nd have adopted the
new State Constitution by a large majority. Its prominent features
are--the ineligibility of clergymen to seats in the Legislature; the
disqualification of persons engaged in duels as principals or seconds,
from holding office; the extension of the Governor's term to four years,
at a salary of $2,600 per annum; the election of judges by the people;
the abolition of lotteries and of imprisonment for debt, and the
exemption of the homestead, to the value of $500, from legal process.

The Massachusetts Legislature adjourned on the 24th of May, after a
session of nearly five months. A bill for the aid of the proposed
European and North American Halifax Railroad, was debated at
considerable length, but was finally referred to the next Legislature.
The message of the Governor of Maine, which was delivered to the
Legislature on the 19th of May, contains a strong complaint against
Massachusetts for her policy in regard to her claims in Maine lands, and
especially for refusing her aid in the construction of the Aroostook
Road, which passes through the territory claimed by Massachusetts. The
election in Texas for Governor and Members of the Legislature, is
exciting great interest. Unusual importance is attached to the election,
as the disposition of the Ten Millions received from the United States
will be in the hands of the successful candidates. Mr. Foote, U.S.
Senator from Mississippi, has been nominated by the Union Convention of
that State as candidate for Governor, which nomination he has accepted.

The secession excitement is on the decline in South Carolina, and no
further action on the subject is anticipated. In Georgia, the
secessionists held a State Convention at Milledgeville, on the 28th of
May. A series of resolutions was adopted, declaring that the rights of
the South had been violated, and advocating the extension of the line of
36 deg. 30', as the limit of slavery, to the Pacific Ocean. The Union
Convention of the same State met on the 3d of June, and after
re-adopting the resolutions of the Georgia Convention, nominated the
Hon. Howell Cobb, late Speaker of Congress, as candidate for Governor.

An important law-suit, which, has some resemblance to the late agitation
on the Slavery question, has been pending in the United States Circuit
Court, in New-York. The suit was commenced at the instance of the
Southern Methodist Conference against the Trustees of the Methodist Book
Concern, in New-Yo