SEC. 4. The president shall make use of his private seal
until a seal of the republic shall be provided.
SEC. 5. It shall be the duty of congress, as soon as circumstances wiJJ permil, to provide by law, a general system of education. SEC. 6. AJI free white persons who shall emigrate to this republic, and who shall, after a residence of six months, make oath, before some competent authority that he intends to reside permanently in the same, and shall swear to support his consti- tution, and that he will bear true allegiance to the republic of Texas, shall be entitled to all the privileges of citizenship. SEC. 7. So soon as convenience will permit, there shall be a penal code formed on principles of reformation, and not of vindictive justice; and the civil and criminal laws shall be revised, digested, and arranged under different heads; and all laws relating to land titles shall be translated, revised and promulgated. · SEC. 8. AH persons who shall leave the country for the purpose of evading a participation in the present struggle, or shall refuse to participate in it, or shall give aid or assistance to the present enemy, shall forfeit all rights of citizenship, and such lands as they may hold in the republic. SEC. 9. AJI persons of color who were slaves for life previous to their emigration to Texas, and who are now held in bondage, shall remain in the like state of servitude: provided, the said slave shall be the bona fide property of the person so holding said slave as aforesaid. Congress shall pass no laws to prohibit emigrants from bringing their slaves into the republic with them, and holding them by the same tenure by which such slaves were held in the United States; nor shall congress have power to emancipate slaves; nor shall any slave holder be allowed to emancipate his or her slave or slaves without the consent of congress, unJess he or she shall send his or her slave or slaves without the limits of the republic. No free person of African descent, either in whole or in part, shall be permitted to reside permanently in the republic, without the consent of congress; and the importation or admission of Africans or negroes into this republic, excepting from the United States of America, is forever prohibited, and declared to be piracy. SEC. 10. All persons (Africans, the descendants of Afri- cans, and Indians excepted,) who were residing in Texas on the day of the declaration of independence, shall be considered citizens of the republic, and entitled Lo all the privileges of such. All citizens now living in Texas, who have not received their portion of land, in
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