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the public sentiment to the formation of a political party, which avows as its object the entire overthrow of the masonic institution; and as the means of accomplishing that end, the election to office of such persons only as will unite in their policy. Many of our most intelligent fellow-citizens refuse to co-operate in what they deem an undistinguishing and intolerant proscription. Entertaining an honest belief that the masonic institution has become useless, if it ever was valuable; that from the nature of its organization it is liable to be perverted to wicked and dangerous purposes, and that in this country secrecy and mystery are unnecessary and suspicious-they yet refuse to criminate all the members of the society in the misdeeds of a comparatively small number, and they deem sober and calm appeals to the understanding of the community to be a more effectual mode of procuring an abandonment of the masonic institution, than any party association, which may be subject to the imputation of personal motives.

The effect of the political organization alluded to, has been to compel a more strict and close union among those members of the fraternity, who will adhere to it, and to excite a sympathy in their favor among their friends and fellowcitizens, and thus to retard and obstruct the attainment of the professed object.

The irritation produced by this state of things has been most disastrous to the peace and happiness of society in that portion of the state. It has mingled in the business and in all the relations of life, and has affected almost every question of a public nature. Your Excellency, therefore, will not be surprised by the information, that efforts have been made on both sides, to connect it with the public prosecutions against the persons charged with a participation in the outrages upon William Morgan. On the one side, it probably has been supposed that their political objects would be promoted by a belief of the existence of such a connexion Their opponents have concurred in efforts to impress the same belief, probably with the expectation of diverting the sentiment against what is called 'the excitement,' and of being able to attribute to that cause alone, any convictions of the accused which might take place. Indeed this has been the most effectual weapon of defence, on the various trials, in which the pending prosecutions have been most erroneously and unjustly attributed to political motives, and in which the

minds of jurors have been constantly alarmed with the apprehension, that they might themselves act under the influence of the existing irritation.

But in fact there has been no such connexion, and it is due to the honor and dignity of the government, and to the purity of the administration of justice, that the error should be exposed. The duty has been felt to be as imperious as the task was difficult, to preserve the judicial proceedings which have taken place on the subject, wholly and absolutely free from the contamination of any party influence whatever. And I report to your Excellency, that this object has been accomplished, as far as the frailty of human nature would allow. Indeed the public sentiment in relation to the prosecutions, has undergone a change. The feverish anxiety and irritation which were produced by an apprehension that the power of the government would not be efficiently exerted, that it would be unequal to a full development of the facts of the case, have yielded to a conviction that all constitutional and legitimate measures which could be adopted, have been sedulously employed, and have resulted in throwing much light upon the transaction. The public mind has therefore become much tranquillized, and instead of vindictive hostility against those implicated, they are now rather considered as the infatuated instruments of a bad institution, than as culpable moral agents; and freemasonry, its obligations and its secresy, have become the objects of deep and extensive hostility. A strong feeling of individual sympathy has arisen in favor of the accused, of which a remarkable instance has recently been furnished in a verdict of acquittal, rendered under a state of evidence, which, to say the least, would have afforded very plausible grounds for a contrary result. I have conceived this statement of the actual condition of public sentiment, in the western part of this state, to be demanded, as well for the information of the government, as to correct the many and extravagant errors prevailing on that subject.

Notwithstanding much labor and time have been devoted to the investigation, it will probably be supposed that its progress has been slow, and to those unacquainted with the difficulties attending it, it may appear to have been unnecessarily procrastinated. The occasion seems therefore to require that the causes of the delay should be stated.

From the members of the masonic fraternity, who still adhere to it, and who consider themselves included in the warfare of which an account has been given, no assistance whatever has been received,although the occasions demanding it have been frequent. With but few exceptions, witnesses who still belonged to the institution, have been reluctant in their attendance at court, and apparently indisposed to testify. Difficulties which never occurred in any other prosecution, have been met at every step.-Witnesses have been secreted, they have been sent off into Canada, and into different states of the Union. They have been apprised of process being issued to compel their attendance,and have thereby been enabled to evade its service. In one instance, after a party implicated had been arrested and brought into this state, he was decoyed from the custody of the individual having him in charge, and finally escaped. These occurrences have been so numerous and various, as to forbid the belief that they were the result of individual effort alone, and they have evinced the concert of so many ageuts as to indicate an extensive combination to screen from punishment those charged with a participation in the offence upon William Morgan. No evidence, however, has come to my knowledge to justify the belief that the members of the masonic institution generally, have been engaged in any such combination.

It should not be inferred that the testimony which has been detailed in this report, can be produced on any one trial. Some of the witnesses have escaped beyond the reach of legal process; others peremptorily refuse to testify, and they are in such a situation, that they suppose themselves beyond the legal means of coercion. Facts and circumstances which have been fully proved on a previous trial by direct testimony, require therefore to be established on other occasions, by circumstantial evidence. From the number and variety of the witnesses to be examined, and the complicated nature of the questions to be determined, the investigations and the trials necessarily occupy much time.

Until the expiration of the period prescribed by law, for commencing prosecutions, I have attended all the courts in the different counties where 'indictments could be found, and have examined witnesses before the grand juries summoned at such courts respectively. From what has been already stated, it

will be seen how much time and effort have been required to discover testimony, to collect the necessary witnesses and to secure their attendance before the various grand juries, and at different courts, where trials were had or were expected.

Some of the indictments which had been found under the direction of my predecessor, it was ascertained were irregular, for causes which were not known to him, and which were beyond his control; and in those cases new indictments became necessary. There are now pending and untried, in the county of Niagara, indictments against twelve persons; in the county of Ontario against two persons; and in the county of Genessee,against four persons. At the general sessions in Ontario, in May last, Eli Bruce, who had been pre viously tried and convicted for a conspiracy to carry off William Morgan, but whose sentence had been suspended, to take the opinion of the supreme court, upon a question of law, was adjudged to imprisonment in the county jail for two years and four months. At the same court John Whitney and James Gillis were tried for the same offence; with respect to the latter, the jury did not agree; the former was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment in the county jail for one year and three months.

The circuit and oyer and terminer which were appointed for Niagara county, in April last, failed in consequence of the indisposition of the circuit judge. In July, a special circuit and oyer and terminer were held in that county, at which the indictments then pending there were removed by the defendants, by certiorari, into the supreme court. The circuit appointed to be held in that county, in the month of November last, failed, in consequence of the prolonged sitting of the Orleans circuit, so that the indictments pending there could not be brought to trial. In August last, a circuit and a court of oyer and terminer were held in Monroe county, by Judge Edwards, of the first district, at which the only indictment then pending there was removed into the supreme court, by the defendant. At the last October term of that court, a special motion was made by the defendant in that indictment, which was argued and denied; at the present term the defendant has interposed a special plea in abatement. These proceedings have hitherto prevented the joining issue upon the guilt or innocence of the defendant. In November last,

Elihu Mather was tried at the Orleans circuit, and after a trial of ten days was acquitted. A motion for a new trial has been made upon a case settled, which has been urged at the present term of the supreme court, and is not yet decided. What yet remains to be done will be seen from these details.

It is impossible to predict what time will be requisite to bring the pending prosecutions to a termination. It may be safely affirmed, however, that they cannot be terminated by trials, before the expiration of the term prescribed as the duration of the act; continuing in force the statute which originally au thorised the employment of a special

counsel.

Considering the number of witnesses required on the trial of the indictments, and the extraordinary difficulties attending the compelling their attendance by the usual means, some of which have been stated, it has occurred to me, and I respectfully suggest the propriety of extending the provisions of sections 22, 23 and 24, of Title 2d of Chapter and 4th Part of the Revised Statutes, so as to confer the power which is there given to justices of the peace, in requiring sureties from witnesses to criminal courts and magistrates after indictment found. I do not entertain any doubt of their now possessing such power, but its effectual exercise depends much upon its being distinctly known that it is possessed. The allowance which has been made to witnesses under the law authorising the appointment of special counsel has been confined to their actual and necessary expenses. Many of them have repeatedly been obliged to leave their homes and attend court after court, for weeks, during which their business has suffered, and they have been materially injured. Upon these the discharge of their duty has been most oppressive. An indemnity for the loss of their time is not expected, but something towards compensation for the extraordinary sacrifices which they will in future be compelled to make in the shape, either of a specific daily allowance, or of such sum as the presiding judge of the court shall deem reasonable, seems demanded by obvious considerations of justice. The public would not probably sustain any loss by such a provision, as it will save the otherwise inevitable expense of despatching officers for such witnesses, and of delaying courts and juries to procure their attendance.

JOHN C. SPENCER.

JANUARY 26, 1830.

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Real estate during Personal. the same period. In 1822 $17,958,570 1822 $53,000,000 1823 33,246,941 1823 50,000,000 1824 35,550,906 1824 52,000,000 1825 42,734,151 1825 58,000,000 1826 42,534,931 1826 64,000,000 1827 39,594,156 1827 72,000,000 1828 36,879,653 1828 77,000,000 1829 35,984,136 1829 76,000,000 The amount of stocks, in banks, insurance companies, &c. was, in addition, $21.944,235.

MORTALITY IN NEW YORK. - The number of deaths in the city of New York in 1829, was 5,094 ; in 1828, 5.181; in 1827, 5,181; in 1826, 4,923.

Of the persons deceased in 1829, 1,333 were men, 1011 women, 1,584 boys, and 1166 girls; total, males, 2917, females 2177-excess of males 740. Number of deaths in January, 421; February, 410; March, 420; April, 356; May, 383; June, 337; July, 471; August, 597; September, 523; October, 434; November, 361; December, 381. The smallest number of deaths was in June, and the greatest in August.

During the session of the legislature for 1830, a bill was introduced for the purpose of enabling the Holland Company to purchase in certain lands in the town of Sheldon, in the county of Genesee, upon sales under certain mortgages, which were assigned to them by Phelps and Chipman. The bill was introduced into the legislature on the memorial of the Agent General of the Company, sanctioned by the wishes of the settlers resident upon the land in question; and in order to secure to them [the settlers] a perfect title, inasmuch as many of the title deeds, derived from Phelps and Chipman, had been lost or destroyed, so that it would be difficult to trace the title to any authentic source.

The introduction of this having excited attention, rumors were circulated in the western part of the state (where extensive tracts are held under the title of this company) that the title of the company had escheated to the state. Efforts were made by some speculators to excite a prejudice against the rights of the company, which caused the publication of its chain of title. As this document is interesting and contains an account of the evidence upon which the title of this large tract of country depends, we insert it at length.

'King James I. in 1620 granted to the Plymouth Company, a tract of country called New England; running through the continent, from the Atlantic to the

Pacific ocean, part of which, also extend-
ing to the Pacific, was granted in 1628,
by the Plymouth Company to Sir Henry
Roswell and his associates, called the
Massachusetts Bay Company.

The first charter of Massachusetts granted by king Charles I. appears to have been vacated by quo warranto; a second charter was granted by William and Mary, in 1691, in which the territorial limits of the province, although differently bounded, are also made to extend westwardly to the Pacific ocean.

"The Province of New York was granted in 1663 by Charles II. to the Duke of York and Albany, (afterwards king James 11.) who subsequently granted to Berkeley and Carteret the province of New Jersey. The remainder of the country comprehended in the grant of king Charles II. constituted the province of New York, which always claimed to extend her limits, both as to right of property and jurisdiction, as far north as the bounds of Canada.

'Of the territory which by the treaty of peace of 1783, was ceded by Great Britain to the United States in their collective capacity, each of the individual States claimed such portions as were comprehended within their original

grants or charters.

'Massachusetts consequently laid claim to a strip of land extending to the westerly bounds of the United States, thus dividing the state of New York into two parts.

The legislature of Massachusetts, by two acts passed 13th November, 1784, and 17th March, 1785, authorized a cession, by their delegates in congress, to the United States, of such part of the territory between the Hudson and Mississippi rivers as the delegates might think proper, under which authority, a deed of cession was executed by the delegates on the 18th April, 1785.'

By this deed, all the lands which she claimed, west of the meridian which now constitutes the west bounds of this state, were ceded to the United States.

The claim of Massschusetts to all the remaining territory west of the Hudson, was finally adjusted and settled, by a convention, concluded at Hartford, Dec. 16, 1785; by which the presumptive right of soil, (or right of obtaining it of the native Indians,) was confirmed to her, of all the territory of this state, west of a meridian line running through Sen. eca lake, a strip of one mile in width, bounding on the Niagara river, and run. ning its whole length,

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By a concurrent resolution of the legislature of Massachusetts, passed in the house of representatives, on the 5th, and in the senate on the 8th March, 1791, and duly approved by the governor, a committee of each branch was appointed with power to negotiate a sale to Samuel Ogden, of all the lands ceded to that state, by the state of New York, excepting such parts thereof as had been previously granted to the United States, and such parts thereof as then belonged to Nathaniel Gorham and Oliver Phelps, their heirs or assigns, by virtue of any grant or confirmation of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, and receiving one equal undivided sixteenth part of the unexcepted lands. The committee was composed of Samuel Phillips, Nathaniel Wells, David Cobb, William Eustis and Thomas Davis, who, in pursuance of the powers thus delegated to them, concluded, and on the 12th March, 1791, entered into, and executed a written contract of sale, in the form of an indenture, with Samuel Ogden, by

which, on behalf of Massachusetts, they covenanted upon the terms and conditions therein specified, to convey to him or to his assigns all the estate and interest of that commonwealth, in the lands referred to in the foregoing resolution. The referred sixtieth part was afterwards conveyed to Robert Morris, by the state of Massachusetts.

The lands of the Holland Land Company, are embraced in four deeds of conveyance, executed to Robert Morris, by the above named committee, all dated 11th May, 1791, each received the contract with Samuel Ogden, as contained in the instrument of the 12th March, 1791, together with his release of the covenants contained in that intrument, and his agreement that the lands therein described should be conveyed to Robert Morris, each reserving one undivided sixtieth part of the premises therein described, and severally conveying each a distinct tract of land supposed to contain 800,000 acres.'

NEW JERSEY.

Sept. 1829. The controversy which has so long existed between New York and this state respecting boundaries now began to assume a serious aspect. Some beds of oysters had been planted by the New Jersey oyster company near Amboy on the disputed territory and this month the oystermen from Staten Island commenced fishing there. Remonstrances were made against these alleged trespasses, which being diregarded resort was had to military force, and the fishermen were for a time driven off. They however returned and finally carried off the whole bed valued at $25,000. Bills of indictment were preferred against some of them at the next term of the Middlesex Court of New Jersey but no trial took place as the persons indicted were not placed within the jurisdiction of New Jersey.

The Legislature met on the 27th Oct. at Trenton, Alexander Wurts, was elected speaker of the Assembly, and Edward Condict, Vice-President of Council.

James D. Wescott was appointed Secretary of Council, and Borden M. Voorhoes, Clerk to the House.

In joint meeting of the two Houses on the 30th Garret D. Wall, Esq. (Jack son) was appointed Governor 39, vice Isaac H. Williamson, Esq. (Anti-Jack son) 15.

Mt Wall declined the appointment and Peter D. Vroom was chosen in his place.

The legislature of the state after a session of a few days only, adjourned to meet again on the 5th of January.

At this session of the legislature all minors were exempted from militia duty.

In the house of assembly, on the 7th Nov. Mr Hornblower, of Essex, offered the following preamble and resolution.

Whereas the interest and prosperity of the state of New Jersey, in common with the other states of the union, essentially depend upon a proper protection and encouragement of DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES AND HOME INDUSTRY: And whereas, the tariff lately established by congress, is calculated to afford such protection and encouragement, to inspire a spirit of national enterprise and industry, and to promote the wealth and internal resources of our country, which can never be realized while dependent on foreign manuafactures :-Therefore,

Resolved, by the council and general assembly of the state of New Jersey, That the senators and representatives of this state, in the congress of the United States, be, and they are hereby requested, by their votes and influence in that body, to oppose a repeal, or any such modification or alteration of the existing

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