I am aware that an objection may be, as it heretofore has been, urged, that great changes have taken place since the valuation of 1830, and that therefore, a tax based upon that valuation would be unequal and unjust. A proposition for a tax may always be met with objections of this sort, in a young and rapidly growing State, and subject, as all property is to constant fluctuation and change. Precise and perfect equality is at no time attainable. If you approach as near it as is practicable under existing circumstances, it is all that can reasonably be required of you. Our constituents, I am persuaded, will submit to it cheerfully. If they are too just to be unwilling to support a government instituted by themselves, and administered for their benefit, so are they too patriotic not to be willing to submit to far greater sacrifices than the assessment of this tax, unequal to some extent though it might be, when the good of the State requires it. Besides, is it not worthy of consideration, that if a tax based upon the last valuation would operate more favorably to one portion of the State than to others, it would be to the younger and newly settled portion; and this class of our population it has always been the policy of the State to foster and encourage. And still further, may not some offset for this inequality be found in the excess of representation in the Legislature which the older portions of the State enjoy over the younger.

The difficulty presented in this case, will very naturally suggest the expediency of avoiding it in future, by causing the valuation to be taken oftener than the periods now fixed by law. Once in five, instead of once in ten years, it seems to me, would be preferable, while the State is rapidly advancing in wealth and population.

The appropriation for the Insane Hospital made at the last session of the Legislature being exhausted, the work has consequently been suspended. The cost of finishing the south wing and the centre, agreeably to the apparent design of the last Legislature, is estimated by the Superintendent, at five thousand four hundred dollars-and for finishing the north wing, three thousand six hundred dollars. If an appropriation be made for either object, another appropriation, perhaps, will be needed to furnish suitably the part thus completed, and to defray the expenses incident to getting the institution into operation. In this event, also, it will be necessary to make some provision for the appointment of officers, and to adopt some permanent system of government for the institution.

The omission to make an appropriation at the last session for a continuance of the geological survey of the State, I trust may be regarded rather as a temporary suspension of the survey, than a final

abandonment of it. Aside from the public benefits anticipated from so trifling an expenditure, it would seem to be but just to those portions of the State thus far neglected, that the survey should, at some time, be resumed. The time of recommencement is not very important, and should of course be determined by the condition of the Treasury.

On the subject of the Militia, 1 do not propose to make any suggestions in addition to those contained in my message of January last. My views, then fully expressed, remain unchanged. Permit me, however, to refer you to some valuable suggestions upon this subject in the accompanying Report of the Adjutant General.

In regard also to the important interests of agriculture and education, I would respectfully refer you to my communication to the Legislature of last year, having nothing new to add upon these subjects.

I feel constrained to repeat a former recommendation in regard to an additional Judge to the Supreme Judicial Court. The experience of another year has only tended to fortify and confirm the reasons then advanced.

The Commissioners appointed to revise the laws of the State, have, with the termination of the

year, brought their arduous and important labors to a close. Their Report, which is before you, will undoubtedly receive that careful and laborious attention which its magnitude and deep interest to the State require.

The duty of practising a rigid economy at all times, is obvious; but especially is it incumbent on us in the present exhausted condition of the Treasury—and when the necessary supplies, for the present at least, must probably be obtained by a resort to taxation.

The Act of March 21, 1835, restraining the emission and circulation of bank bills of a small denomination was suspended for the period of two years by an Act passed March 8, 1838. The term of suspension being soon to expire, the subject will require your further consideration at the present

session.

The subject of the currency is one of general and absorbing interest, and indeed may be said to affect, more or less, the business and interests of every man in the community. And however we may differ as to the best means of securing a sound currency, all will agree, that an unsound or unstable one, is a curse to any country in which it exists. How it has been in our own country we all know from bitter

experience. The wonderfully rapid transitions from abundant plenty to extreme scarcity, that we have so frequently witnessed, producing a corresponding change in the value and prices of property, while they astound those who are uninitiated in the mysteries of banking, are ruinous to the regular business and pursuits of all. And what else can rationally be expected? When bank bills constitute the currency of a country, and it rests in the decision of a few individuals, who are not directly amenable to the public, and who are actuated by like motives and passions, and governed by like interests with other men, whether money shall be plenty or scarce, it would be unreasonable to expect to be exempt from constant if not ruinous fluctuations. I would not be unjust to banks any more than I would to individuals. If they have rights, let them be scrupulously respected. If they are under obligations let their performance be rigidly exacted. Without therefore seeking to destroy, I would contend for such a regulation and control of them as to prevent, if possible, a recurrence of the evils alluded to. They should not have the power, as they now have, incidentally, by the natural operation and effect of banking, to exclude all specie from circulation and to force an entire, and often a depreciated, paper currency upon the community. A portion, at least, of the currency should be beyond their control and emphatically in the hands of the people. Then notwithstanding a