onio. 



the Court of Cassation. He resigned his offi- 

 cial position, and opposed with all his power 

 the reMablishment of the empire daring the 

 Hundred Days. But be found himself disap- 

 pointed in his hopes from the second restora- 

 tion, became one of the opposition, and a lead- 

 er among the Liberals. He was jot very 

 young when he entered the Chamber of Depu- 

 ties in the reign of Louis XVIII., but Imd 

 already acquired a high reputation as an elo- 

 quent pleader. He was a most active member 

 of the party which brought about the Revolu- 

 tion of July, 1880; and when at one time mat- 

 ters wore so gloomy an aspect that the num- 

 ber of the deputies who countenanced and en- 

 couraged the insurrection was reduced to 

 eight, Bnrrot remained firm, and was one of 

 the three commissioners appointed by the 

 provisional Government to intimate that the 

 crown jewels would be restored to the royal 

 family, on condition of their immediate de- 

 parture for Cherbourg. The proposal was ac- 

 cepted, and M. Odilon-Barrot accompanied the 

 King to his embarkation. On his return he 

 was nominated Prefect of the Seine. Under 

 Louis Philippe, M. Odilon-Barrot was among 

 the first to raise bis voice in the Chamber of 

 Deputies against a reactionary policy. Dur- 

 ing a visit to Great Britain in 1839, he fre- 

 quently expressed his desire that a permanent 

 alliance should subsist between England and 

 France. He was the leader of the agitation in 

 favor of reform, and attended several of the 

 provincial banquets which led to the Revolu- 

 tion of 1848, and the downfall of Louis Phi- 

 lippe. Under the presidency of Louis Napo- 

 leon he was for some time a minister, and 

 conducted the Government of France with 

 raeeeM until 1861, when ho retired from active 

 political life, but occasionally published pam- 

 phlets in opposition to the imperial regime. 

 One of these, " Concerning Centralization and 

 its Effects," issued in 1861-, bad a wide cir- 

 culation, and produced a powerful impre-- 

 ion. In 1864 he temporarily emerged from 

 his retirement, and took part in the public 

 conferences held in Paris in favor of Poland. 

 After the overthrow of the empire in 1870, 

 and the establishment of the Provisional Gov- 

 ernment, M. Odilon-Barrot, though eighty 

 yww of age, still retained enough of the fire 

 of his early years to plead earnestly for a re- 

 publican government, and against the restora- 

 tion of the Bourbon nile. 



OHIO. The General Assembly met in ad- 

 journed session January id. Governor Noyes, 

 in his annual menage, referred to great" in- 

 crease of local indebtedness and said : "The 

 evil continues and grows upon us, and is not 

 likely to be diminished, t:ntil a remedy shall 

 b found in positive prohibitory legal enact- 

 ment*, or in constitutional provisions, abso- 



t *lj f " r ''i | l'linir locnl public debts. Boards 

 of officers, not always constituted of those best 

 qualified to manage large pecuniary interests, 

 "% ndf Misting laws, intrusted with extraor- 



dinary powers, and with a discretion which 

 the Legislature itself would hesitate to exercise 

 directly. Under the construction which our 

 highest State court has given to the constitu- 

 tion, and under laws passed in conformity 

 therewith, the authority of minor political 

 organizations to create debts, if not unlimited. 

 is at least very large and complete." The 

 necessity for codifying and revising the s 

 laws of the State was declared to be most 

 urgent, and the importance of normal instruc- 

 tion particularly dwelt upon. The Agricultural 

 College was commended to the generous at- 

 tention of the Legislature. The Governor sug- 

 gested for consideration a change in the 

 criminal law, so ns to provide that juries 

 should fix the grade of crime, increasing the 

 number of grades, and that less or no dis- 

 cretion should be left with the courts as to 

 sentence. The valuable aid of the Reform 

 Schools in diminishing the number of convicts 

 sent to the penitentiary ws referred to. The 

 General Assembly was requested to cooperate 

 with Congress in making the necessary prep- 

 arations for the centennial celebration of 

 national independence. Suggestions for im- 

 provements in the manner of listing property 

 for taxation, and for making more effective the 

 law for the protection of miners were made. 



The General Assembly closed the session 

 and its term of existence May 6th, having dur- 

 ing the adjourned session passed 190 laws of 

 a general nature, 122 local and special acts, and 

 49 joint resolutions. Among the more im- 

 portant general laws passed were a school- 

 law, codifying all the laws relating to the 

 establishment and government of common 

 schools; an act accepting the cession of Vir- 

 ginia military lands to the State, and providing 

 for their sale to increase the funds of the 

 Agricultural College; providing for the hold- 

 ing of a convention to revise the constitution 

 of the State; to give the veto-power to mayors 

 of certain cities; to provide for the establish- 

 ment and maintenance of public libraries in 



; to extend the time for the completion 

 of the geological snrvey ; to modify and amend 

 the so-called "Boesel Railroad Law;" to 

 prescribe the mode of ratifying by stock- 

 holders of propositions to lease railroads. The. 

 last-named law is of more than ordinary im- 

 portance, as its purpose was to put obstacles 

 in the way of absorption of local railroads by 



running through other States. Its im- 

 mediate occasion was an attempt of the At- 

 lantic A: Great Western Railroad Company to 

 re a lease of the Cleveland. Columbus, 

 Cincinnati & Indianopolis Railroad, which 

 was frustrated by the passage of the net in 

 question. The first section of the net author- 

 izes any railroad company to aid. by subscrip- 

 tion or otherwise, any other company for the 

 purpose of forming a connection, when the 

 road to be aided does not form a competing 

 lino ; or it may lease or purchase any part or 

 all of a connecting railroad under similar con- 



