Your committee would suggest another view of the question. This money was deposited with the State by the act of Congress. Whenever received, did it not go into the Treasury? If so, is it not there still? Has the constitutional mode of taking money from the Treasury been complied with? Has there been an act of the Legislature, and a warrant of the Governor? If not has the money been removed? If still in the Treasury, do not the towns sustain the relation of subordinate Treasurers to the Treasurer of the State? Are they not, in a certain sense, public officers? And if so, does not the tenure of their office, like that of other officers, depend upon the will of the Legislature? Your committee respectfully submit the following resolution. A. BAKER,

for the committee.

Resolved, That the act of July 4, 1838, entitled "An act in amendment of and in addition to an act entitled an act providing for the disposition of the public money of the United States, which shall be deposited with this State," approved January 13, 1837, was no infringement of any right of the towns, acquired under the latter act.

REPORT

OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE.

The select committee to whom was referred so much of the Governor's message as relates to an Insane Hospital; also the report of the Trustees of the New Hampshire Asylum for the In

sane.

REPORT:

That they coincide in opinion with his Excellency the Gover nor, that "the project of establishing an institution for ameliora ting the condition of the suffering insane in New Hampshire is a subject of intense interest to very many of our people, the success of which every philanthropist must sincerely desire."

As the necessity and expediency of the measure has been agi tated from time to time, it has become better understood in the

community at large, and it has been constantly gaining friends and strength from the time it was first broached to the Legislature, to the present period; and from the report of the Trustees, the way seems now to be clear for its establishment on a basis which will ensure its success and the accomplishment of the objects desired, without any appropriation except that already made.

The offer of the town of Concord to transfer to the corporation undoubted securities for the immediate payment of nine thousand five hundred dollars, whenever said Asylum shall be located in said town, we consider liberal; and when to this is added the eight hundred and twenty-five dollars which will be given by individuals on the same condition, making in the whole $10,325 00—it forms an important part of the fund necessary for the establishment of the institution. If we take the medium price, as stated in the report of the Trustees, of one hundred acres of land in the places in said town deemed most eligible for a location, viz: $37 1-2 per acre, there would remain in the Treasury of the corporation, out of the $30,931 99, the immediately available means on hand, (after purchasing the land, erecting and furnishing the buildings and fully preparing the same for the reception of 120 patients,) the sum of $3,354 69, to be expended in the purchase of such stock and farming utensils as might be needed, or for any other useful purpose.

In addition, we believe with the Trustees, that when the institution is once under way, it will be a nucleus around which will gather the charities of the humane and benevolent, to be appropriated either as the Trustees may direct, or to be kept as a fund, the interest of which shall go towards supporting the pauper and such other insane as may not possess sufficient means to defray their expenses at the Asylum.

In other States the most liberal donations have been made in aid of the State for this noblest of charities, and we may reasonably expect them in this-indeed, one bequest of about $10,000 has already been made which will come, at some future period, to the first institution that is established for the Insane in this State; and no doubt others will be made when the great advantages of such an institution from actual experience of them, shall have become more manifest to the community.

But even without any additional aid, either from the State or any other source, we believe, from the report of the Trustees, the institution would be enabled to sustain itself, that it would have sufficient patients if each was required to pay his or her pro

portional share of the sum necessary to defray all the current expenses of the institution.

Many Insane paupers, as well as the wealthy are now sent to Hospitals in other States, where frequently admittance is refused, entirely on account of applications from their own States, and when admitted, it is only at a price per week considerably excee ding in aggregate amount the sum necessary to carry on an Asylum, and thus are the Insane in this State compelled either to forego the advantages of an Asylum, or to contribute in supporting the Hospitals of other States. We have examined the computa tions of the Trustees, which are more satisfactory on account of their being given in detail, and perceive no under estimates or important omissions, and believe with them that the Insane could be supported at the institution at from $1,63 to $2,00 per week, and pay all the expenses of the Asylum, and that it is most desirable as an economical, money-saving establishment even without looking to any benefit of cure, amelioration or safety. The com fort and restoration of the Insane, however, it seems to your committee, will not be overlooked by any one who places the proper estimate upon his fellow man and adjudges dispassionately the relative value of mind and money, all of which with the ac companying bill, is respectfully submitted.

S. SWASEY,

for the committee.

REPORT

OF THE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS.

The standing committee on Elections, to whom was referred the remonstrance of Samuel Shaw and others, against the right of John T. Blake, of Kensington, to hold a seat in this House, have had the same under consideration and have directed me to report the following statement of facts as proved before your committee. It appeared in evidence before your committee that the whole number of votes in said town of Kensington, which were given for representative at the annual election in March, 1840, as stated in the town clerk's certificate, was one hundred and forty-nine, of which John T. Blake received seventy-six votes, being a majority of all the votes cast for representative. But it was object

ㄧㄣˊ

ed that some of the votes cast for representative were illegally received, and that certain individuals were not permitted to vote, because the Selectmen of said town refused to put their names upon the check list, as they were bound by law to do.

In support, of said objection it was proved that one John Tilton, (otherwise called John Tilton, 3d,) was permitted to vote, and did vote for representative at said election, who, as your committee believe, was not a resident in, said town of Kensington, at the time of said election, but was a resident of the town of Gilmanton, if he had any residence in this State. It was in evidence that said. Tilton was a native of said Gilmanton, where he has a mother and brother now living-that prior to the annual election in March, 1839, he had labored for one Batchelder in Kensington, occasionally, for several years, but at the same time called Gilmanton his home-that at said annual election in March 1839, his name was on the check list of said town of Gilmanton, and that he attended and voted in said Gilmanton at said election-that the last of March, 1839, he left said Gilmanton and went to said Batchelder's in Kensington, where he remained two or three weeks and was taxed in Kensington that year-that sometime about the iniddle of April, 1839, said Tilton left Kensington and went to Methuen, in Massachusetts, and hired out and remained there till about the middle of September, 1339, when, in consequence of an injury to one of his legs, he left Methuen and returned to Kensington and staid thereabout four weeks, and then went to Gilmanton and lived with his mother and brother till about the first of January, 1840, when he left Gilmanton and went to said Batchelder's in Kensington, where he lived on the tenth day of March last-that while he was at Methuen he had a trunk and some clothes, (worth about two dollars) at said Batchelder's. Upon these facts your committee were of opinion that said Tilton not having resided in said Kensington three months at any one time after the annual election in March, 1839, (when he exercised the right of suffrage in the town of Gilmanton,) and prior to the annual election in March, 1840, was not entitled to the right to vote in said Kensington at said election in 1840, and that his name was improperly put upon the check list, and his vote illegally received. It was also proved before your committee that said Tilton voted for John T. Blake for representative at said election in March, 1840.

It was also in evidence before your committee, that one Winthrop Wiggin, a man ninety-six years of age, was called by the moderator to vote for representative in said Kensington at said

election in March, 1840, but being at a distance from the moderator, he, the said Wiggin, handed his vote to the town clerk, who gave it to the moderator and he put it into the ballot box. It was also proved to the satisfaction of your committee, that the position of said Wiggin was such, at the time he gave his vote to the town clerk, that the moderator could not have seen it when it passed out of his, the said Wiggin's, hands. On examining the law your committee find that the third section of the act of June 26, 1827, entitled "An act more effectually to secure to the citizens of this State their right of suffrage," provides that "each voter shall deliver his ballot to the moderator in open meeting, and the moderator, on receiving the ballot, shall direct the clerk to check the name of the voter on the list," and the tenth section of the same act provides" that if any moderator, selectman or selectmen, presiding at any meeting of any town or place in this State, for the choice of any officer or officers usually chosen by ballot, shall receive and count any vote given at said meeting by proxy, and without the personal delivery of such vote by the person entitled to give the same, he or they shall forfeit the sum of twenty dollars for each and every vote so received and counted, to be recovered by action of debt." And your committee believe it to be within the spirit and letter of the law that votes should not be received and counted unless by the personal delivery of them by the voter to the moderator. If a voter can send his vote from one part of the house in which meetings are holden, to the moderator stationed at a distant part, your committee see no objection to his sending his vote to the moderator from his own house, and at the same time remain at home engaged in his ordinary employment. Such a doctrine, in the opinion of your committee, is too absurd to be contended for here or elsewhere; and as said Wiggin's vote was not received by the personal delivery of the same to the moderator, they have come to the conclusion that it ought not to have been counted by him, but should have been rejected. It was forther proved to the satisfaction of your committee that said Wiggin voted for John T. Blake for representative at said election in March, 1840.

It further appeared in evidence before your committee that the Collector of said Kensington, who was also one of the Selectmen, on the day before said annual election in March, 1840, arrested one Stephen Goodwin and threatened to convey him to jail for not paying his tax, and told Goodwin that he might have two hours to pay his tax, and if it was not paid in that time, he must go to jail, or request to have his tax abated. Goodwin told him that he did