against the property of citizens of the United States, or aiding to do so; setting on foot any military expedition against United States authority, or aiding to do so, and accepting any commission, or letter of marque from the authorities of the so-called Confederate States, are declared felonies punishable by death or imprisonment, at the discretion of the jury. Attorneys in the State Courts are required to take an oath of allegiance to the United States; and the plaintiff in a civil action, if declared by the defendant to be disloyal, is required to take the same oath, in order to maintain his standing in Court. Persons making locations on the public lands, of the State are also required to take an oath of like character. Another act declares all public expressions of sympathy with the rebel cause to be misdemeanors punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both. These acts are herein given entire. To the Federal and State enactments concerning treason and rebellion, is added the recent charge of Judge Field to the Grand Jury of the United States Circuit Court for the Northern District of California, together with citations from several opinions and authorities upon the subject under consideration. While the charge gives a brief and general statement of the law of treason, it does not purport to give a full exposition. Such exposition is found in the treatises of Foster, Hale, Hawkins, and East, in various decisions of the U. S. Supreme Court, and in opinions and charges of the Judges, from which citations are made. The debate in the Senate of the United States on the second section of the act of July 17th, 1862, is also given, as throwing light upon a class of offenses which are not therein designated as treason, and are not considered in the charge of Judge Field. |