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feud Four School Euudx. The large suius ap
propriated tor the erection ol public buildings,
improving the navigation of rivers, and tor the
survey und construction ot the Ab extern and At
lantic Rail-road, require that this subject should
receive the early attention of the Legislature.
Upon consulting with distinguished physicians
iu every part of the State, it was determined, un
der the limited discretion given in the selection of
its location t;* place the Lunatic Assyhitn »« f h p
neighborhood of Milledgcville. Doctors 1* ort
and White were appointed, both to direct the
construction of the building, and to collect in
formation in regard to the proper regulations and
management of the institution : ami will make their
report direHiv to the Legislature. The large
Dumber of lunatics which are found throughout
every part of the country: the great aggregate
nmrttint of suffering whichthey bring u; on families
and neighborhoods; the expense and trouble of
guarding, and medical attention, when they are
under ‘the care of individuals; the assurances
given by experience, that in well managed Asy
luUta’the care of the insane is more certain, and
•tfcvir suffering much less than under any private
‘treatment whatever—make it one of the most im
portant duties of the State, to provide such an in
stitution for this unforunate class of its citizens.
It must he such an institution too as w ill secure
the public confidence, or the sympathy which is
felt for the insane by their friends, will confine
its use to the most hopeless cases, or those in
whose restoration society has the least interest.
I w ould therefore earnestly recommend, that the
Asvlutn which is now erecting shall be made to
conform to the best models, without any fear that
the cost will exceed the benefit which it will con
fer upon the people. The appropriation made at
your last session will be thrown away, unless it is
greatly increased.
Several acts and resolutions passed at your last
session, which I considered violative of constitu
tional or important legislative principles, were pre
sented to ine for revision so immediately precce
ding vour adjournment that they could not be re
turned. Thev are now transmitted to the Sen
ate, where they originated, with my reasons for not
approving them.
Elections for county and militia officers, are
frequently contested before this Department, and
the executive has constantly assumed the author
ity of determining upon their validity. It is due
to the rights of the people that the exercise of
this power should be regulated by law.
Some embarrassment has occasionally bpen met
with inducting county officers into office, on ac
count of the different forms required for different
officers. I would recommend that the law he so
altered, that all the county officers may be induc
ted into office under the same dedimus potestatum.
A set of Standard Weights, prepared for the
use of the State, in persuance of a resolution of
Congress, have been received from the Secretary
of tiie Treasury, and are now in the Executive
office. The Legislature will have to prescribe bv
law the mode by which the weights now in use
iu the cities and counties of the State, shall be
made to conform to this of Standard Weights.
In 1834, the Legislature appropriated $3,000
for the support and education of the indigent deaf
and dumb of the State, at the Asylum in Hart
ford. State of Connecticut, and directed the Ex
ecutive to appoint a commissioner to select and
take charge of the deaf ar.d dumb who might be
found willing to accept of its bounty. Os this
sum, $933 865 were expended during that year.
At the session of 1835, the Legislature appro
priated for the same purpose $4,450, in addition
to the unexpended balance of the appropriation
of the proceeding year, making the sum of $6,-
516 135, and the sum of $750 to pay the commis
sioner for his services. During that year, $845
were expended by the commissioner. At the ses
sion of 183 G, the Legislature determined that no
additional appropriation was then required for the
benefit of the deaf and dumb, and passed a res
olution directing that S4OO should be paid to the
commissioner, which sum, not having been inser
ted in the art of appropriation, was paid by the
Governor out of the contingent fund. At the ses
sion cf 1837, the House of Representatives pas
sed a resolution that the sum of s‘>,7so should lie
approwiated for the education and support of the
deaf and dumb, in addition, to the unexpended
balance of previous appropriations in tlie hands
of the commissioner; and that the commisioner
should receive, S6OO for the service during tlie
year. This resolution was not definitely passed
upon by the Sen ire, and no appropriation was
made Ly the Legislature for the benefit of the deaf
and dumb, or for the payment of the commissioner.
The commissioner has been paid S6OO out of the
contingent fund ; this statement is made for the pur
\) >se of cal iug the attention oft le Legis ature to t! •
propriety of fixing the commissioner’s salary by
law, providing for its payment, and of carrying
on the benevolent purposes of the Legislature in
the education and support ot the indigent deaf
and dumb of the State, by some certain legislative
provision.
The Legislature required of the Executive De
partment. by an act passed at its last session, to
cause the banistering and railing which formerly
divided the lobby from the Senate Chamber, to
be replaced, and the Gallery of the Senate Cham
ber to be enlarged, so as to corrsepond iu size and
form with the Gallery of the House of Represen
tatives, and appropriated one thousand dollars for
the accomplishment of these objects. That sum
has been found entirely insufficient for the pur
pose.
The building and repairs of the public arsenals,
tlie keeping repairing, distribution, and collect
ion of the public arms, and the appointment and
salaries of the military store-keepers, require to
be regulated by law. Most of what has been done
upon these subjects has been either without au
thority, or in pursuance of occasional resolutions
of the Legislature, varying in their provisions
4‘rom each other.
The reports of the military store-keepers in
Mdledgeville and Savannah, are laid before you.
There have been received from the United States,
under the act of Congress of 1808, during the past
year, 7SB muskets, and 74:2 rifles and 2 brass 6
pounders, with the proper accoutrements. The
two brass six pounders were received as a part of
the State’s quota of public arms, at the reqest of
the City Council of Augusta, and have been pla
ced in the possession of the volunteer company
ol'that city, known as the Augusta Artillery Guards
An effort, attended with some success, has been
made to collect into the Arsenals the public arms
which had been scattered over the country during
the Seminole, Creek, and Cherokee campaigns of
18.16, & those which been in the possession
of volunteer companies become extinct, and were
either becoming appropriated as private property,
or destroyed from the want of the care necessary
fur their preservation. There arc some military
itor-tarid detCCfive arms iu the Arsenals and clse
? *
where, which can never be of any further use, and
ought to be sold. 1 would recommend that you
authorize this to be doue.
I transmit to you a list of executive warrants,
which have issued during the past political year, ]
and of appointments which Lave been made dur
ing the same time.
Resolutions of the Legislatures of Alabama, O
hio. Kentucky, Maine, Arkansas, and Connecticut,
upon various subjects of supposed common inter
est to tli* States, are, by their request laid before
you for your coni deration.
1 transmit to the House of Representatives the
returns of the Census of the State, which have
been received from the clerks ol the Superior
Courts of the several counties.
Maj. Gen. Sam el Armstrong Daily, Brigadier
Gen. Tully Vinson have resigned tlieir respective
commands
The Rev. Charles Wallace Howard, lias been
sent to London for the purpose of procuring cop
ies of such of the Colonial records as relate to the
history and settlement of this State.
The resolution passed at your last session di
recting the publication ol the annual report ot Dr.
Cottrug’s Geological Survey, was not presented
for approval until after the time had expired within
which, bv the Constitution, the Gov. is authori
zed to sign resolutions. This circumstance, to
gether with some difficulties which occurred be
tween Dr. Cutting and the State Printer, as to the
time and manner of printing, has prevented the
publication of the report. This is, perhaps, not
to be regretted, as it appears to be the intention
of the Legislature to publish a full report when
the entire survey shall be completed.
The Legislature is referred to the correspon
dence with tho State Geologist and State Printer,
for further explanation upon this subject.
The accompanying report of Dr. Cutting shows
what have been his operations during the past
year.
The affairs of the Penitentiary have been con
ducted during the past year, very successfuliyun
der the superintendence of the present vigilant
Principal Keeper, aad Hoard of Inspectors.
The police laws of the institution require some
reform, especially for preventing the intercourse
which is now permitted among the convicts. The
buildings, also, require some improvement. For
information upon these and other subjects con
nected with the Penitentiary, you are respectful
ly referred to the reports of the Board of Inspec
tors and Principal Keeper.
At no time has public opinion been more alive
to the vabie of education, in producing individ
ual excellence, the security of public rights, and
the general prosperity of society.
The Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist de
nominations of Christians, have, by the liberal
zeal with which they have endowed and are sup
porting the Oglethrope University. Mercer Uni
versity, Emory College, and the Georgia Female
College, given the full weight of their highly im
portant influence in favor of the benefits to be de
rived from intellectual cultivation and the diffu
sion of knowledge. The flourishing state of these
sectarian literary institutions, has not at all im
peded the increasing prosperity of Franklin Col
lege, its last graduating class having been its lar
gest. The interest of the College is, however,
suffering trom the, difficulty of forming a board
of trustees for the management of its affairs. It
is necessary either to lesson the number of
trustees, or the number which is required to
form a quorum for doing business.
The law passed at your last session, to estab
lish a general system of education by common
schools, was delayed in going into operation, for
the purpose of enabling the people to express
their opinions, through their representatives, in
relation to its expediency. You are therefore, no
doubt prepared to act in such manner upon this
subject, as your constituents may have determ
ined to be for their interest.
A true bill of indictment was found at the last
January term of the .Superior Court of Chatham
County, against Philbrook and Kelleran, for the
same ofl’ence with which they had been charged
w hen demanded as fugitives from the justice of
this State, by my predecessor. The demand tor
their arrest and delivery up to the Agent of this
State, as fugitives from its justice, was renewed
upon the Governor of the State of Maine, and by
him again refused. Copies of the report and res
olutions adopted by your body at your last ses
sion, upon this subject were in consequence of
this conduct oftlie Governor of Maine, andin com
pliance with vour request,transmitted to the Gover
nors to be laid bv them before the Legislatures
of the so- oral State* • to the members of Congress
from this State, lobe submitted to the Senate
and House of Representatives, and one to the
President of the United States.
As the Legislature of Maine does not meet un
til January, 1839, its procedingsin answer toy ur
resolutions, cannot be reported to you during vour
present session. There can be but little doubt,
however, that those procedings, when they do
take place, will sustain the course which lias been
pursued by the Executive authority of that State.
On tho 20th of March last, the Legislature of
Maine passed a law upon the subject of fugitives
from the justice of other States, by which it au
thorizes the Governor to satisfy himself by invest
igation into the grounds of a demand, and wheth
er it ought to be complied with. The Legis
lature of Maine, in passing a law to direct the
Executive of the State, in a matter which is deter
mined by the Constitution and laws of the United
States : and the Governor, iu justifying himself
under such a law, iu refusing to do what is made
imperative by the Constitution, have evidently on
ly acted in obedience to the state of public opin
ion in Maine, arising out of the opposition to the
institution of slavery in this State. Had the pier
sons who have been demanded of the State of
Maine, by this State, been charged with any
other crime than stealing a negro slave, there can
be no doubt but that they would have been del
ivered up without difficulty.
If the people of Maine. will thus prevent their
Authorities from delivering in to the authorities
of Georgia, for trial, those who entice away from
citizens of Georgia, their slaves, and escape from
punishment into the State of Maine, the people
of this State must take means to secure their
rights of property from the danger to which it
will be thus exposed. The State of Georgia has
the power to protect its own institutions, and it
will be i;s duty to exert it, if necessity should re
quire.
Nothing but necessity, however, should induce
the State to adopt any course which may disturb
the harmony of the Union. Having refered to
the consideration cf the Legislature ot Maine, the
conduct of the Executive of that State, in ri tus
itig to deliver up to this State, the fugitives fiom
its justice, Philbrook and Kelleran, by your res
olutions, it will be proper to take no measure, up
on this subject uutil it shall have been acted upon
by Maine.
Copies of the correspondence of this Depart
ment, and all the papers relating to the last d’-
in mid made upon the Governor of Maine, ol
Philbrook and Kelleran, are laid before you.
1 transmit to the Legislature copies of the last
semi-annual reports of the Banks of this State.
Forming, as the issues of the Banks do, the al
most exclusive medium through which all busi
ness is transacted and the value of property estim
ated; it is one ot the most important duties of the
Legislature to examine into their state, to com
pel them to t ulfil the conditions of their charters,
and to strengthen their capacity for usefulness.
The ruinous effects produced in many parts of
Our country by the late extraordinary commercial
pressure and demand for specie, have been, com
pantivelv, but slightly felt in tins State. The
general soundness of the condition of our Banks
enabled them, during their suspension of specie
payments, to retain the confidence ofthe country,
and at the same time, to give the usual facilities
to business through the use of their credit.—
Their reports show that all the banks which had
suspended, have resumed specie payments, ex
cept the Farmers Bank of Chattahoochee.—
Whilst the course ot the Banks in suspending spe
cie payments should be excused on account ofthe
force of the circumstances under which they act
ed, the Legislature should take care that it is not
agaiu pursued but from the like necessity. In
deed the general convertibility of Bank notes in
to specie, without difficulty or delay, is so impor
tant for settling balances when trade lias been a
gainst us, and keeping the rate of exchange at its
proper premium, that it may be advisable for the
Legislature to secure this objeet by additional en
actments.
Banks, when established upon proper princi
ples, and compelled to act up to their design,
should be sustained by the Slate as exceedingly
valuable instruments for adding to the wealth and
prosperity ofthe community, by the profitable em
ployment which they give to industry and talents
through the use of their credit and capitalthe
great advantages whichthey afford for carrying
on trade; the means which they furnish lor de
veloping the natural resources of the country,
and constructing important works of internal im
provement ; the stimulus which they give to en
terprise ; their tendency to enlarge the quantity of
active capital, and render its distribution conven
ient to the people, fix the rate of interest, and les
sen the exactions of usury.
Banks should he strictly prohibited from engag
ing in any speculation whatever. I would res
pectfully recommend that the privilege of hanking
shall not hereafter be conferred upon companies
chartered for other purposes. 1 am also of the
opinion that it will add to the public security, for
the proper conduct of Banks hereafter to be ere
ated, if tlieir charters shall require, that the stock
shall be destributed among numerous persons and
the amount to be held by individuals limited, so
that no one, nor even a few, will be enabled to ob
tain the entire control or management of any Bank;
experience having proved that private Banks are
too apt to run into speculation, and that the temp
tation to fraudulent combinations, aud excessive
credit to individuals, is too great to be usually
resisted, when Banks are in the hands of a few.
Intimately connected with the subject of Banks
is the policy proposed by the Administraion of the
General Goverment, of co lecting the public dues
exclusively in goid and silver, an entrusting their
safekeeping, until required for expenditure, to
individuals, instead ot Banks. The effect of these
measures, if they had been adopted by Congress,
would have been to have added to the cost of all
goods, upoi which duties are paid ; increased the
difficulty of purchasing public lands to every cit
izen, except large capitalists and office holders:
endangered th* currency, by constantly withdraw
ing from the Banks the basis of tlieir circulation ;
lessened the safety of the keeping ofthe revenue ;
added to the uncertainty and expense of trans
fering the public money from the places of collect
ion to the places of expenditure : and to have lock
ed up the public money, from the time of collect
ion until wanted tor 'he purposes of the Govern
ment, instead of permitting it to add to the circu
lating wealth of the country, through the means
of general deposites in the Banks. Nor would
the country have been compensated for these in
jurious consequences from the proposed meas
ures, by any corresponding advantages. The di
vorce of the government from the Banks could on
ly have resulted in tunning a more intimate con
nection between its beneficiaries and the people's
money ; and increasing the dependant e ofthe of
ficers of the Government and j üblio contractors
upon the President, by enhu iug the profits of
the spoils to be divided among them.
Blessed as our country is, with the most happilv
constituted form of Government, it belongs to
those who are entrusted with its administration,
so to direct public affairs, as to afford to the peo
ple the fullest enjoyment of all its advantages.—
That we may he enabled suceesfully to discharge
that portion of this dt ty which is imposed upon
us, is the earnest desire of.
Your Fellow Citizen,
GEORGE Li. GILMER.
OFFICIAL.
We understand, (says the Washington Globe,)
that the Texian Minister, on the occasion of ex
changing the ratifications of the boundary con
vention lately published, deliveied to the acting
Secretary of State, a note, in which, after stating
in friendly terms that although, since the note of
Mr. Forsyth, declining the proposition submitted
by Texas for her admission into the Union, the
question of annexation had been considered by
the United States Government as finally disposed
of, yet, inasmuch as the impression appeared still
to remain upon the public mind in both countries
that the proposition was still pending, he had
been instructed bv his Government to communi
cate to that of the United States its formal and
absolute withdrawal of that proposition.
Warning'— The steamboat Pilot, at Mobile,
has been fined'ssooo, and the Win. Wallace seiz
ed for breaches of the late law of Cougress rela
tive to steamboats.
A meeting of steamboat owners, officers, &c.
was lately held at Cincinnati, which gravely re
solved that the law of Congress regulating steam
boats pinches owners and officers rather severely,
and is, in almost every particular, any thing but
what it ought to be; that Cougress has exhibited
in the law an utter ignorance of the subject of
steam navigation; and that that section of the law
which requires “iron, rods or chains,” as a means
to steer by, is supremely ridiculous: wherefore,
the use of such rods or chains (in despite of Con
gress and courts) will nut he permitted on tlieir men
boats, or countenanced on those of others.
iitsa cm s&SL'itxxiHS:
From the st
of the S.ords and • on,mors."
LAUGHABLE SCLNF. iU THE HOUSE OF
COMMONS.
In my first series of tills work, I gave an amus
ing anecdote respecting Mr. Marlin. A still btt
ter remains to lie told My only regret is, thot
n i w .r-is c m convey the idea ot the thing itselj
liquid been speaking of the bad feelings, f re _
q ending in duels, which was often engen
dered iti the minds of honorable members in con
sequence of a misconception, not merely of what
was meant, but often of what was said by another
honorable gentlemen. “And, Mr. Spaker,” s ,j<]
Mr. Martin, with all that rich Irish brogue which
he retained till the last in as great perfection as if
he had never heard an Englishman open his
mouth, “And, Mr. Spaker, with vour permission
1 will give yours.-ls and the Houseaea.se in point’
That case, Mr. Spaker, occurred to meself. Y'ou
know, sir, and the House knows, that I wasopp os .
ed at the last election for Galway by Dennis O’-
Sweeney. Now, Mr. Spaker, I said
on the hustings about Dennis, and, by my
Dennis said something about me. [Loud laugh
ter.] Well, Mr. Spaker, I bate Dennis—as the
fact ot my having the honor of addressing you
sir, and honorable gintletnan around me proves—-
at the poll, and w as, sure enough, declared duly
elected for Galway. Well, sir, after the election
was over, we met in a hotel, and Dennis comes
up to me,and says, says he, “Dick Martin, [roars
of laughter,] you was after saying something j £)
your spaaefa, on the hnstins about me, w hich was
inconsistent with the character of a gintjeman.”
“•Faith, and it’s yourself, Denuis, my boy, is
quite mistaken in that same.”
“ ‘l’m no such thing,’ said he.
“‘lndeed, Dennis, you are though: you was
never more mistaken in ;*!1 your blessed life,’
said I.
“ ‘Don’t you th nk to humbug imp out of try be
lief, by any of your nonsense, Dick !’ [Renew
ed iaught r, in which the Speaker could not >e
frain from joining.]
•‘ ‘Then what was it T did s; y ?’ says I.
“ ‘You know that as well as 1 do,’ sav-. he.
“By G— 1 don’t,’ said Mr. Martin, in his own
unspeakable ludicrous manner
“Order, order, Mr. Martin,” shouted the sner.' -
er, as tlie other thundered out an oath, amidst t'.r
roars of laughter from all parts of the house.
“I beg your pardon, Mr. Spaker, and the par
don of this honorable House, if I said ar y thing
improper.”
‘“By G— you do though, Dick !’ said Dennis.
“Order, order, Mr. Martin, order, order;’ a
gain sung out the Speaker, his voice being almost
drowned amidst th** peals of laughter which re
sounded throughout the house.
“Mr. Spaker .” said Mr. Martin, w ith great sim
plicity, mingled with a wonderful shrewdness of
manner, “Mr. Spaker. it was not meself that gave
that oath, it was Dennis O’Sweeney I”
Again was the house convulsed with laughter,
and to such an extent were tin* risib’e faculties ot
the Speaker affected, that h< was obliged to cover
his mouth w ith the folds of his gown, while the
sides of his ample wig hteially danced about his
neck and shoulders, in the a nation of his head,
caused by his xcessive laughter.
Mr. Martin resumed —“Upon my honor as a
gintleman, I don’t know what you mane,’ said I.
“‘Well, then ’ says he. ‘did’nt you say I was
——’ 1 need not tell you, Mr. Spaker, what I
said he was,” observed Mr Martin, suddenly
checking himself. Here again the House was
convulsed with laughter.
“ ‘.Dick!” says he, you must retract.’
“I’ll be if 1 do,’ says 1 Mr. Spaker.”
Another burst til' laugh**i pealed through the
house and to such an extent was the Speaker in
fected with the universal ri bilitv, that he was
actually unable t * caM Mr. Maiiin to order. The
/olds of his gown were again in requisition, with
the view, if possible, of suppressing, by ‘heir ap
plication to his mouth, what is called a loud laugh.
No man was ever more ready, at all times and in
all circumstances, to uphold the dignity of the
house by enforcing a uniform decorousness in the
proceedings, than Mr. Manners Sutton, now
Lord Canterbury ; but the drolit ry * Mr. Mar
tin’s manner, in conjunction wi ; be. oddity of
his matter, would have been tci much for tiie
gravest and most dignified men. The thing was
altogether irresistible.
Mr. Martin, as soon as order w is in some meas
ure restored, resumed \ m w ict,
Dick,’ says Dennis.’’
“ *No, by—”
“Order, order, Mr. Martin, cried the Speak
er, before Mr. Martin had utter* c what the right
honorable gentleman conceived to be another
oath, and which he therefore washed to strangle
in the birth.
“1 beg your pardon, Mr. Spaker,” observed
Mr. M-rtin, “but ycm honor was mistaken this
time, and h. ve put yourself to u hirer ess try trou
ble for i was not oi .: B ve,.! any move, i
was • iiy going to sa . ‘No, by the powers 1
wont Iri rather you’d make a riddle of my body
first.’ ”
Rears of laughter, which lasted for a consid
erable time, again resounded through the house.
When they had subsided, Mr. Martin continued
his story .
“ ‘Then,’ said he, ‘expect the satisfaction which
is due to a gintleman ;’ and with that Mr. Spa
ker, he was iu the very act of laving the room.—
‘Dennis’ says I.
“ *Wliat ?’ says he.
“ ‘Don’t let us misunderstand each other,’
says I.
“ ‘lt’s quite plain,’ says he.
“ ‘May be it’s not so plain as you think, Denis,
said 1.
“ ‘Do you or do you not retract, and no more
blarney ?’ says he,
“ ‘ No, 1 don’t,’ says I, but if you’ll call on me
to-morrow morning at breakfast time, we’ll both
explain, and then I’ll break an agg or crack a flint
with y ou—whichever you plase, Dennis.’ [Loud
laughter.]
“ ‘Well, I will Dick,’ said he.”
“And faith, sure enough, Mr. Spaker, Dennis
O’Sweeny did kape his word, and he explained
and 1 explained, and we both explained, and lie
left tny room quite satisfied, and bowing to me as
politely as the Masters in Chancery do to you*
Mr. Spakeg v when they retire from your houo* •
table.”
And so saying, Mr. Martin resumed his seat,
amidst deafening roars of laughter, which lasted
tor two or three minutes.
The allusion to the Masters in Chancery * aS
exceedingly felicitous; for when they have oe
livered any message from the Lords to the Com
mons, they retire from the tablo- walking back-