The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 3, July 1899 - April, 1900 Page: 219

Book .Reviews and Notices.

BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTICES.
The leading articles in the American Historical Review for Octo-
ber are: The Ballot and Other Forms of Voting in the Italian Com-
munes, by Arthur M. Wolfson; Maryland's Adoption of the Federal
Constitution, I, by Bernard C. Steiner; Contemporary Opinion of
the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, I, by Frank M. Anderson;
and The Unit Rule in National Nominating Conventions, by Carl
Becker. 'The documents published in the number are: Accounts
of Star Chamber Dinners, 1594; and Letters of Bancroft and Bu-
chanan on the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, 1849, 1850. Many students
will be thankful especially for Mr. Steiner's article, which adds
materially to what has been generally available in connection with
the subject thereof.
The Laws of Texas. Compiled and arranged by H. P. N. Gam-
mel, of Austin. With an introduction by C. W. Raines. Austin:
The Gammel Book Company. Vol. VII, pp. 1532.
Volume 7 of Gammel's Reprint of the Laws of Texas contains
the general and special laws of the adjourned sessions of the legis-
lature in 1871, the constitution of 1869 (or 1870), and the general
and special laws of 1873.
The twelfth legislature concluded its third session on December
2, 1871. During the two years of its existence it had been in ses-
sion three hundred and thirty-six days. Nineteen hundred pages
of legislation attest its industry or its indifference. Probably the
character rather than the volume of its labor should furnish the
measure of its merits, and by such a standard there is no difficulty
in concurring in the adverse judgment then reached by an im-
patient public. 'The frequent, lengthy and expensive sessions of
this body are doubtless responsible for the existing constitutional
provisions which limit the session of the legislature and the emolu-
ments of its members.
The last of the sessions of the twelfth legislature was like unto
its predecessors. It was characterized by an excessive liberality in
the disbursement of public funds. Its generosity to promoters of

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