Year: 1860



 We have reason gratefully to acknowledge oul obligations to God, in that He has continued tt bless our Commonwealth with general health peace and prosperity; and that the unusual ex citement which arose from the agitation of ques tions of public interest, during the recent cleo tion canvass, has been so speedily followed by 6 state of tranquility. This result furnishes grati lying evidence that the people are ready to acqui esce cheerfully, in the will of the majority, pro- perly expressed; and that they rest under such a consciousness of security from any extraordinary encroachments upon their rights, as naturally iI- spires renewed confidence in the stability and permanency of our free institutions

 DUTIES OF THE LEGISLATURE.

 In accordance with the provisions of law you are assembled, as the representatives of the peo- pie, to repeal or amend any statutes which may improperly enbarrass lawful enterprise, or con tict with public interest, and to enact such new laws as will more fully secure the blessings which our fathers had i'll view when they laid the foundations for republican form of civil gov ernment.

 The laws of commonwealth should define the duties of it's public officers, and opens a way for the speedy adjudication of questions brought be- fore the courts of justice. They should deter mine the manner in which the expenses of the government shall be defrayed, and how super. 1 of their own creation. They should aid the cause of education, make provision for those who, by reason of the afflictIOns of Divine Providence are unable to provide for their own necessities shield morality and virtue from the open assaults of vice and crime and protect every citizen in the enjoyment of his evil rights and religious liber- ty. They should originate in the necessities of the people, be founded upon their pursuits and usages, and conform to the natural condition of the State, and to its relations to other govern ments. There is, however, some danger that these principles will not always be observed and that scheming and selfish men, by combinations outside of legislative body, will seek, by ind- rect means,to influence legislative action so as to secure the passage of resolutions, and the enact ment of laws, limited in their application and having little or no tendency to promote the pub lie welfare. While carefully guarding against such abuses, we should, at the same time, re- member that legislation is necessarily progress ive and never complete. In government where inventive genius is stimulated and rewarded ; where science is making new applications to the arts i; where natural resources are in process of development; where an intelligent and energet- ic people are encouraged to enter untred fields of honorable pursuit, there will spring up new kinds of business as varied as the genius and re- sources of the people, each struggling for life

 

 claims for favor, until these new interests clash with long established customs and demand new legislation-such legislation as will tend to ad- just and balance conflicting interests and harnl- onize every department of laudable enterprise. So, under laws which originally promised pro- lection and security, practices, not clearly fore seen or guarded against, often spring up to i'm pair the rights of the citizen, and require new statutory provisions for.their correction. PROTECTION TO THE BALLor-Box.

 To secure equitable laws, and to establish the government in the confidence of the governed, not only are intelligence and virtue essential but it is necessary to shield the balot-box from the assaults of ignorance and fraud. So far as the constitution and laws open way for men to ex- ercise the privilege of suffrage, arbitrary tests in contravention of such provisions should not be applied or tolerated. Nor should desire to ex- tend such privilege influence us to lower, or break down, those safeguards which are necessa- ry to protect the rights of every citizen.

 These principles have sometimes been disre. garded, and fraudulent practices are believed to have occurred under our laws which relate to voting on naturalization papers and certificates j; and in the admission of electors on days of elec- tion, when crowds of applicants prevent the boards from coming to correct decision upon their claims. therefore submit this subject to your special attention and would recommend,

 First : That registry, or list, of those who are by law entitled to vote on naturalization pa- pers, or certificates shall be perfected, and pub lshed, specified time before the day of election and that no such person be allowed to vote un- less his name shall have been registered on said list

 Second: That the law which makes it the duty of the Selectmen and Town Clerk, upon the re- quest of any elector, to require an applicant for the privileges of an elector to read, publicly clause in the constitution or laws of this State. shall make such requirements imperative, and that the reading shall be Tn the English language

 Third That no electors shall be made on days of election.

 PROTECTION TO PROPERTY

 It is well known that many persons charged with embezzlement forgery, and kindred crimes, have been arrested, bound over for trial had their bonds reduced, forfeited the same, and escaped the penalty of the law. Where the amount of money, or the value of property involved in the fraudwas large. it has but too often been evil dent to the public that the party charged was enabled, by the complcity of others, and the use of portion of the fruits of his crime, to effect compromise with those immediately and pecunia- rily interested or to influence witnesses to absent themselves from his trial, and thus has escaped conviction. Such occurrences break down reverence for law, encourage the commission of grave offences against property, and impress the public mind with the idea that the greater the criminal the more certain his escape from pun ishment.

 It may be difficult to find remedy for this great and growing evil but l will venture to suggest that, whenever person charged with crime, (after preliminary examination, or, waiving an examination, before an inferior cOurt,) shall be bound over for trial before Su- peri0r Court, such court shall not reduce the amount of the bond, nor in any case shall the bond be less than the amount or value of prop erty involved in the alleged crime, as it shall ap- pear by the testimony before the court. CONNECTICUT AND NEW YORK BOUNDARY LINE. Since the last meeting of the General Assem- ply, His Excellency, the Governor of New York, has appointed new Board of Commissioners to act with Commissioners appointed by this State to ascertain and settle the boundary line be- tween the two States

 The joint Commissioners have had a number of meetings, but have come to no satisfactory conclusion. The Commissioners on the part of the State of New York claim to have discover ed the line described in an agreement made be- tween the Province of New York and the colo ny of Connecticut, in l73l, which line runs through several monuments, each described as a stake and heap of stones," and which makes an angle at every second or fourth mile at Ridge field Corner aud the Massachusetts line, and they claim that such line is the true boundary.

 The Connecticut Commissioners claim that in 1725, the Commissioners of said Province Of New York, and of the Colony of Connecticut,