Treasury of the State, for so it is expressed in the resolution of May 16, p. 46, by which "immediate application" is ordered to be made to the general government for the earliest re-payment of such expenditures. Probably this is not the last we shall hear about these expenditures; a deal of crimination is expected soon to settle somewhere, though where nobody seems to know.

It was a matter of very general complaint that the laws of the present year should have been so long delayed in their publication. It was not until late in the month of September that they were printed and ready for delivery, though since June last they have been in force. This delay has been a source of very great inconvenience, more especially in the country parishes, and we have heard many loud complaints upon the subject. By act of 1814 it is made the duty of the Secretary of State, to cause to be delivered to the public printer, within seven days after the passage of any law, fair copies of the same, with marginal notes of reference in the French and English languages-in order that the printing may be executed with the least possible delay." By the same act it is made the duty of the public printer to make an "alphabetical index of reference." How and when the Secretary of State performed the first part of the requisitions of this law, we have no means of knowing, but as to "the marginal notes of reference," it will be seen that the whole number of acts and resolutions passed at this session amounted to two hundred and two; of these, one hundred and forty have no marginal notes of reference at all-from page forty-five to sixty, including many important acts, not a marginal note is to be found. The printer has been scarcely more successful with his duties. Leoking at the index, we find under "S." "Saint Paul, Henry-to emancipate-v. p. 168." Knowing that Mr. St. Paul had, some time since, arrived at years of majority, we turn to the act, and discover that it was not he, but his worthy wife to whom the printer would refer. Under "T." we find "Taylor-General Z.-thanks to-p. 39-and turning to page thirtynine, we find nothing about "General Taylor," or "thanks to." receive no aid from this reference, but will not complain of it, because it calls to mind the story of the young student in the office of Chief-Justice Best, who was usually put to the task of making up the index to his master's books. After some experience, he determined to have this labor shifted from his shoulders, and effectually carried out his resolution, when the worthy Justice found printed under "G."-v-Witness-great mind. Chief-Justice Best-p. 39. Turning in serious curiosity to "witness, p. 39," he found "witness -great mind-contempt of Court. Chief-Justice Best-v. p. 501," and upon reference there he found the text, thus "a witness having been guilty of contempt of court, Chief-Justice Best said he had a GREAT MIND to commit him."

We

The French index maker has been more careful than the thirtynine man, in regard to General Taylor, for under his table we see page fifty-nine pointed out, and on that page we find the resolution of thanks :-and what a skein of metaphorical confusion it is; our national arms in the war against Mexico, are spoken of as being "covered with courage, skill and devotion"—and withal there is a queer qualification-"thus far"—that is until the 27th of May, 1846,

this covering has been put on, as if the Legislature, were suspicious that some change might hereafter come over the spirit of things and they did not desire to commit themselves upon the subject.

We find upon page ninety-three, an act entitled "An act to provide for the election of constables in the several parishes of this State, excepting the parishes of Orleans and Jefferson." The provisions of the act make no exception of Orleans and Jefferson, and we do not see why it might not be made to govern these parishes as well as others. Upon what day does the gentle reader suppose the Legislature has ordered the election of constables to take place? Upon a Sunday" the first day of November next." We might suppose the printer had let drop some letters, and that the "first day" should read "first Monday," but the French text forbids this charity-"le premier jour de Novembre prochain," stands there too, in sacrilegious distinctness.

We would give a silver penny to know who penned the resolution upon page ninety-three, giving thanks to "Brevet Major-General Edmond Pendleton Gaines"-it must have been a cousin-german to the man who wrote Dr. Spencer's advertisement on the outside of the Daily Delta.

By section 17th of the act regulating elections, it is provided "that all persons convicted of the crimes of perjury, bribery, forgery, and other high crimes, or misdemeanors punishable by imprisonment with hard labor in the penitentiary, shall be excluded from the right of suffrage." The closing section of this act graciously excepts the parishes of Orleans and Jefferson from its provisions.

How shall we construe the third section of the "act to organize the District Courts in the parish and city of New Orleans? Act of April 30, p. 32. It reads thus that said Courts shall be opened from the first week in November, to the fourth day of July." Did the Legislature intend that they should be closed during the remainder of the year? It is clear that the provision was to guard against the neglect and absence of the Judges:—was it intended to stand in the way of their vigilance and attention too? Are they forbidden, no matter what the exigencies of the case, and no matter how crowded the docket, to open the portals of Justice between the fourth of July and the first of November? Or was the proviso inserted to harmonize with the happy leisure of those who pass their summers by the lake side, and upon the mountain tops? Section 13th of this same law is a puzzle to us-we can divine what the intention of the law is, but our code forbids us to disregard the letter of a law under the pretext of pursuing its spirit. Civil Code, a. 13. It is not the intention of the legislator that constitutes the law, but the words in which he has permitted that intention to be expressed. His views and designs cannot be matter of inquiry; and if by any accident he has sanctioned a law which the Judge interprets in a manner directly the reverse of that in which the legislator understood it, it must be so put in execution; for the public have a vested right in the enforcement of the law as it stands, not as it was intended. The act before us (Act of April, 30, p. 32) is a very important one. The whole form of our juridical proceedings has been changed-and this change, there is no doubt about it, has been

an amendment too. The truth is, that the convention which made for us a new constitution was called together, not so much to change things as to change men. The object has been gained. Of all the Judges of the Supreme and District Courts of the parish of Orleans, but one remains who held his place under the old regime. All the appointments were made with great care, and we do not know that there is any just ground of complaint against a single one. By the law before us, carrying out the constitutional provisions, each of the five District Judges of New Orleans has the same jurisdiction--from the sum of fifty dollars up to any amount, and in all causes, of whatsoever nature, A preference in order of trial, is given to a certain class of cases in certain Courts-thus the Judge of the Second District Court is called upon to give a preference in time to the trial of matters belonging to Probate, but this does not prevent the docket of that Court from being swelled with cases upon account, promissory notes and bills of exchange. So with the Court of the First District, where criminal proceedings have rank; yet very many cases of a civil nature have already been heard and passed upon by this Court

There is another very important law passed at the last session. The act to define the qualifications of Jurors, of June 1, p. 86. It is enacted that from and after the passage of the act "no property or tax qualification shall be necessary to constitute a competent juror in any of the Courts of this State." Great difficulty has always been had in New Orleans in forming a jury. Our business men have done all in their power to avoid being called upon in this service. They have availed themselves of the statutes regulating the fire department to enrol themselves as fine-paying members of some hose or engine company, and thus entitled themselves to exemption. We are acquainted with many worthy and excellent men, of sound judgment, and high in character, who have been for many years in the State, and except in this are Americans in the best sense of the word, who have long since declared their intention of becoming citizens, yet refuse "to take out their papers," for fear that their time will be too much encroached upon by the call to serve as jurors. No doubt, the duty is sometimes onerous, but it is only so because so many strive to avoid it-if every one were ready to do his honest duty, the burden would be so much divided as to fall lightly on each. We have no patience with these exempts, and they particularly annoy us when they undertake to ridicule and condemn the jury verdicts of the day:-if these verdicts be wrong, if they be not in accordance with law and evidence, if they are open to reproach, as being awed by influence, or moved by gain, whose fault is it that such a state of things should be? If men leave to others a duty which belongs to themselves, with what grace do they complain of its non-performance?

Another law, that of May 29, p. 118, will facilitate the formation of juries, for so many will not now be able to plead excuse under cover of their "conscientious scruples." This act provides that "in all cases where the punishment denounced by law is death, it shall be lawful for the jury to qualify their verdict by adding thereto without capital punishment. We remember being present at the trial of one of the first jury cases called before Judge Shaw, after

his appointment of Chief-Justice of Massachusetts. The case was . upon the criminal docket, and the prisoner was accused of a crime, the punishment of which upon conviction is death. One of the jurors hesitated to be sworn, saying that he had conscientious scruples about finding a verdict where the punishment was death. Judge Shaw sternly told the man, that he had no business with conscientious scruples about performing, his duties as an American citizen-that the laws of his country were to be obeyed, and that he who held shelter and protection under them, should not refuse to aid in their provisions. The juror still persisted in his excuse, and Judge Shaw sent him to jail for ten days, observing that he would have leisure, in that time, to become better informed in the claims which his country had upon him. It was afterward mooted before a tribunal of students at Dane Law School, whether Judge Shaw did right, and it wasvery gravely decided that he did. Perhaps no report of this weighty sanction ever reached the worthy Chief-Justice, and we will ask our publisher to send it to him now,

We have much more to say about the laws of 1846;-indeed, we have barely commenced the subject. It must be resumed in the nex number, for there is no more room now, and all that we had written about an elective judiciary, which in the march of progressive democracy is so certain soon to be fixed upon us, must for the present be stricken out.

NOTE.-Criticisms we are ever ready to admit when conducted in good temper the issue will be between their authors and the public. We have sins enough of our own to atone for without assuming responsibilities for those of others. We are always willing audire alleram partem.-ED. COM. REVIEW.

MISCELLANIES.

THE CATERPILLAR,

THIS fatal worm, like the loeust of Egypt, threatens to leave no green thing alive" wherever it finds admission. It is the scourge of the cotton planter, and the devastation of his teeming fields is almost the certain result of its visits... Whoever shall devise a scheme for the extirpation of such an enemy, will confer a benefit upon his country, which nothing could reward. All efforts have hitherto proved unavailing. Mr. Affleck, of Mississippi, that able and practical agriculturist, thus describes the character and habits of the insect:

"The parent insect is a night flying or owlet moth, I think belonging to the MAMESTRADE of a beautiful greenish grey, with bronze shading: on each outer wing there are two small white spots, shaded with bronze, near the shoulder and in a line with the edge; and lower down, a large kidney-shaped black or brown spot, shaded with white. Several wavy lines of purple crop the outer wing, which has also a fringe of the same color on the inner edge, and a fringe grey and purple at the end. The body is thick, and tapers to the end. The female is larger than the male, but they are otherwise much alike. The female deposits her eggs on the leaf (I am not fully satisfied that they are placed only there) in clusters; they are round, and whitish or pale green, and quite small They are hatched in from two to five days, according to the weather, and immediately commence eating the leaves of the plant. They increase rapidly im size, attaining their full growth of one and a half inches in from three to five weeks. They are of a light green color, with longitudinal stripes of yellow on the sides, and along the back two black ones, separated by a very narrow line

of white. Some are without the black stripes. They are also studded with small, distinct black spots, from nearly every one of which a black hair grows. They have sixteen legs-one pair behind, eight in the centre of the body, and six pro-legs. They elevate the front half of the body, when at rest, giving it a continued motion from side to side. They give forth, when in numbers in a field, a peculiar sweetish odor, readily recognizable by the observant planter. During the lifetime of the worm, it casts its skin at least four times. When it has attained its full growth, it places itself near one of the corners of the leaf, spins a few threads of silk, attaching them to the leaf in such a way as to draw up the edge, which it makes fast to the surface of the leaf, forming a scroll, within which it undergoes its transformation to a pupa. This it does in thirty-six to forty-eight hours. The pupa is black and slimy. In this state it remains from one to three weeks. I have found the state of the weather influence the change thus far, generally from seven to twelve days-when the perfect insect appears, and proceeds to multiply her species. This each female will do to the extent of from two to six hundred or more."

In relation to the regions which the caterpillar usually frequents, Mr. Affleck remarks:

"This scourge to the cotton planter is by no means a new thing; nor is it confined to this country alone. In all the West India Islands, in Guiana, and elsewhere in South America, it has been the frequent means of greatly lessening the crops. In Georgia, the caterpillar made its appearance as early as 1793. In that year the destruction was complete (from Major Butler's field of four hundred acres, only eighteen bags were made). Seven years afterward they commenced the work of devastation in South Carolina. In 1804, the crops, which would have been devoured by them, were, with the enemy, effectually destroyed by the hurricane of that year. (Between 1804 and 1825, their depredations were only occasional, and then confined to particular fields.) In 1825, the visit of the worm was renewed, and its ravages were universal and complete. In 1827, '29, '33, 34, '40, '41, and 43, the lower parishes generally, or particular locations, suffered greatly by its depredations. (The caterpillar is seldom seen in the upper parishes.) In Guiana the worm is called chenille. An interesting account of it is given in the Edinburgh Encyclopædia, article Cotton, by Dr. Chisholm, of Clifton. The same account is repeated almost verbatim, by Mr. Porter, in his "Tropical Agriculturist." They appear there every year-doing material injury, however, only every second or third year. They show themselves in that mild climate even during the winter, and appear and disappear many times during the year. Some elaborate estimates are made by Dr. C., of the amount of labor which might be profitably expended in destroying the chenille, to which I would refer the curious, though they do not apply well to the present value of cotton. He gives one hint, however, which I think a good one. The tobacco growers of Maryland and Virginia have acted upon it for many years, and with much success. "A prudent and economical planter will increase the brood of every species of domestic poultry, particularly turkeys; for this has a tendency to diminish the brood of chenille in a very great degree, while profit arises from the augmentation of useful stock. Turkeys are observed to have a remarkable appetite for the larvae of the cotton moth, and devour prodigious quantities of them." In the Bahamas, between March and September, 1788, no less than two hundred and eighty tons of cotton, on a moderate scale, were devoured by this worm. The same cause produced the abandonment of the gossypium culture in several of the West India Islands. I saw it recently stated, that the destruction of the plant by the caterpillar put an entire stop to the culti vation of cotton, for many years, in Egypt. The prospect of a like result in this country seems by no means improbable. The appearance of the worm has hitherto been partial, large districts and even entire States escaping; but this year it seems to be general over the entire cotton growing region."

He concludes with an extract from Seabrook's "Cotton Plant," exhibiting a method by means of which Mr. Townsend, of South Carolina, arrested the progress of the worm in his fields:

"1. His people searched for and killed both the worm and the chrysalis of the first brood.

2. On the appearance of the second brood, he scattered corn on the field to invite the notice of the bird, and while they depredated on the worms on the tops of the stalks and their upper limbs, the turkeys destroyed the enemy on the lower branches.