the original.

"The constitution of Texas," he says, " resembles in its general features that of the United States the main distinction between them being that Texas is an integral, and the United States a federal republic. In this respect the Texans deem themselves more advantageously situated than their neighbors, whose government is one of compromise between conflicting interests. The operation of these interests is seen in the presidential elections, and the policy of the future administration may be easily determined by ascertaining the amount of support the successful candidate may have received in the several states, and the predominant interests in those states, in their relation to the federal government. There is another important particular in which the Texan and American governments differ. The president of the United States is elected for

four years, and is eligible to re-election; the president of Texas is elected for three years, and is not eligible to re-election until after the lapse of at least one presidential term." Vol, ii. Vol. ii. p. 355.

In the Texan government, the executive, including the cabinet, the legislative, judicial, and post-office departments, are organized like our own, and they respectively receive a compensation about half as great as ours, the salary of the president being ten thousand dollars, of the secretaries three thousand five hundred dollars, of the chief justice and of foreign ministers five thousand dollars per annum. Members of Congress are paid five dollars per diem.

In the administration of justice, the common law of England," as far as it is not inconsistent with the constitution and the acts of Congress," has been adopted as the law of the land; but the "acts" are the paramount authority. Great leniency is extended to debtors; unless there is evidence of fraud, imprisonment for debt is not allowed, on the ground that it is both injurious and unjust to place a debtor in a situation in which he can be of no use to himself or his creditors. By an act of January, 1839, fifty acres of land, five hundred dollars in improvements, two hundred dollars in household furniture, fifty dollars in implements of trade, five cows, one yoke of oxen or one horse, twenty hogs, a year's provisions, are exempted from liability for debts. The criminal code of Texas is severe; it is necessary only to cite its general provisions, as stated by Mr. Kennedy, to disprove the common charge against her, of being the asylum of felons and fugitives from justice.

"The criminal laws of Texas are rigorous, in consequence of the influx of persons from the United States, seeking to evade punishment by flying to a foreign jurisdiction. The officers of the republic are vigilant in searching after fugitive delinquents, and returning them to the proper authorities in the United States. In none of the new states of the Union is the law so certain to be carried into effect against a real offender, through the instrumentality of a jury, as in Texas. The general laws and municipal regulations press hard the errant upon of 'loafers.' Justices of peace and other civil officers are enjoined to arrest all vagrants and idle persons living within their respective jurisdictions, and where there are no visible means nor proper exertions for a livelihood, they are empowered to send the party to work for the public, thirty days for the first offence, sixty for the second, and one year for the third. There are similar regulations for the correction of drunkenness,

corps

and penalties are exacted from all persons bearing deadly weapons, except the military. Faro, roulette, monte, rouge et noir, and all other games of chance, played by persons holding banks for the purpose of attracting betters, are offences punishable by heavy fines. The severest penalty of the law is attached to duelling." Vol. ii. p. 390.

The provisions with regard to fugitives from our side of the line, should make us blush for the shameful looseness of our laws upon the same subject, and the still more shameful subterfuges often made use of, for refusing to give up offenders of every description, as well against the claims of sister states as of foreign powers.

The people of Texas have not shown themselves indifferent to their MORAL, RELIGIOUS, and INTELLECTUAL improvement, but the institutions for effecting it are as yet necessarily few in number, and limited in their operation. They have established Temperance and Bible Societies, and Sunday schools. In Galveston, Houston, and other towns, there are churches for Christian worship, of various denominations, among whom an uncommon degree of harmony is said to prevail. Large grants of land have been made for the establishment of schools and other institutions for the advancement of knowledge thirteen thousand acres in each county for primary schools, two hundred and twenty thousand acres for the maintenance of two universities, one in eastern and one in western Texas. An act passed last year provides, in addition to the primary schools, for a central institution in each county, in which classical literature and the higher branches of mathematics are to be taught. In one respect, at least, they prove that they do not change their tastes by changing their sky; they lose none of that fondness for newspapers which characterizes the whole American people, to judge from the number already published among them, there being now no less than twelve, one of which is published daily, and several tri-weekly. The spirit of Internal Improvement has also found its way there. One rail-road of thirtyfive miles in extent, along the coast from Galveston to the Brazos river, is already in operation, and another is proposed between Houston and Austin; and such are the facilities for constructing them throughout the level parts of Texas generally, that they must soon become their principal means of internal communication.

We have yet one great subject of inquiry-have means

been provided for the support of the government, and other public wants has Texas a permanent and certain REVENUE, the life-blood of a state, without which it can have no strength, no vigor, and make no advancement? Of this truth she has not been unmindful, and herein she has learned wisdom from the errors of her parent country, and placed her revenue upon a better and firmer basis than our own. Holding indirect taxation to be anti-republican, because it obtains by delusion what it fears to claim openly, and demoralizing, because it encourages smuggling, a committee of her congress declared "the most just, equal, and cheap mode of obtaining from each citizen his necessary tax or contribution for the support of government, to be a direct tax on all the property of the citizen, of every species and description whatsoever;" and in accordance with this view the direct taxation law of January, 1840, was passed. A temporary financial embarrassment makes it necessary for her at present, however, to levy a duty on imports, which by the tariff of 1840 was fixed at fifteen per cent., and now increased to forty-five per cent. if paid in her depreciated currency; but she does not imitate our Vandalism and our bad taste, by extending it to books and French wines, the introduction of which, to her eternal honor, she makes FREE. She also looks forward with confidence "to the approach of that happy day, when, by the development of her agricultural resources, she will be enabled, as her true interest will then dictate and demand, to throw open her ports to all the world, and establish a system of absolute free trade. Another inexhaustible source of revenue is her "public domain, consisting of one hundred and fifty millions of acres of as fine land as any in the world, one hundred millions of which, by climate, soil, and surface, are admirably adapted to the purposes of European cultivation.*

The immense agricultural advantages which Texas enjoys, will, necessarily, make the cultivation of the soil her principal object; but not to the neglect of commerce, for which her geographical position is highly favorable, and which will naturally increase with the increase of her surplus produce. Although her harbors do not generally admit the entrance of ships of large draught, the coast is easy and safe of approach, and,

See General James Hamilton's letter to Edward Gibbon Wakefield, asking permission to publish his evidence before the select committee of the house of commons, (1836,) on the disposal of lands in the British colonies, which has appeared in a pamphlet form, with the title, "PUBLIC LANDS A MINE OF WEALTH."

for a long distance west of the mouth of the Sabine, there is excellent holding-ground in five fathoms of water, where vessels may ride in safety at any season of the year; besides which, numerous bays, inlets, and rivers, offer great facilities for communication with the interior and the transportation of produce to the place of shipment.

We have not particularly adverted to the work of Mr. Foote, in the foregoing paper, as it is, in a great measure, occupied with earlier historical details than have engaged our attention, and as, also, we wished, rather to present our readers with the impressions which a traveller from abroad had received from a visit to the country, than those which had been made by it upon one of our own citizens, who might, perhaps, be supposed to have a stronger personal interest in speaking favorably of it. We may add, that there is no important discrepancy in the account given by the two writers, so far as they occupy a common ground. The other work at the head of our article, "The Emigrant's Guide," contains much valuable information about Texas, upon the subjects of greatest interest to those for whom it is designed.

We regard the advancement of Texas as a matter of the deepest interest to the cause of humanity; and we rejoice at the evidence that the attention of the world is now called to it, which is furnished by the publication, almost simultaneously, in England, France, and the United States, of works presenting impartial accounts of its history and condition. We hope to see Mr. Kennedy's book reprinted here immediately, feeling confident it will do more to correct the erroneous impressions in regard to Texas, which are still prevailing amongst us, than could be done by any other means. With many thanks to the author, for the instruction we have derived from this work, we take leave of him and of our readers with an extract from his introduction, especially addressed to his countrymen, but equally applicable to many of our own:

"If any of my countrymen, having dozed for the last half century, are, between sleeping and waking, venting their wrath against Yankee rebels,' and wondering why our Whig government do not spit them en masse, like cockchafers, I recommend them (after taking a refrigerant) to read what is recorded in the following pages, of a people who have grown up since they retired to the pleasant land of drowsy-head' - a people whom their European historiographers call Texians,' but upon whom the leader of