The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1846-01-07
MESSAGE
OF THE
q ov z r N Q r
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE
OF NEW YORK.
10 the Senate and AssemNy:
EsHolc Cttisens:

lo8l0dturc 10 0ovOlveQ the Qufy OF making the law
Its action IL the rule OF administration and execu-
zion. That action Is over al and rests upon all.
II binds the conduct of men to the extent OF the
treme penalty Of human life, and the interests Of
as property The office Of the legalator is one Of
the highest dignity. The trust reLosed in him by
his constituency is one Of the gravest import. Our
ambition should be to discharge this trust well and
measured by the strength Of our consciousness that
sound principles, dislnterested intentions and pa
triotic impulses govern our acts.
The rejection that we are the mere agents Of the
should be everpresent with W.. The great elements
OF their prosperity are in their hands. not ours.
Their own patient industry and careful frugalty,
and their firm devotion to equal rights and equal laws
are the foundation and the life of institutions,
and are within their own keeping. Laws are neces
sary to enable them to pursue this industry and en-
10Y is fruits-o obtain these rights and reap their
benefits. Burdens must be imposed upon them and
these laws into effect. These things they cannot
well do in person. Hence the delegation of power
to us; and the discharge Of this agency is the res
Ronsi6ie duty upon which we are about to enter =
The feweet and simplest laws consistent with the
security Of the great objects to be attained, and the
lghtest burdens which their enforcement will per-
mt, must be the best and wisest execution of the
trust the most salutary and acceptable to the
sttuency, and the most honorable to the represent
tative
If these simple principles are kept steadily in
view and permitted to govern our action, our duties
will be rendered comparatively easy their per.
to the public II we try our measures by the infiu-
ences they must exert upon the intereets and pur-
suits OF all classes of society, and carefully compare
every expenditure we aHthorise with the promises
OF benefit to the whole people, we shall escape the
worst perplexites which are usually attendant upon
legislation; avoid the most serious dangers which
beset our path and lay no foundation for the COM
plants which most deeply disturb the public mind
That legislation which equalizes the benefits
and burdens OF government, extends the same
encouragement TO the enterprise and industry OF
ell in every situation and employment, and at
will difiuse prosperity throughout a community /;
because. under such q system Of laws, all will
feel that the fruits Of their industry are justly Sc
TO confer favors by law upon classes or locali-
ties. produce competition destructive to profitable
industry; strife, not to earn, but to gain the earn
ings OF others. Such policy. may accumulate
lation, and may, to the superficial observer, present
the greater show Of prosperity but the appearance
artificial and delusive and is produced by fore
e. and unequal distribution Of the proceeds Of the
separate capital from productive labor, and, carried
out to ts full extent will produce the singular result,
that he who labors least may accumulate most, and
he who works the hardest may know the most
want.
"A choice between these lines of policy, in the dis.
char ye Of our legislative duties cannot be difficult,
and will not, trust, be doubtful.
In presenting to you the condition Of the State,
first place. ..
In my annual message Of the last year, it became
my UNPLEASANT duty to announce to the Legislature
that the public peace had been interrupted the laws
resisted BY armed force, and that my predecessor
had been compelled to order into service portion
OF the militia OF the State, to preserve the one and
enforce the other. That military force was in the
field at the time that communication was made TO
In hat pauc 0av ri
character OF these disturbances, and, in every form
which presented itself to my mind az likely to exert
beneficial influence, appealed to the tenants OF the
estates, between whom and the landlords Of the
same estates the controversy nominally existed to
change their course, and Withdraw their counte.
nance, their influence, and their contributions OF
money and means from the desperate men who
were making armed resistance against the laws.
AT that time human life had been sacrificed, In
two several instances, to the mad spirit OF insubor
dinaton, and those incidents referred to as ma
tural fruits Of such unlawful violence and as start
ling warnings Of worse results, if the same spirit
continued to be encouraged.
These disturbances, and the proper remedies to
be applied to them, occupied much OF the time Of
the last legislature, and among other measures adop
guised and armed" The provisions Of this law
were stringent, and its penalties severe, that
the confident hope was INDUCED OF an abandonment
OF the use OF the disguises, the protection OF which,
as experience had shown, constituted the principal
danger. Repeated instances OF fragrant outrage had
demonstrated that those who would stoop to dis
guee their persons, in pursuit of unlawful object,
tecion Of the disguise sufficiently strengthened, to
bring them to the commission OF any degree OF
crime. In other words, the universal principle was
illustrated in these proceedings that crime requires
concealment and that he who dare not, in the open
light, look the law in the face, will be embodened.
under the cover of darkness, or the protection OF
the mask, to outrage Its requirements, and strike
down its defenceess ministers.
This law had not long been in force, when it be-
came apparent that the hopes entertained OF its ga
luiary influence were not to be realized. Confidence
IN the DISCUSSES became stronger than the lear OF
punishment, and parties ct disguised men began to
show themselves In the excited districts: The coun-
~ OF Delaware, heretofore comparatively peaceful,
became the theatre Of more open and active resist
ance against the officers of the law, than had pre-
viously prevailed elsewhere The assembls1es OF dis
gulsed men were more frequent,m more numerous, and
their proceedings more daring and desperate, than
had characterized the disturbances in any other
quarter. So also, these lawless outrages and their
perpetrators were met In that county, more promptly,
firmly, and energeticay, than they had been before
encountered, without the aid OF State military
force; and the law-abiding citizens of the county,
led on by their civil officers to their lasting honor
oveIcame the resisters by their unaided efforts.
The courts and juries Of the county proved them
selves as firm and faithful to the law the body Of
citizens had done. and those arrested in disguise and
with arms, were indicted, tried, convicted, and
three OF the number sentenced to imprisonment in
the State prison, each for the term Of two years.
These energetic proceedings appeared, for the
time, 10 have subdued the nsurrcctionary spirit, 40
well in the other excited counties rs in Delaware,
and again the hope was INDUCED, that if excitement
had not given place to reflection and passion to rea-
son. a. least had been that the sreneth OF the
law, and the love Of peace and order in the breasts
of our intelligent and patriotic citizens, were too
powerful for resistance of the character attempted.
and that further efforts Of that description would be
abandoned.
In Delaware county, nothing ranspIred, for
MONTHS to dispel this pleasing hope, though in the
adjoining county OF Schoharie, various outrages
were committed; the sheriff was forcibly resisted,
and was compelled to resort to the provisions OF the
net of the last session, to enforce the law and pre-
serve ORDER" and obtain permission to raise a
guard TO assist him to serve legal process. So in
the county Of Columbia, several gross outrages
were committed upon the rights and property Of
private persons; and, in the month Of May, one Of
the deputies of the sheriff Of that county, while
quietly walking in the highway, in company with