To the President of the Senate: Detroit, January 23, 1345. SIR-In obedience to a resolution of the Senate, passed on the 20th inst., to wit: "Resolved, That the Auditor General be requested to report to the "Senate, at his earliest convenience, whether in 1842, the Board of "State Auditors, in allowing Benjamin Porter, late Commissioner of "the State Prison, $6,956 59 in addition to former allowances; or "whether they,at any other time of auditing said Porter's account, have "allowed him any sum, (and if any, what,) on account of articles “furnished said Prison, to Dennis, Thomas & Wood, of Auburn, N. "Y.; also, whether any bill of Dennis, Thomas & Wood for arti"cles furnished the Prison, has ever been before the Board of State "Auditors, and if so, what it was, and the evidence submitted upon "it. And also, if he have any knowledge, whether the sum of $2,"081 38, or any part of it, reported due to said Porter, in Senate "Document No. 27, of 1840, has been paid." The undersigned has the honor to report: That the Secretary of State, State Treasurer and Attorney General, constitute the Board of State Auditors, and therefore, the undersigned might, perhaps, have requested the inquiry to be directed to them. But the history of the sessions of the Legislature which have intervened since the settlement, and the fact, that further claims have been presented to the Senate, growing out of alledged liabilities of the State, created by the said Porter, as Commissioner, have induced the conclusion that a full exhibit of all the claims allowed to Mr. Porter by the Circuit Court of Wayne county, and by the Board of State Anditors, as well as those appropriated by the Legislature, that the same may be printed if the Senate shall deem best, for future reference, that the Legislature may understand the rights of the State and the claims of petitioners for relief, has become necessary. I have, therefore, obtained a copy of so much of the report of Auditors appointed by the Circuit Court, for the county of Wayne, to state the account between the State and said Porter, as embraces the items allowed to him by said Auditors, and appended thereto, a copy of the verdict of the Court rendered thereon; and I have been furnished also, with schedules of claims presented by said Porter, and acted npon by the Board of State Auditors, November, 1842, and have annexed thereto a statement of sundry appropriations, known to have been made by the Legislature, on account of work done, and materials furnished for the State Prison. It must be borne in mind, that this office has no evidence of the nature of the claims allowed by the Legislature, any further than the same may appear from the laws making the appropriations. And as they do not always specifically state on what the claim is founded, it is probable that claims may have been allowed and paid that are not embraced in the list furnished. All the items mentioned in the several schedules of Court Auditors, or in those submitted to, and acted upon by the State Auditors, were to be paid and fully settled by said Porter; some of which, were represented by said Porter, as in process of collection from him, either in suit, judgment, or execution at that time, and the State could not be legally holden therefor, under any view of the case, as the debts contracted by said Porter, beyond the appropriations made, were without authority. The Boad of Auditors conceiving that equity demanded payment to Porter, by the State, of all sums actually paid or obligations incurred for the benefit of the State, allowed him the sum of $6,956 59-100, in full for all his claims and liabilities on account of the items of expenditure and obligations entered into in behalf of the State that are herein set forth. It seems to follow as a necessary deduction from the whole premises that the State is still bound in equity to pay any claims not embraced in any of the said lists or schedules that shall be duly proven and authenticated to the satisfaction of the Legislature; and that the State is not bound either legally or equitably, to pay any claim set forth as having been paid to said Porter. In proof of this I subjoin an extract from the petition and affidavit of said Porter, made to the Board of State Auditors, and which is now on file in their office, showing most conclusively that he considered himself liable to pay these sums to the amount of about four thousand dollars, and that he expected to do so on settlement of his accounts, to wit: "Your petitioner states that when he commenced said State work, he was worth in cash and good property which he has since converted into money, over fourteen thousand dollars, and that he has actually expended the whole of it upon said State Prison, and is now in debt on the same account, about four thousand dollars, and for private indebtedness about one thousand dollars more, which indebtedness he has no means of cancelling except his claims for expenditures upon said State Prison." It will be seen by a comparison of the appropriations made and paid by the State, that nearly all the sums constituting the $2,081 38, mentioned in the resolution, have been paid by specific appropriations; and from the schedules acted upon by the Board of State Auditors, that a large claim of David Porter was included in the items allowed to Benjamin Porter.Commissioner. The sum of $59 49,stated as due to Pierre Teller, was allowed by Court Auditors included in larger amount. The sum of $65, stated in Senate document No. 27, 1849, as due to Messrs. Dennis, Thomas and Wood, and particularly specified in the resolution above, does not appear from the evidence before me to have been paid in any manner. No. 1. Appended is certified statement of sums allowed by Court Auditors. No. 2. Verdict of court thereon. No. 3. Schedule A. B. & C., acted upon by Board of State Audi tors. No. 4. Appropriations made by the Legislature, known to be upon State Prison claims. It will be perceived that one, if not two claims, for the same matters, have been twice appropriated by the Legislature. All which is respectfully submitted. C. G. HAMMOND, Auditor Gen. 1 (No. 1.) Circuit Court for the County of Wayne, State of Michigan. Benjamin Porter, ads. The President, Directors and Company of the Michigan State Bank, for the use of the people of the State of Michigan. Schedule B., referred to in the report of Auditors, made in the above entitled cause, showing the balance due by the State of Michigan to Benjamin Porter, as acting commissioner for building the State Penitentiary at Jackson, under and by virtue cf an act entitled “an act authorizing the building of the State Penitentiary," approved March 22d, 1838, and the acts amendatory thereto, the said balance being for monies paid to the several parties respectively named for work done or materials furnished for the said Penitentiary, and for the services of the defendant as acting commissioner. No. Parties to whom paid. 1 Adam Andrews, 2 Lemuel P. Archer, 3 Adam J. Archer, 4 I. C. Bailey, 5 Hubert Brownhill, 6 Thomas Brownhill, 7 R. B. Bennett, 8 R. Bolton, 9 A. F. Bolton, 10 Isaac Bonner, 11 I. C. Brant, 12 Thomas Berry, 13 Robert Bradford, 14 B. or T. Barns, 15 Bennett & Brothers, 16 I. A. Bennett, 17 Peter Brown, 18 Thomas Brown, 129 38 40 Wm. Cundin, 46 Thomas Carrigon, |