vote of the two houses, for six years. The probate judge is elected by the people of the county for four years, and the Recorder by the people of the city of St. Louis, for two years.

County Courts. The jurisdiction of these courts is limited to matters of probate and local county affairs, as roads, &c. A County Court sits in each county, and is composed of three justices, who are elected by the people, and hold their offices for four years. An appeal lies to the Circuit Court. The County Court of St. Louis County is composed of seven judges. They are relieved from probate duties by the separate court above mentioned.

The constitution of Missouri is amendable by a two-thirds vote, in two consecutive legislatures, upon the proposition; and amendments have been once voted upon favorably to elect all the judges by the people of the districts, and the proposition will probably be adopted with great unanimity. Amount of State debt, $ 684,997.40. Interest on debt, $73,100.

The Legislature meets biennially, on the first Monday in December. The pay of the members is $2 a day for the first fifty days, and $1 a day for the rest of the session, with $2 for every twenty miles' travel.

The judges of the Supreme Court are elected, by joint vote of the General Assembly, for six years, and until their successors are elected and qualified. The Supreme Court now holds four sessions, the State being divided into

The judges of the District Court are elected, by the voters in their district, for five years, and until their successors are elected and qualified.

FINANCES.

The value of the productive property held by the State is $11,277,139. The absolute State debt is $55,000, on which the interest is $5,500 per annum. The revenue is derived from taxes upon real and personal property. The expenditures are the salaries of State officers and court expenses, and for the year ending November 30, 1848, were,- for the Legislature, $10,181; Executive, $2,500; Judiciary, $7,020.92; public buildings at Iowa City, $3,200; interest, $2,552.37; miscellaneous, $7,059.45. Total, $ 32,513.74. As the sessions of the Legislature are biennial, the ordinary annual expenditure, exclusive of debts and schools, is about $19,000.

The aggregate valuation of taxable property (according to the assessors' returns for 1849) is $ 18,479,751, being $3,008,648 more than in 1848. The following are the various items: Acres of land, 3,150,394, value, with improvements, $10,349,624; value of town lots and improvements, $2,945,299; value of capital employed in merchandise, $819,637; value of mills, manufactories, distilleries, carding machines, and tan-yards, with the stock employed, $319,211; horses over two years old, 34,741, value, $1,272,005; mules and asses one year old, 231, value, $ 12,609; neat cattle over two years old, 91,222, value, $953,513; sheep over six months old, 140,787, value, $156,168; hogs six months old, 226,861, value, $258,189; pleasure carriages, 4,756, value, $167,200; watches, 1,311, value, $45,427; piano-fortes, 47, value, $6,810; value of capital stocks and profits in any company incorporated or unincorporated, $12,293; property in boats or vessels, $19,194; all other personal property over $100, $237,265; value of gold and silver coin and bank-notes in actual possession, $213,782; claims for money or other consideration, $510,577; value of annuities, $3,918; amount of notes, mortgages, &c., $ 108,692; number of polls, 29,397. Levy for State purposes, 3 mills on $1. The State tax in 1848 was $37,884.33, and in 1849 was $47,249.42, being an increase of 24 per cent.

Common Schools. It is provided by the constitution, that a Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be chosen by the people for three years, and that all lands granted by Congress to this State, all escheated estates, and such per cent. as may be granted by Congress on the sale of the public lands in Iowa, shall constitute a perpetual fund, the interest of which, and the rents of the unsold lands, shall be applied to the support of common schools.

The Assembly shall provide for a school in each school-district, for at least three months in each year; and all moneys received for exemption from military duty, and for fines imposed by the courts, shall be appropriated to support such schools, or the establishment of school libraries. The money arising from the lease or sale of public lands granted for the support of a university shall remain a perpetual fund to maintain such an institution. Permanent School Fund, Nov. 1st, 1848, $ 132,908.52.

Jairus C. Fairchild, of Madison,

S. Park Coon,

XXX. WISCONSIN.

Government for the Year 1851.

NELSON DEWEY, of Lancaster,

Governor,

William Barstow, of Waukesha, Secretary of State,

Treasurer,

of Milwaukee, Attorney-General,

The judges of the Circuit Courts are elected in circuits by the people, for six years. Judge Stow belongs to the 4th circuit; and Judges Jackson, Hubbell, Whiton, Larrabee, and Knowlton, to the 5th, 2d, 1st, 3d, and 6th, respectively. The Circuit Courts have appellate jurisdiction from justices of the peace and inferior courts, and original, in all cases not excepted by the constitution or the law. The judges also sit as a Supreme Court to try cases upon appeal, without a jury. Four constitute a quorum, and a majority of those present is necessary for a decision. The Supreme Court has two sessions at Madison, on the second Tuesdays of June and December. In all the counties in the State, there are two terms of the Circuit Court each year. The sixth circuit, consisting of the counties of Crawford, Chippewa, St. Croix, and La Pointe, was established in 1850.

County Courts.

There is established in each of the counties in the State a County Court, having jurisdiction concurrently with the Circuit Court in all civil actions

arising within the county, and in all transitory actions where the amount claimed does not exceed five hundred dollars (excepting actions of ejectment), and exclusive appellate jurisdiction in cases of appeal or certiorari from a justice of the peace, and with jurisdiction in civil cases, by consent of parties, unlimited as to amount. The County Court has also probate powers, the office of Judge of Probate being abolished. Terms of the court are held once every three months. The judge of the County Court is elected by the people. Term, four years.

An institution for the education of the blind was organized in 1850, at Tanesville. A tax of one fifteenth of a mill on every dollar of taxable property in the State is levied for its aid. Internal Improvements. —The principal improvement of magnitude undertaken in this State is that of the navigation of the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers, under a grant from Congress of about half a million acres of land. This work is under the immediate direction of a Board of Public Works, consisting of five persons, the Governor of the State having the general control and supervision of the whole work. The construction of the Canal, and the improvement of the Fox River, to Lake Winnebago, was under contract to be completed the 1st of June, 1850. When this is done, it will open steamboat navigation between Lake Michigan, by the way of Green Bay, and the Mississippi River, nearly through the centre of the State. There is also the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad, the first 20 miles of which (to Waukesha) are nearly graded. Numerous plank-roads from the cities and towns on the lake run into the interior.

Common Schools. In a report of the Committee on Education and School Lands, made to the Legislature in January, 1850, the school fund, consisting of lands specifically devoted to that object by the constitution, is estimated at $2,780,912. Besides this, all property that may accrue to the State by forfeiture and escheats, proceeds of fines for breaches of the penal laws, and five per cent. of the net proceeds of the sales of the public lands, are made part of the school fund. The constitution also requires, that each town shall annually raise by taxation, for the support of schools, a sum not less than one half that it receives from the school fund. For the year ending September 1, 1849, 1,430 out of 1,780 districts, and 455 parts of districts out of 557, in the State, made reports. In the districts reported, the schools were taught on an average 3.93 months and received $ 17,313.61 of public money. 32,174 children between the ages of 4 and 20 attended school. 268 children under 4 years of age, and 219 over 20, attended school. Average monthly wages of male teachers, $15.22; of female, $6.92. $ 12,788.37 were expended for teachers' wages, $725 for libraries, and $1,054.89 for other purposes. There are 26 school-houses of brick, 25 of stone, 359 of logs, and 294 framed, and all are valued at $ 75,810.75. The highest valuation of any school-house is $5,000, and the lowest 75 cents. There were 94 private or select schools with an average of 24 pupils, and 2 incorporated academies, the number of pupils in which is not given.

Abstract of the Constitution. Ratified by the People, Nov. 13, 1849. EVERY white male citizen of the United States, and every citizen of Mexico, electing to become a citizen of the United States, under the treaty of Queretaro, 21 years of age, resident of the State six months, and of the district where he claims his vote 30 days, preceding the election, may vote. Indians and their descendants may be permitted to vote in special cases by a two-thirds concurrent vote of the Legislature.

Senators, not less in number than one third, nor more than one half, the members of the Assembly, shall be elected for two years, in districts.

After the first election, they shall be so classified that one half may be elected annually. Members of the Assembly are chosen annually in districts. There shall not be less than 24, nor more than 36, until the population is 100,000, and afterwards there shall never be more than 80, nor less than 30. Senators and members of the Assembly must be qualified electors in their districts, and be citizens and inhabitants of the State one year, and of their district six months next before their election. Sessions of the Legislature shall be held on the first Monday in January annually, and the election for the members thereof shall be on the Tuesday next after the first Monday of November in each year. Members, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace, shall be exempt from arrest, and shall not be subject to any civil process during the session, nor for fifteen days before and after the beginning and end thereof. No divorce shall be granted by the Legislature, nor shall a lottery be authorized by the State. A census shall be taken in 1852, in 1855, and every ten years thereafter. Corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special act, and all general laws and special acts relating to corporations may be altered or repealed. Dues from corporations shall be secured by individual liability and otherwise. No charter shall be granted for banking purposes, nor shall any paper of any kind circulate as money. elections by the Legislature, the members shall vote viva voce, and their votes shall be entered on the journal.

In

A Governor shall be elected for two years, and until his successor is qualified. Except at the first election, he must be 25 years of age, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the State two years next before the election. He may veto a bill, but two thirds of the Legislature may pass it afterwards. The Lieutenant-Governor shall have the same term of office and qualifications as the Governor, shall be President of the Senate, and in case the office of Governor be vacant, he, and after him the President of the Senate, shall act as Governor. A Secretary of the Senate shall be appointed by the Governor. A Comptroller, Treasurer, Attorney, and Surveyor General, chosen at first by joint vote of the two houses of the Legislature, shall afterwards be elected at the same time and place, and in the same manner, as the Governor.

The Supreme Court, with appellate jurisdiction where the matter in dispute exceeds $200, and where the legality of certain acts is questioned, and in certain criminal cases, shall consist of a chief justice and two associates, elected by the people for six years, and the judges shall be so classified that one shall go out of office every two years. After the first election, the senior justice in commission shall be the chief justice. District courts shall have jurisdiction in law and equity, where the amount in dispute exclusive of interest exceeds $200, and the judges shall, after the first election, when they shall be chosen by the Legislature, be elected by the people for six years. The Legislature shall provide for the election by the people of clerks of courts, district attorneys, sheriffs, coroners, &c. One county judge shall be elected in each county for four years, who shall hold the county court, and act as judge of probate, and, with two justices of the peace, shall hold courts of sessions for criminal business. No judicial officer, except justices of the peace, shall receive to his use any fees or perquisites. Justices of the Supreme Court and district judges shall be ineligible to any other office during the term for which they are elected.

A Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be elected for three years. A system of common schools, to be taught at least three months in each year, shall be provided by the Legislature. The proceeds of public lands granted to the State for schools, the 500,000 acres granted to new States under the act of Congress of 1841, estates of persons dying without heirs, and