on the first of September last. It is expected that the whole will be finished within the ensuing eighteen months, and there will then be a continuous line of railroad from Albany to Batavia, leaving a space of only forty miles without such communication between the Hudson river and Lake Erie. The commissioners appointed to survey the routes for a railroad from Ogdensburgh to Lake Champlain, have performed that duty. I lay before you their report concerning the feasibility and advantages of an improvement which I deem essential to the development of the mineral resources of the state, and to its general prosperity. The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, and all the railroad companies which have been aided by loans of the credit of the state, have regularly paid the interest on the stock issued for their benefit. The debt of the state, exclusive of that portion which was contracted for the construction of the Erie and Champlain canals, and which is regarded as paid by the accumulation of funds set apart for that purpose, and exclusive also of the contingent liabilities arising from the loans of its credit, is as follows:— Debt of the general fund, exclusive of what is called the permanent loan to the treasury from the canal revenues. .$1,412,961 62 Debts for the lateral canals that are completed, including the recent loan for the Chemung canal 3,551,784 71 6,500,000 00 1,050,000 00 2,500,000 00 50,000 00 .$15,064,746 33 .$1,020,815 57 The net revenues of all the canals during the fiscal year, after deducting all expenditures and the deficiencies of the lateral canals, were Leaving a clear surplus, after paying the interest on the debt for the enlargement of the Erie canal, and the $400,000 annually loaned to the treasury, of... 398,095 95 The commissioners of the canal fund estimate that the clear surplus of the current fiscal year will be.. 570,000 00 The expenditures from the general fund, during the fiscal year, exclusive of the deficiencies of the lateral canals, were. $779,324 36 The receipts from the sources provided by law were 379,211 01 400,113 35 The militia of the state consists of forty-three divisions, of which four are artillery, three are cavalry and horse-artillery, thirty-three are infantry, and three are riflemen. These are divided into three hundred and sixty-nine regiments and separate battalions. The aggregate number of citizens enrolled is one hundred and eightythree thousand, one hundred; and three thousand, three hundred and eighty-two are enrolled in independent uniform companies. While I have the pleasure to announce a gratifying improvement in the enrolment of the militia, it will excite no surprise that its discipline remains as imperfect as heretofore. The report of the commissary-general presents an account of the condition of his department. The state owns two hundred and ninety-two iron and two hundred and fifty-five brass pieces of ordnance, with arms and imperfect equipments for a force of about fifty thousand men. Your attention is respectfully called to the suggestion of the commissary-general concerning the necessary measures for the preservation of the important property committed to his care. The commissioners appointed to mediate a settlement of the difficulties on the manor of Rensselaerwyck, have prosecuted the duty assigned them, in a spirit of equal justice to all parties, and will, as I am informed, soon be prepared to submit a report. I submit herewith the correspondence which has passed between the executive of Virginia and myself, on the subject of the demand made by the former for the delivery of certain fugitives from justice, charged with stealing a negro-slave.* In bringing the subject of this correspondence before your predecessors, I observed that it fell within the province of the executive department, and that the duties of that department arose under the constitution and laws of the United States, and not under the constitution or laws of this state. Nevertheless, the respect I owed to the executive of Virginia, and to the legislature of this state, induced me to submit my action for the information of the legislature. The governor of Virginia, by direction of the legislature of that state, subsequently transmitted to me certain resolutions of that body, with a request that I would lay the same before the legislature of this state. I was at the same time requested by the executive of Virginia to review the position which I had taken. Both these wishes were complied with, and with what results will appear in the correspondence now submitted. I have thought it might not be uninteresting to the legislature to receive also a *See page 449, Vol. II. copy of a special message by the governor of Virginia to the legislature of that state, together with a copy of a circular letter addressed by that functionary to the governors of the slaveholding states. In discharging the constitutional duty of recommending such measures as are deemed expedient, I shall have occasion sometimes to refer to views submitted to your predecessors, and to past legislation. It has been heretofore recommended that the legislature should insist upon the payment by the federal government of the fourth instalment of the surplus revenues, and require a relinquishment by Congress of all claims for a reimbursement of the moneys constituting the United States deposite fund. The moneys deposited with the states were derived from imposts and from sales of the public lands, and were the property of the people of the United States. It can not be denied, that when the distribution was made, it was well understood by Congress, that the form of a deposite was adopted, only to save the bill from a veto by the federal executive. Nor is it less apparent that the several legislatures, in disposing of the funds deposited, by no means contemplated a contingency in which they should be repaid to the general government. In the last message of the president, and in the report of the secretary of the treasury, this deposite is alluded to as a part of the resources of the treasury, which has lain uncalled for during a long period of fiscal embarrassments, although Congress, subsequently to the distribution, expressly prohibited the secretary from demanding the moneys without its express authority. Having observed with much pleasure, the introduction into the house of representatives of a bill which would carry into effect the views I have heretofore presented to the legislature, I again respectfully submit the inquiry, whether the people of New York expect to withdraw from the endowment and support of common schools, and other seminaries of learning, the sum of four millions of dollars thus derived, and pay it into a treasury which, when well managed, overflows with the tributes of their own commerce. After the canals tolls, our chief sources of revenue are the duties upon auction sales, and upon the manufacture of salt at the salt springs. Previous to 1838, such sales were required to be made by persons appointed by the governor and senate. It was justly urged against that system, that it was a monopoly injurious to trade, and that it unnecessarily increased the patronage of the executive, and it was therefore abolished. It has been thought worthy of inquiry, whether the plan now pursued is not defective in provisions for securing the payment of the duties constituting the revenue. The salt springs furnish a supply of water ample for the production of five millions of bushels of salt annually, but the demand within the regions dependent upon them scarcely exceeds half that quantity. It has been believed that by a judicious reduction of canal tolls upon the salt manufactured from the water of those springs, the market might be extended, the manufacture increased, and consequently the revenue of the state augmented. To these suggestions, I respectfully add that of negotiation upon some equal basis with the state of Ohio, for a reduction of tolls upon our salt transported upon the canals of that state, which might be reciprocated by a reduction of our tolls upon coal and other minerals from Ohio. It was submitted to your predecessors that the administration of justice was hindered and delayed, and rendered oppressive by reason of the defective organization of the courts of law and equity; that the court of chancery was incompetent to its important duties; that causes remained on its calendar more than two years; that its patronage and power were too great to be reposed in a single judge, that the supreme court was oppressed with business, aad could not perform it with the deliberation and despatch required by the public welfare; that courts of common pleas had in a great degree been deserted by suitors, and had the form and organization of courts of justice, while they enjoyed little of the popular respect due to such tribunals, and performed few of their important functions; and that the compensation heretofore paid to registers and clerks in chancery, and to the clerks of the supreme court, to county clerks, surrogates, notaries and supreme court commissioners for their services, to attorneys in the collection of debts, and to solicitors, councillors and masters, in the foreclosure of mortgages, was disproportioned to the services actually rendered and was unnecessarily increased by the prolixity and tediousness of legal forms and proceedings. It was proposed to reorganize the court of chancery, and the supreme court, to restore the efficiency and usefulness of the courts of common pleas, to enlarge the jurisdiction of the justices' courts, to introduce greater simplicity and brevity into legal proceedings and to reduce the fees of the various public officers to such a scale as would afford just compensation for necessary services. Although the necessity of reorganizing the higher courts was earnestly insisted upon by my predecessor as well as by myself, and although it has engaged the attention of the legislature for several years, and has been made the subject of reference to the judiciary and to a special commission, yet such have been the difficulties attending any improvement, that it has nevertheless been left for your consideration. The only measures which have been adopted were temporary provisions directing the appointment of two vice-chancellors in the first circuit, one in the eighth, and an additional judge of the court of common pleas in the city of New York. The legislature of 1839, reduced the fees and emoluments of registers and clerks in the court of chancery by a law which diminished the aggregate compensation annually paid to those officers by about the sum of thirty thousand dollars. The legislature of 1840, entitled itself to the lasting gratitude of the people, by benign measures designed to produce a reform in legal proceedings. It dissolved the connection between judges of county courts and boards of supervisors, in the appointment of county treasurers and county superintendents of the poor, a connection by which judges were made partisans, and the power of the executive department was exercised to defeat the will of the people in the selection of those local functionaries. The office of commissioner of deeds was abolished, except in cities; its duties were devolved upon justices of the peace, while the fees allowed for those duties were diminished; and thus offices were dispensed with, in which there were about three thousand incumbents, and the burdens of the people were sensibly diminished. A law was also passed requiring all judgments designed to affect any real estate, to be docketed in the county in which such real estate should be situated. This measure has relieved the alienation of land of onerous charges, and of much inconvenience, and has removed one of the causes which diverted business from the courts of common pleas into the supreme court. The jurisdiction of justices' courts was extended, so as to include controversies where the amount in |
