e
twelve vacancies, five were filled with advocates, and seven with
opponents of the proposed measure; and in one district there was no
choice. The Senate therefore stands at present twenty-two in favor, and
nine opposed to the bill. The Message of Governor HUNT narrates the
events which gave occasion to the Extra Session, and argues in favor of
the constitutionality and expediency of the proposed measure for the
enlargement of the canals.---- An Address has been issued by 56 of the
112 members of the Convention which framed the Constitution of the
State, whose names are appended to that document, in which, after
examining the provisions of the Constitution, and of the proposed
Enlargement Bill, they express it as their opinion that the bill
violates the entire spirit and scope of the financial article of the
Constitution, and is inconsistent with several of its express
provisions.

A large number of Germans who had assembled at Hoboken, opposite to New
York, on the 26th of May, to celebrate their customary May-Festival,
were attacked by a gang of desperadoes from New York, known as "Short
Boys." The Germans repulsed their assailants, and made violent
reprisals. In the course of the riot great damage was done to property,
and one person lost his life, besides many being severely injured.

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