TERMS OF THE GLOBE.
Per annum in athance
31s. mouths.-- ....
Throe mouths 60
A. failure to notify a discontinuance at the expiratico 0
the term subscribed for rill be considered a now ong.g ,
meat.
TERMS OF ADVERTISING.
1 jasertlon. 2 do. 3 do.
Four lines or less '$ 25 $ 37,..4 $ 50
One square, (12 hate,) 60 75 1 00
Two squares 1 00 1 50 2 00
Three squares, 1 50 2 25 3 00
Oyer three week and less then three mouths, 25 cents
per square for esch foam tion.
3 months. 6 months. 12 months.
60" $3 00 $5 00
... 3 00 500 700
Six lines or less,
Ono squnro
. 5 00 8 00 10 00
700 10 00 15 00
. 9 00 13 00 "0 OD
32 00 ' 10 00..........2400
40 00 30 ..... 50 00
Two squares,..
Three Nquares,
Four squares..
Mgr a column,
One c01umn,....
Professional and Business Cards nut exceeding four lines.
ene year, S 3 OD
Administrators' and Executors' Notices
fl 75
Advertisements not marked with the number of inser
tions desired, Will be continued till forbid and charged ac
cording to these terms.
LAST ANNUAL MESSAGE
GOVERNOR PACKER.
To the Honorable the Senators and
Members of the House of Representa
tives of the Commonwealth of Penn
sylvania.
GENTLEMEN :—ln submitting to the
General Assembly my last annual
communication, it is the source of un
feigned gratification to be able to an
nounce-to the people, and to their re
presentatives, that notwithstanding
the present unfavorable crisis in the
monetary affairs of this country, and
the general prostration of buSiness and
credit, the financial condition of Penn
sylvania is highly satisfactory.
The receipts at the State Treasury,
from all sources, for the fiscal year
ending on the 80th of November,lBoo,
were 53,479,257 31, to which add the
available balance in the Treasury on
the Ist day of December, 1859, $839,-
323 09, and the Whole sum available
for the year will be found to be $l,-
318,580 40. The expenditures, for all
purposes, for the same period, were
$3,637,117 32. Leaving an available
balance in the Treasury, on the Ist
day of December, 1860, of $681,433 08.
The following items are embraced in
the expenditures for the fiscal year,
viz :
Leans redeemed,
Relief notes cancelled,
Interest certificates,
Domestic creditors' certificates,
Damages on the public works,and
old claims,
Making, of the public, debt actu
ally paid during the year, the
t.int of 691,757 89
The funded and unfunded debt of
the Cbmmonwealth on the first day of
December, 1859, was as follows :
I=
6 por cent Inane,
5 do do
4i do do
4 do do
Total funded debt,
I=
rolief notes in circulation,• 5101,213 00
Interest certificates outstanding, 18,513 82
Do unclaimed, 4,448 38
Domestic creditors, 802 50
Total unfunded debt,
"Making the entire debt of the Com
monwealth, at the period named, $38,-
638,0(31 07.
Elie elate, a e dose ol the lasi fiscal
year, December 1, 1860, stood as fol
lows :
I=
6 per cent loans,
5 do do
41 do do
3 do do
Tutel funded debt,
=Xi
Relief nctes in circulation, $99,402 00
Interest certificates outstanding, 16,074 30
Do unclaimed, 4,448 38
Domestic creditors certificates, 797 10
Totul unfunded debt,
Making the entire debt of Penn
sylvania, on the first day of Dec.
last, $37,069,847 50.
To pay the principal and interest of
this debt, besides the ordinary sources
of revenue, the Commonwealth holds
the following mortgage bonds, derived
front the sale : of her public improve
ments, viz :
Bonds of Pennsylvania Rail
road Company, $7,200,000 00
Bends of Sunbury and Erie it.
R. Co. 3,500,000 00
Bonds of Wyoming Canal Co., 281,000 00
Total,
At the close of the fiscal year,
on the first day of December,
1857, the public debt of this
Commonwealth, fended and
unfunded, was, $39,881,738 22
It is now, at the close of the fis
cal year, 1860, 37,060,847 50
Racing been reduced, during
the last 3 years, 1 011 890 72
The available balance in the
Treasury on the first day of
December, 1857, was,
On the first day of December,
1860, it was, 681,433 08
Exceeding the former balance
in the sum of,
Add to this the sum paid at the
Treasury during the past 3
years, fur debts and claims
against the Commonwealth
arising out of the construe•
Lion and maintenance of the
publio Improvements, a n d
which was substantially a
part of the debt of
the Commonwealth, amount
ing to,
And we have the sum of,
By adding this sum to the amount
- paid on the public debt from Decem
ber 1, 1857, to Dec. 1, 1860, to wit:
8 . V11,890 72, it will be found that du
ring the past three years the State has
not only met all her ordinary liabili
ties, including the expenses of govern
ment, and the interest on her public
debt, but has diminished her actual
indebtedness the sum of $2,236,882 15.
When it is remembered that for the
last three years the tax on real and
personal estate has been but two and
a half mills on the dollar, while from
1844 to 1857 it was three mills—that
for the past two years and six months
the State has received no part of the
tax on tonnage due from the Pennsyl
vania railroad company—and that
since July, 1859, the interest on the
bonds held by the State against the
Sunbury and Erie Railroad company
has remained due and unpaid, it is cer
tainly cause for hearty congratulation,
that, without aid from these important
.$1 50
WILLIAM LEWIS, Editor and Proprietor.
VOL. XVI.
sources of revenue, so great a reduc
tion of the public debt has been ac
complished in comparatively so short
a period. The funded debt of the State
is now less than it has been since 1842,
and the unfunded and floating debt,
which at that time amounted to up
wards of two millions of dollars, has
been almost entirely redeemed. It
is now reduced to $120,721 78—and of
this sum over ninety-nine thousand
dollars consists of relief notes, most of
which are undoubtedly either lost or
destroyed, and will, therefore, never
be presented for payment. The claims
against the State, accruing from the
construction and maintenance of her ,
canals and railroads, are now reduced
to a mere nominal sum; and, in the
future, after providing for the ordinary
expenses of government, her revenues
and her energies may be exclusively
applied to payment of the interest, and
the discharge of the principal of her
public debt.
The people of this Commonwealth
have hitherto met with promptness,the
demands upon them, from time to time,
for the ways and means of replenishing
the public treasury; and now, that
they see that the onerous debt with
which they have been so long burden
ed, is each year certainly and rapidly
disappearing—that the amount requir
ed to meet the interest is annually be
ing diminished—that consequently a
still greater sum can each year be de
voted to the reduction of the principal
of the debt, without resorting to addi
tional sources of revenue—and that
with a proper husbanding of the re
sources of the State, the day is not far
distant when direct taxation in Penn
sylvania will cease altogether—the
payment of such taxes as may for the
time be required to meet the public
necessities, will continue to be met
with cheerfulness and alacrity. But
they will unquestionably hold those to
whose care they have entrusted the
financial interests of the State, to a
rigid accoUntability. That there
should, at this particular juncture,
when the business and monetary affairs
of the country are so greatly depress
ed, be the strictest economy in public
expenditures, is so manifest, that it
can scarcely be necessary to call atten
tion to so plain a duty. It is eqinilly
clear that any legislation which would
tend greatly- to lessen the revenues of
the Commonwealth, would, at this
time, be peculiarly unwise and inexpe
dient. . The exigencies of the future no
man can fortell—the prospect before
us is beclouded with doubt and uncer
tainty—it is, therefore, no more than
the - part of wisdom to guard, with un
ceasing vigilance, all our present sour
ces of revenue, and to thus be prepared
for every possible emergney„....—
raEurtatoltipahrliiiFiefus.ed to pay
the tax on tonnage required to be paid
by the act incorporating the company,
and its various supplements , and there
is now due to the State on that account
exclusive of interest, the sum of
8074296 22. Including the interest,
the sum now due is about $700,000.
Before my last annual message was
communicated to the Legislature, a
case had been tried in the court of
common pleas of Dauphin county, be
tween the Commonwealth and the rail
road company, involving the question
of the constitutionality of this tax,
which was decided in favor of the
State, and the imposition of the tax
pronounced constitutional. In Janua
ry last, another suit was tried between
the same parties, in the same court, in
volving the same question, with a like
result. In December last, a judgment
was obtained in the district court of
Philadelphia, upon one of the semi-an
nual settlements, for $llO,OOO. So that
judgment has been obtained for $365,-
000 of the , debt, being the whole
amount which became clue prior to
1860. The tax which accrued during
the past year, amounts to $308,829 03.
The first settlement for the year is be
' fore the Dauphin county court, on an
appeal taken by the company; and the
second, or last, settlement was made
but a few days since, by the accoun
tant department of the Common
wealth.
$504.857 65
1.811 00
2,439 52
5 40
22,644 32
$ 400,030 00
37,625,153 37
338,200 00
100,000 00
38.513.983 37
124,977 70
- . i , 400.63 0 00
36,967.295 72
581,200 00
100,000 00
87.849,125 72
120,721 78
10,081.000 00
After the recovery, in the common
pleas of Dauphin county, the cases
were removed by writs of error, taken
on behalf of the defendants, to the Su
preme Court of this State, where they
were argued in June last, and in Octo
ber
that tribunal sustained the decision
of the Court of common pleas, and
held the tax to be clearly constitution
al; thus uniting with the law making
power in affirming the right of the
State to tax a corporation under a law
to which it owes its existence. But,
notwithstanding this concurrence of
opinion :4nd action on behalf of the
constituted auth oritiesof Pennsylvania ,
the litigation is not at an end; for the
railroad company has recently remov
ed the cases by writs of error, to the
Supreme Court of the United States,
where they are now pending. That
the decision of that court will, when
made, fully sustain the right of a sov
ereign State to enforce a contract be
tween the the State and a corporation,
and entirely vindicate the power of a
State to impose such taxes upon cor
porations, as in her sovereign will she
may deem proper, I cannot for a mo
ment doubt.
.c';,5128,105 47
153,326 61
171,664 82
324,691.42
To complete the history of this im
portant litigation, and to show that
every effort has been, thus far, made
to compel the payment of this large
sum of money into the Treasury of the
State, it is proper to add, that the law
officer of the Commonwealth, being of
opinion that the writs of error were
not issued from the Supreme Court of
the United States in time to prevent
the collection of the judgments render
ed in the State courts, executions were
issued to the sheriff of the county of Dau
phin, and proceedings are now pending
in the Supreme Court of this State, to
determine whether the Commonwealth
can compel the payment of the judg
ments already recovered, before the
final decision by the Supreme Court of
the United States. •
THE HUNTINGDON GLOBE.
The Sunbury and Erie railroad com
pany having failed to negotiate its
mortgage bonds in their present con
dition, the expectations confidently
entertained of an early completion of
that most important improvement,
have not been realized. The work du
ring the past year, however, although
greatly retarded, has been continually
progressing; upwards of one million of
dollars having been expended on the
like from November, 1859, to Novem
ber, 1860. The whole length of the
road, from the borough of Sunbury to
the harbor On the lake, at the city of
Erie, is 288 miles; of which 148 miles
are now finished and in operation, and
115 miles of the remaining portion of
the line are graded; leaving but 25
miles yet to grade. Pennsylvania is
largely interested in the early comple
tion
and success of this great thorough
fare, not only because she is the credi-
tor of the company to the amount of
three and a half millions of dollars,but
for the additional, and more cogent
reason, that the improvement, when
completed, will open one of the most
important channels of trade between
the city of Philadelphia and the great
lakes of the west, at the best harbor
on Lake Erie, entirely - within the
limits of our own State, which has ev
er been contemplated. It will, more
over, develope the resources of a large
portion of North-western Pennsylva
nia
aboundincr b with the richest miner
als, and a lumber region of unsurpass
ed excellence, which the munificent
hand of the State has hitherto totally
neglected. By disposing of her branch
canals to that company, in exchange
for its mortgage bonds, the State has
already largely aided in the construc
tion of this great work ; and it may be
necessary, to insure its completion.that
further legislation should be had in or
der to render the means of the compa
ny available. It is evident that a lib
eral policy, on the part of the govern
ment, will promote alike the interests
of the Commonwealth and the railroad
company; nevertheless, great care
should be taken to protect, as far as
possible, the debt now duo from the
company to the State. If all propo
sitions which may be made for a
change in the securities now held by the
Commonwealth, be carefully consider
ed by the Legislature, and no more
yielded than sound economy demands,
with proper provision for the clue ap
plication of whatever means may be
realized, it is believed that sufficient
relief can be granted to the company,
to enable it promptly to finish the
road, while the security'remaining will
be fully adequate to insure the ulti
mate payment of the principal and in
terest of the bonds of the railroad cora
npm, •
I commend this subject to the Leg
islature, as one entitled to its most
careful consideration, as well on ac
count of its vast importance to that
portion of the State through which the
railroad passes—to the cities of Phila
delphia and Erie—and to the railroad
company—as to the Commonwealth
herself: Premising that whatever pol
icy it may be thought expedient to
pursue, should be adopted solely with
reference to the protection and fur
therance of the public interests.
The attention of the Legislature is
again invited to the subject of general
education. At the present juncture it
presents peculiar claims. The experi
ence of a quarter of a century has sat
isfied the proverbially cautious people
of Pennsylvania, of the adaptedness of
the common school system to their
wants and condition. No less has the
severe ordeal of the past three years
shown its capability to endure those
sudden reverses which occasionally
prostrate the other interests of the
community. Involving greater ex
penditure than the rest of the depart
ments of government, and that, too,
mainly drawn from direct taxation, it
is a proud fact, that, while most of the
enterprises of society have been seri
ously embarrassed, and some of them
suspended, by the pecuniary crisis of
1857, our educational system has not
been retarded in any appreciable de
gree. On the contrary, its operations
have been maintained, to an extent
which plainly indicates that our citi
zens fully appreciate its value. Con
trasting its main results during the
past year, with those of 1857, we find
that the whole number of pupils now
in the schools, is 647,414, being an
increase of 44,492 ; these were taught
in 11,577 schools, 621 more than in
1857, during an average term of five
months and five and one-half days, at
a cost of fifty-six cents per pupil, per
month, by 14,065 teachers, being
more than in 1857. The entire ex
penditure of the system, for the past
year, including that of the School De
partment, is $2,638, 550 80. These
figures afford some idea of the magni
tude of the operations of the system;
but neither words nor figures can ade
quately express the importance of its
influence upon the present, or its rela
tions to the future.
In contemplating the details of a plan
for the due training of the youth of a
community, its largo proportions and
imposing array of statistics do not
display the points of its greatest im
portance. Pupils may be enrolled by
hundreds of thousands; school-houses
of the best structure and most com
plete arrangements may be dotted at
convenient distances over the whole
face of the land; the most perfect or
der of studies may be adopted, and
the best possible selection of books
inado ; but what are all these, without
the learned and skillful, the faithful,
moral and devoted teacher ? Without
this animating spirit, all is barren and
unfruitful. In this vital
. department,
I am happy to announce that the im
provement of the common school teach
ers of the State shows more solid ad
vancement, within the past three
years, than any other branch of the
system. This, therefore, being the
point whence all real progress in learn
ing and culture must originate, is also
the one to which the fostering atten-
HUNTINGDON, PA., WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9, 1801.
--PERSEVERE
tion and care of the liithlic authorities
should bo mainly directed.
Our peculiar mode of training teach
ers under the normal act of 1857, has
now stood the test of practical experi
ence, and, against the most adverse cir
cumstances has produced results deci
sive of its success. Already it ha spl aced
one institution in full opera - Lion in the
south eastern part of the State, equal in
standing and extent to any in the
Union. Another, with all the require
ments of the law, has just applied for
State recognition in the . extreme
north-west. I commend those noble,
and peculiarly Pennsylvania, schools,
to your favor. Aid to them will be
the best investment that can be made
for the rising generation. Good in
struction fbr our children, is the strong
est earthly guarantee, that, whatever
else we bequeath them, their inheri
tance will be a blessing and not a
curse; and, if nothing more is left, in
the well cultivated minds, the willing
hands, and the trust in God, of free
men, they will have all that is essen
tial.
Nearly eleven thousand of - our fel
low citizens are now devoting their ef
forts to the improvement of the com
mon school, as directors. Than this
there is no more meritorious body of
men. An increase of the annual State
appropriation would not only be a ma
terial relief to the districts, at this
time, but would, to some extent, dis
embarrass directors in their local op
erations.
It is not, however, the common
school system, vast and honorable to
the State, as it is, that claims your en
tire attention, in reference to educa
tion. Pennsylvania also boasts her
collegiate, academical, scientific, pro
fessional, and philanthropic institu
tions, and numerous private schools of
every grade. In this respect, she is
second to no member of the confedera
cy; but, from mere want of .attention
'to the proper statistics, She has thus
fhr been ranked far below her just
standard. The present is not the pro
per time to renew grants to institu
tions of these classes which heretofore
received State aid. If it were, the
public authorities do not possess the
requisite data for a safe and just ex
tension of liberality. The period will
arrive when all public . educational
agencies must be included in one great
system for the elevation of mind and
morals; and when the State will, no
doubt, patronize every proper effort
in the good work.
For the details of the system, during
the last school year, the attention- of
the Legislature is respectfully referred
to the annual report of the Common
School Duartffient—lier k ,.lo a 1 ,54 11
aga . specmuy. eau mo
attention of the General Assembly to
the Farmer's High School of Pennsyl
vania, as an institution which propo
ses to accomplish an object which has
never been attained in this country—
the supply of a want which has ever
been felt by the agricultural commu
nity: the education of their sons, at
once, to scientific knowledge, habitual
industry, and practical skill, to fit
them for the associations of rural life,
•and the occupation chosen for them
by their fathers. The gains of the
farmer, however certain, arc small.—
The education of his sons, should,
therefore, be measured by the nature
of his business. There seems to be no
practical mode of cheapening educa
tion, but by combining an amount of
expenditure, within the ability of a
farmer, with the daily labor of the stu
dent, so as to make the institution so
nearly self-sustaining as to bring it
within the reach of that class who con
stitute so important a branch of the in
dustry of our people. The original de
sign of this school embraced the ac
comodation of four hundred students, a
number essential to the economical
working of the system; and, although
the applications for admission are num
berless,
the utmost efforts of the trus
tees
have not enabled them to com
plete more than one-third of the build
ing, or to accomodate more than. a
corresponding number of students.—
Many individuals throughout the
State, convinced of the merit of an in
stitution which promises so much
good, have contributed liberally to
what has already been done ; and the
board of trustees have labored with a
zeal which cannot fail to commend it
self' to the kind feeling of all our citi
zens. Scientific education has advan
ced the interests of every avocation of
life—agriculture far less than any oth
er—and for the manifest reason that
it has not reached it to the same ex
tent, and never will reach it, unless
the body be educated to the plow, as
well as the mind to the philosophical
principles which the plow's work de
vclopes.
I have always looked upon the Far
mer's high School with peculiar favor,
as well because of my own convictions
of its promised usefulness, as the favor
which has hitherto been shown to it
by the Representatives .of the people.
Its charter requires an annual exhibi
tion of its receipts, expenditures, and
operations generally, and these will
doubtless be laid before you.
By the act passed by the last Legis
lature, establishing a system of free
banking in Pennsylvania, and secur
ing the public against loss from in
solvent banks, radical changes were
made in the banking laws of this
State. Instead of corporations crea
ted by special laws, voluntary associa
tions are authorized to transact the
business of banking, without further
legislation, and as an indispensable
prerequisite to the issuing of bank
notes for circulation as money, ample,
security must be deposited with the
Auditor General for their prompt re
demption. The law makes provision,
not only for the incorporation of new
banking associations, but enables bank
ing institutions already in existence,
to continue their business for twenty
years after the expiration of their
present charters, upon complying with
its provisions. by withdrawing their
old circulation, and giving the securi
ties required for the redemption of the
new issues. The public, I am sure,
will rejoice that no further necessity
exists for legislative action, either on
the subject of creating new, or re-char
tering old banks; and that the time
and attention of their Representatives
will now, happily, be no longer monop
olized in the consideration of a subject
hitherto productive of so much strife
and contention, if not of positive evil.
The rapid increase of private banks,
throughout the State, makes it emi
nently right that they should be plac
ed under proper legislative restrictions,
and that the large amount of capital,
thus employed, should be made to con
tribute its fair proportion to the reve
nues of the Commonwealth. Their
business, in the aggregate, is now be
lieved to amount to a sum almost,if not
quite, equal to the whole business of
the regularly chartered banks; and
yet it is entirely unrestricted, and,
with the exception of a merely nomi
nal license tax, is free from taxation.
This is unjust to every other class of
our tax paying citizens, and especially
so to the banking institutions holding
charters from the Connnonwealth,
for
which they have each paid a liberal
bonus, and are, in addition, subject to a
very largo tax on their dividends. I
respectfully commend this subject to
the attention of the Legislature.
A high sense of duty impels me
again to call the attention of the Leg
islature to the inadequacy of existing
laws, regulating the receiving, keep
ing and disbursement of the revenues
of the State. The public moneys are
now paid directly to the State Treasu
rer, who deposits them, at his own dis
cretion, whenever and wherever he
chooses, and pays them out in sums,
either small or great, upon his own
unattested cheek exclusively. The
amount thus received, kept and dis
bursed is annually between three and
four millions of dollars, with balances
on hand, at times, exceeding one mil
lion of dollars; while the bond of the
State Treasurer is for only eighty
thousand dollars. His accounts are
settled monthly by the Auditor Gen
eral, by whom the receipts for money
paid into the Treasury are counter
signed, and these are the only safe
guards provided by law to prevent the
illegal and improper use of the money
of the State, by the State Treasurer.
Happily the revenues of the coin-
monwealth have hitherto been
s safely
kept, properly disbursed, and prompt
ly accounted for, by those in charge of
the Public Treasury; but in view of
the serious defalcations which have
occurred elsewhere„,l3444,,other States
e future. Referring
annual messages, I respeetfulli; tut
most earnestly,
recommend that pro
vision be made by law :
First—That uo moneY shall be de
posited by the State Treasurer in any
bank, or elsewhere, without first re
requiring ample security to be given
to the Commonwealth for the prompt
repayment of such stun as may be de
posited; and that such securities shall
be deposited in the office of the Audi
tor General.
Second—That all checks issued by
the State Treasurer, shall be counter
signed by the Auditor General, before
they are used, and that daily accounts
shall be kept of the moneys received,
deposited and disbursed, in the Audi
tor General's office, as well as in the
Treasury Department.
Third—That condensed -monthly
statements, verified by the signatures
of the Auditor General and State
Treasurer, shall be published in one
newspaper in Philadelphia and one in
Harrisburg, showing the balances in
the Treasury, and where deposited,
with the particular amount of each de
posit; and
Fourth—That the bond of the State
Treasurer be increased to the sun' of
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Our various charitable and reforma
tory institutions—the State Lunatic
Hospital, at Harrisburg—the - Western
Pennsylvania Hospital for the insane,
at Pittsburg—the asylum for the blind,
and deaf and dumb, at Philadelphia—
the Houses of 'Refuge at Philadelphia
and Pittsburg, and the Pennsylvania
Training School for idiotic and feeble
mind ld children, at Media, will present
their usual annual claims upon the
bounty of the State. These excellent
charities aro continually dispensing
benefits and blessings upon suffering
and erring humanity, which can scarce
ly be overrated. They are heartily
commended to the discriminating lib
erality of the Legislature. I refrain,
as I have heretofore done, from recom
mending, as proper objects for appro
priations from the State Treasury,
other charitable benevolent institu
tions, not because they are undeserv
ing the confidence and patronage of
the public, but because they aro local
in their character, and in my judgment
have no claims upon the common fund
which can be admitted, in justice to
the rights and interests of other por
tions of the Commonwealth.
The inspectors of the State Peniten
tiary for the Eastern District of Penn
sylvania, in their annual reports for
the years 1858 and 1859, called the at
tention of the Legislature to the inse
curity of such parts of the penitentiary
buildings as were exposed to their own
fires and those of the neighborhood,
and recommended that - rools of ,uch of
the corridors as were covered with
shingles, and needed renewal, should
be placed with slate or metal. On vis
iting the institution, my attention was
called to the subject by the inspectors.
The necessity for the change was so
apparent and urgent, that I advised
them not to hesitate in having the old,
dilapidated and dangerous wooden
rooth of such portions of the building
as required renewal, replaced with
some substantial fire proof material.—
This has accordingly been done, and I
respectfully recommend that a small
appropriation be granted to defray the
expense incurred.
TERMS, $1,50 a year in advance,
I commend to your consideration
the report of the State Librarian,
whose attention to the interests of the
Library under his care, deserves the
warmest commendation. The system
of exchanges, with the different States
of the Union, and with foreign govern
ments, commenced and prosecuted un
der his auspices, has resulted in great
advantages to he Library, and de
serves the continued countenance of
the Legislature. The increase of the
Library, at a comparatively small ex
pense to the State, has been such, that
it now needs enlarged accommodations
for the safe-keeping of the volumes,
and, if the increase continues, will soon
require a separate building for its ex
clusive use.
The reports of the State Treasurer,
the Auditor General, the Surveyor
General, the Adjutant General and the
Attorney General, will inform you, in
detail, of the operations of the govern
ment, as presented by those several
departments, for the last fiscal year.—
They are entitled to the attentive con
sideration of the Legislature.
Soon after my inauguration, upon
the recommendation of my predeces
sor in office, a dwellinu '' house was pur
chased in this city for the residence of
the Governor of the Commonwealth.
The purchase included several articles
of heavy furniture, then in the build
ing, and a small appropriation would
complete the necessary furnishing of
the house, so as to make it a fit and
convenient residence for the incoming
Executive. I cheerfully recommend
the immediate passage of a bill making
a suitable appropriation for this pur
pose.
The extraordinary and alarming
condition of our national affairs de
mands your immediate attention. On
the twentieth of December last, the
Convention of South Carolina, organ
ized under the authority of the Legis
lature of that State, by a unanimous
vote, declared " that the Union now
subsisting between South Carolina and
the other States, under the name of
the United States of America, is here
by dissolved ;" and the action already
taken in several other Southern, States
indicates, most clearly, their intention
to follow this example.
On behalf of the advocates of seces
sion, it is claimed that this minion-4e
inex:ely
tates composing it, and that any one
of the States, which may feel aggrieved,
may, at its pleasure, declare that it
will no longer be a party to the com
pact. This doctrine is clearly errone
ous. The Constitution of the United
States is something more than a mere
conwct,_ or agreement, between the
I ....Ina gtateis- - rtprtmiw i1it.410...t
its bad fitith in refusing to keep its en
gagements, but entirely irresponsible
to any superior tribunal. A govern
ment, on the other hand, whether cre
ated by consent, or by conquest, when
clothed with legislative, judicial and
executive powers, is necessarily in its
nature sovereign; and from this sover
eignty flows its right to enforce its laws
and decrees by civil process, and, in
an emergency, by its military and na
val power. The government owes
protection to the people, and they in
turn, owe it their allegiance. Its laws
cannot be violated by its citizens, with
out accountability to the tribunals cre
ated to enforce its decrees and to pun
ish offenders. Organized resistance to.
it is rebellion. If sucessful, it may be
purged of crime by revolution. If unsuc
cessful, the persons engaged in rebel
lion may be executed as traitors. The
government of the United States, with
in the limits assigned to it, is as poten
tial in sovereignty, as any other gov
ernment in the civilized world. The
Constitution, and laws made in pursu
ance thereof, aro expressly declared to
be the supreme law of the land. Un
der the Constitution, the general gov
ernment has the power to raise and
support armies, to create and maintain
a navy, and to provide for calling forth
the militia to execute its laws, suppress
insurrection and repel invasion. Ap
propriate statutes have been enacted
by Congress, to aid in the execution of
these important governmental powers.
The creation of the Federal Govern
ment, with the powers enumerated in
the Constitution, was the act of the
people of the United States, and it is
perfectly- immaterial that the people of
the several States acted separately
within the territorial limits of each
State. The form of their action is of
no consequence. in view of the fact
that they created a Federal Govern
ment, to which they surrendered cer
tain powers of sovereignty, and de
clared those powers, thus surrendered,
to be supreme, without reserving to
the States, or to the people, the right
of secession, nullification or other re
sistance. It is, therefore, clear that
there is no constitutional right of se
cession. Secession is only another
form of nullification. Either, when at
tempted to be carried out by' force, is
rebellion; and should be treated as
such, by those whose sworn duty it is
to maintain the supremacy of the Con
stitution and laws of the United States.
. _
It is certainly true, that in cases of
great extremity, when the oppression
of government has become so' intolera
ble that civil war is preferable to lon
ger submission, there remains the rev
olutionary right of resistance; but
where the authority of the Government
is limited by a written Constitution,
and each department is. held in check
by the other departments, it will rare
ly, if over, happen that the citizens
may not be adequately protected, with
out resorting to the sacred and inalien
able right to resist and destroy a gov
ernment which has been perverted to
a tyranny.
But while denying the right of a
State to absolve its citizens from the
allegiance which they owe to the Fed
eral Government, it is nevertheless
highly proper that we should carefully
and candidly examine the reason;,
which are advancod by thtise who have
,
evinced
,a determination to destroy the
Union o 'these American. States; and
if it shall appear that any of the causes
of complaint
. are well founded, they
should be unhesitatingly removed, and,
as far "as possible, reparation 'made for
the past, and security given for.the•fu
ture; for it is not to be tolerated, that
a government created by the people,
and maintained for their benefit, should
do injustice to any portion of .its
citi
zens. ,
After asserting her right to withdraw
from the Union, South Carolina,
through her Convention, among other
reasons, declares that she is justified,
in exercising, at this' time, that right,
because several' of the States have .for
years not only refused to fulfil their
constitutional obligations, hut have en
acted laws either nullifying the Con
stitution, or rendering useless the acts
of Congress relative to the surrender
of fugitive slaves—that they have per
mitted the open establishment of socie,
ties to disturb the peace of other
States; that the people of the non
slaveholding States have aided in, the
escape of slaves from their masters, and
have incited to servile insurrection
those that remain—and 'have an•
nounced their determination to exolud,
the South from' the common' territory
of the Union. As the, Representative.
of the peeple of Pennsylvania,, it be
comes your soleinn duty to examin
these serious charges, made by the au
thority of a sovereign State.
Pennsylvania is included in the list,
of States that are charged with having
refused compliance with that, mandate
of the Constitution of the United States,
which declares, " that no person held
to service or labor in one State, under
the laws thereof, escaping into anoth-,
er, shall in consequence of any law or
regulation therein, be discharged fron
such service or labor, but shall be de
livered up, on claim of the party t
whom such service or labor may b
due." So far from admitting the truo
of the charge. I unhesitatingly aver
that, Upon a careful examination i
will be found that the legislative an
judicial action of Pennsylvania, wheth
Or as a colony, as a member of the oh
confederation, or under the existin;
Constitution of the United States, ha.
been almost invariably influenced by a
proper appreciation of her own obliga
tions, and by a high regard for the
rights, the feelings and the interests of
her sister States.
NO. 29.
As early as 1705, the provincial au
thorities of Pennsylvania, after reciting
in the preamble, that " the importation,
of Indian slaves from Carolina, or oth
er places, hath been observed to give
the Indiarui of this province some um
brage for suspicion and dissatisfaction,"
passed an act against the importation
of Indian slaves from any other prov
ince, or colony, in America, but at the
same time
_d_ce.„Jarck - "'that no such
'an-slaves, as deserting his master's
service elsewhere, shall fly into this
province, shall bo understood or con
strued to be comprehended within this
act." And when, in 1780, more than
eight years before the Constitution of
the United States wont into operation,
Pennsylvania passed her law for the
gradual abolition_of_slayAry+m ,
of the r' •
i--toiany absconding or
runaway negro or mulatto slave, or
servant, who absented himself; or
shall absent himself; from: his or her
owner, master or mistress, residing in
any other State or .country, but such
owner, master or mistress, shall have
like right and aid to demand, claim
and take away his slave or servant, as
he might have had in case this act had
not been made." A provision much
more unequivocal in its phraseology,
and direct in its commands, than those
found, on the same subject, in the Con
stitution of the Union. The act, by
its terms, was made inapplicable to
domestic slaves attending upon dele
gates in Congress from the other
American States, and those held by
persons while passing through this
State or sojourning therein for a period
not longer than six months.
NEM
In 1788 it was made a, high penal
offence for any person, by force, vio
lence or fraud,, to . take out of this
State, any negro or mulatto, with the
intention of keeping or selling the
said negro or mulatto as a slave, for a
term of years. Soon after the passage
of this act, the Supreme Court of Penn
sylvania decided that it did not apply
to the forcible removal of a slave, by'
the owner or his agent, but that its
object was to punish the forcible or
fraudulent abduction from the. State
of free negroes, with the intention of
keeping or selling. them as slaves.—
Thus at that early day, giving judicial
sanction to the doctrine, that a master
had the right to take his slaves wher
ever he could find •theni.
The first act of Congress providing -
for the rendition of fugitives from jus
tice or labor, was, passed in 1703,, and
originated f'rom the refusal of the Gov
ernor of Virginia to surrender and de
liver up, on the requisition of the Gov
ernor of Pennsylvania, three person
who had been indicted in Pennsylvani.
for kidnapping a negro, and, carrying
him into Virginia. And when it wa
found that this Congressional statut
did not aftbrd a simple, speedy and ei
ficient remedy for the recovery of fu
gitives from labor, the Legislature c
Pennsylvania, at the request of tht ,
adjoining State of Maryland, in 1826
passed her act "to give effect to the,.
provisions of the Constitution of the
United States relative to fugitives from
labor, for the protection of free people
of color, and to prevent kidnapping.".
This excellent and well considered law •
met all- the existing emergencies. It .
required the judges, justices of the
peace and aldermen, of. the State, upon
the oath of the claimant, to issue their
warrant for the arrest of any fugitive
from labor escaping into this State
directing, however, that such warrants
should be made returnable, by whom
soever issued, before a judge of the
proper county. It required sheriffs .and
constables to execute such warrants.
It authorised the eommaraent of the
fugitive to the county jail, and other
wise made provision's to secure its ef
fective execution, and at tho same
time to prevent its abuse.
This la w. continued quictly.in opera
tion until the decision of the Supremo
Court of the United States, made in
1842; the case of Prigg vs, .The
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania- 'The
history of the case may, be briefly
stated : Edward Prigg was indicted
in the Court of Oyer am] Terminer of
York county. for kid naDIMI g a colored