The Massachusetts spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1821-1823, 1821-06-13
Massachusetts Legislature.

In SEMaTE, MONDAY, JUNE 4.

n JOINT COLnMilteS was appointed 10
report on the expediency of restraining
and regulating Itinerunt Shozrmen.
Hon. Messrs. Williams and Austin
were added to the committee of the
House on the laws respecting the set
Element of Estates, and the liability of
sureties for Executors, Administrators,
and Guardians.
TUESDAY, JUNE 5.
Court of Common Pteas.-The Sen
ate refused, by decided vote, to con-
cur with the honorable House in ap-
pointing Committee to report on the
expediency of repeating the law, pass
ed by the last General Court, establish
ing Court of Common Pleas for the
State.
A bill passed to be engrossed, to al
ter the term of the meeting of the
Court of Sessions, in Franklin County,
from the first Tuesday of September.
to the second Tuesday of the same
month, annually.
JOINT Committees.
The Hon. Messrs. Motif and Shaw,
Messrs. Marston, of B. Strong, of S. H..
and Fowler, Of w. were appointed to
report on the laws respecting Elections.
The Hon. Messrs. Reynolds and Doc
little, Messrs- Ward, of w. Hobart, of
Leicester, and Williams, of Boston,
were appointed to report on the regu-
latioD of Itinerant Sho1vmen.
The Hon. Messrs. Dwight and Thorn
as. Messrs. Hooper, of NJ. Lincoln, of
w. and Barnard, of Sheffield, were APP
pointed to report on applications Of sew
eral Banks for the repeal Of the tax
thereon.
The Hon. Messrs. Williams and Aus
tin, Messrs. Thaxter, of w. Williams,
of N. B. and Sprague, of Salem, were
appointed to report on the laws for the
settlement of estates ofpersons deceased.
A motion that the committee on the
new Valuation, consist of eight mem
bers on the part of the Senate being
negatived, the Hon. Mr.. Varnum gave
notice that he should tomorrow move
for a reconsideration OF the vote.
Convention Of the tsco Houses
The two Houses met in Convention
at IL o'clock, to receive a communica-
ton from His Excellency the Cover
nou,, agreeably to assignment. His
Excelleney came in, accompanied by
the Lieutenant-G overnour, the Council,
Treasurer and Secretary of State, and
preceded by the Sheriff Of Suffolk,
and delivered the following
SPEECH:
Gentlemen of the Senate, and
Gentlemen Of the Hotsse Of Representatives..
THE general prevalence of industrious
habits, and of good manners and morals in
the community which YOU represent, is a sub
iect of pleasing contemplation. 1t eacour-
ages the persuasion, SO grateful to every BE-
neyolent mind, that religion and the laws are
etfecting those salutary purposes which they
were intended to produce. 1t is at the same
time satisfactory pledge of The future pros
perity and happiness of the people of the
Commonwealth.
The truth of no position is more fully es- |
tablished, than that q close connexion SUBJ |
sists between the morals Of people and their |
enioyments. And as this connexion results !
from an order Of things ordained by the great |
Creator, it must be indissoluble. Evils Incl |
dent to humanity, communities and individ- |
uals ought to be prepared to encounter We |
are not authorized to look for an exemption |
from moral, any more than from physical |
evil. Under the present economy of Provi- |
dence, vice and crime must be expected to |
intermingle themselves with the affairs of |
men. Crimes which shock the moral sense |
of mankind, which invade the rights of |
property, and destroy orput in jeopardy the |
lives of men, continue to be perpetrated; and |
the vigilance of the Legislator, no less than |
of the Ma istrate, is In constant requisition, |
to guard the community from the midnight |
flames of the lncendh,Ey, the depredations of /
the Thief and Burglar, and the ferocioas as |
saults Of the Assassin. The history of the |
word, and our own experience, nevertheless, |
tend to inspire belief in the practicability |
Of gradual amelioration.
Men, it is true, are in all ages alike
They have the same essential wants to sup
ply, and the same passions soliciting gratifica,
ton. But they appear under different as
poets, which are in greater or less degree |
induced by circumstances, and oftentimes by
circumstances over which they have no con-
troll. Climate and other physical causes have |
no inconsid-rable agency in modifying the pas
sion, and forming the character; in leading to
courses of vice and crime, or in awakening sem
tinents and efforts of virtue. Forms of gov
eminent, modes of religion, and different states
of civilization and refinement, exert power
full influence in forming the manners and NOR
ais Of people. And here may we not gather
strong hopes Of the continued prosperity and