LOUISIANA. 



427 



Germany would be a task far beyond our time 

 or limits ; we can merely indicate a lew of 

 those who, in the last year, sought to instruct 

 or amuse the public. Of all known countries 

 the literature of Germany is the most exten- 

 sive and the most varied ; and in all the depart- 

 ments of science, art, or belles-lettres, history, 

 biography, or politics, their treatises are more 

 nearly exhaustive than those of any other peo- 

 ple. Biography has occupied a considerable 

 share of attention in Germany the past year. 

 Numerous memoirs of Alexander von Hum- 

 boldt, Karl Hitter, Baron von Stein, Dr. Yogel, 

 and other eminent German scholars have ap- 

 peared, from the pens of Hauff, Klencke, Wil- 

 hehn Baur, tc. Herr Brockhaus, the eminent 

 Leipsic publisher, is issuing in monthly parts an 

 Unsere Zeit, or contemporary biographical lexi- 

 con, and extends his researches to eminent men 

 of .all nations. In geographical, ethnological, 

 and archaeological science, the Germans have 

 no superiors, and the great work, now in prog- 

 ress, of the brothers Schlagentweit, descriptive 

 of their scientific exploration of the region of 

 the Himalaya ; the Mittheilungcn of A. Peter- 

 mann, published monthly at Gotha; and the 

 Erdkunde of Berlin, geographical periodicals 

 of the highest value, not less than the works 

 of Spruner, Sprenger, Ch. Vogel, Barth, Eitter, 

 and Kiepert, are authorities everywhere on 

 questions pertaining to these sciences. 



German poetry inclin'es oftenest to mysti- 

 cism, and German romance to difFuseness. 

 Schiller is, par excellence, the German poet, and 

 the occurrence of the centenary of his birthday 

 in Nov. 1859, created a poetic furor which in- 

 creased in volume throughout the year 1861, 

 and the poems of the year were inspired by the 

 recollection of the honors and immortality in 

 store for him who should prove himself the 

 poet of the people. The novelists of Germany 

 now possessing the highest reputation are Gus- 

 tav Freytag, Otfried Mylius, Paul Heyse, M. 

 Gutzkow, one of whose novels extends to eight 

 volumes, Baron Hacklander, the author of 

 Tannhauser, Fanny Lewald, Louise Ernesti, 

 Marie Nathusius, Eliza von Moscherosch, 

 Auerbach, and Kompert. In dramatic litera- 

 ture the great names of the year are : Lube, 

 Mosenthal, Melchior Meyer, Max Ring, Hersch, 

 Freytag, Oscar de Redwitz, and Brachvogel. 



The death of Heinrich Heine and Justinus 

 Kerner, among the German poets, Baur among 

 the theologians, and of others of equal celeb- 

 rity in other departments of literature, has left 

 a void in the literary circles of Germany not 

 easily to be filled. 



LOUISIANA is one of the Southern States 

 of the United States, and is bounded on the 

 west by Texas, on the south by the Gulf of 

 Mexico, on the east by the State of Mississippi 

 and the Gulf of Mexico, and on the north by Mis- 

 sissippi and Arkansas. This State has no parallel 

 on the face of the globe in the natural advan- 

 tages which she enjoys for river trade with an 

 interior, extending back directly north 2,000 



miles to St. Anthony's Falls; northwestward, 

 3,000 miles to the very base of the Rocky 

 Mountains; northeastward, through the entire 

 extent of the Ohio valley, 2,500 miles, even into 

 the State of New York ; besides innumerable 

 intermediate points in the great valleys of the 

 Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Arkansas, Tennes- 

 see, Cumberland, Red River, and' a multitude 

 of tributary streams, which pour the products 

 of fourteen States into her lap ; while many 

 more await only the advance of population to 

 add new treasures from tracts roamed by the 

 savage and the buffalo. 



The Governor is elected for four years. The 

 Senate consists of 32 members, and the House 

 of Representatives of 97 members, both elected 

 by the people, the former for 4 years, and the 

 latter for 2. The Legislature assembles on the 

 3d Monday in January. The Governor of the 

 State is Thomas O. Moore, whose term of of- 

 fice expires in January, 1864. Louisiana, in- 

 cluding all the territory west of the Mississippi, 

 excepting Texas and New Mexico, and the ter- 

 ritory west of the Rocky Mountains, was pur- 

 chased by President Jefferson in 1803, for the 

 sum of $11,250,000, besides the assumption on 

 the part of the United States of some claims 

 of her citizens against the Government of 

 France. 



The authorities of Louisiana were undoubtedly 

 early enlisted in the plans for the secession of 

 the Southern States from the Union, and ready 

 to use all their efforts to secure success. In 

 November, 1860, Governor Moore issued a 

 proclamation for an extra session of the Legis- 

 lature on the 10th of December. The reason 

 requiring this session was thus stated : 



"Whereas the election of Abraham Lincoln to ibe 

 office of President of the United States by a sectional 

 and aggressive anti-slavery party, whose hostility to 

 the people and the institutions of the South has been 

 evinced by repeated and long-continued violations of 

 constitutional obligations and fraternal amitr, now 

 consummated by this last insult and outrage per- 

 petrated at and through the ballot-box, does, in my 

 opinion, as well as that of a large number of citizens 

 of all parties and pursuits, furnish an occasion such as 

 is contemplated by the Constitution ; and whereas 

 some of our sister States, aggrieved like onrs, are 

 preparing measures for their future security, and for 

 the safety of their institutions and their people, aud 

 both patriotism and the necessity of self-preservation 

 require us to deliberate upon our own course of action ; 

 uo\v, therefore, I, Thomas O. Moore, Governor of the 

 State of Louisiana, do hereby convene the Legislature 

 of this State in extra session, and do appoint Monday, 

 the 10th day of December next. 



On the day appointed this body met at 

 Baton Rouge, and caused -to be prepared an act 

 providing for a State Convention, to be held 

 on the 23d of January, and for the election of 

 delegates. On the next day the act was passed 

 by the Senate and House. In the Senate it was 

 eloquently opposed by Randall Hunt. In the 

 House a strong effort was made to cause the 

 question u Convention or no Convention" to be 

 submitted to a vote of the people. It, however, 

 failed of success. At the same time a military act 

 passed bothllouses, which appropriated $500,000 



