The fact is, that this gubernatorial control is at present entirely neglected; for I have never seen it working, while every attentive reader of a daily paper may notice frequent instances of the non-execution of the laws, under the very eyes of the governor. I admit that the overlarge size of the state of New York has much to answer for this defective executive surveillance; still it seems as if every man, every newspaper, had more influence upon the execution of the laws than the governor. Lawyers and judges, and other officials, do as they please, and if a criminal escapes, private persons send their ships after him, while the governor sits quietly upon his throne in his mansion, looking at this spectacle, pocketing his salary, without doing anything.

A distinguished New York editor lately honored the European governments with the cognomen of huge impostures. Still, if the governor of California keeps his counsel when the state treasurer is a defaulter, or the common councils of different cities are nothing but swindling concerns, and the magistrates bargain with the criminals about their punishment, until the outraged citizens take the law into their own hands, and then come forward and make a great show of executive power by declaring these citizens to be in a state of rebellion, what appellation deserves such a government? In the constitution of California, art. v., sect. 7, it is expressly ordained: he, the governor, shall see that the laws are faithfully executed! It is, therefore, not the fault of the constitution when the governor does not check the defective execution of the laws, but of the universally prevalent apathy and carelessness in the management of this office. No constitutional prince can ask for more power than that of a general control and veto.

The regular session messages of the governors, together with the reports of the chief administrative officers of the state, spreading information and light over the finances and operations of the administration, are important documents. They form an indispensable basis for legislative action, to bring a system into it and adapt it to the actual wants, as it can not be expected from the members of the legislature, especially of a large state, involved in extensive public works and enterprises, that they may acquire this information at home. If the executive suggestions, in reference to the measures to be acted upon, would be always, without the least delay, and in preference of all others, promptly attended

to, the public would only gain by it. These suggestions could be easily made very available for the administration of justice if they would be blended with opinions of experienced judges and other business men. Being more ruled by the word than by law and its execution, the contents of such messages exercise a wholesome influence upon the people, even when they should be neglected by the legislatures, as it often happens.

"5. The governor shall have the power to grant reprieves, commutations, and pardons, after conviction, for all offences except treason and cases of impeachment, upon such conditions, and with such restrictions and limitations as he may think proper, subject to such regulation as may be provided by law, relative to the manner of applying for pardons. Upon conviction for treason, he shall have power to suspend the execution of the sentence, until the case shall be reported to the legislature at its next meeting, when the legislature shall either pardon or commute the sentence, direct the execution of the sentence, or grant a farther reprieve. He shall annually communicate to the legislature each case of reprieve, commutation, or pardon granted; stating the name of the convict, the crime of which he was convicted, the sentence and its date, and the date of the commutation, pardon, or reprieve."

I have spoken of the pardoning and the like powers in the first part; according to all experience our governors are more prone to pardon than is desirable. It seems as if they are afraid of justice, and, therefore, always at hand if they can hinder the execution of the laws. These should be, of course, humane, but strictly executed, if mobs are not to rule soon supremely among us.

"6. In case of the impeachment of the governor, or his removal from office, death, inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, resignation, or absence from the state, the powers and duties of the office shall devolve upon the lieutenant-governor for the residue of the term, or until the disability shall cease. But when the governor shall, with the consent of the legislature, be out of the state in time of war, at the head of a military force thereof, he shall continue commander-in-chief of all the military force of the state."

he

If the governor should be out of the state in time of war, must be so, I suppose, under the orders of the president of the United States. This clause may lead to misunderstandings with the federal executive, and should be rather expunged.

"7. The lieutenant-governor shall possess the same qualifications of eligibility for office as the governor. He shall be president of the senate, but shall have only a casting vote therein. If, during a vacancy of the office of governor, the lieutenant-governor shall be impeached, displaced, resign, die,

or become incapable of performing the duties of his office, or be absent from the state, the president of the senate shall act as governor, until the vacancy be filled, or the disability shall cease.

"8. The lieutenant-governor shall, while acting as such, receive a compensation which shall be fixed by law, and which shall not be increased or diminished during his continuance in office.

"9 Every bill which shall have passed the senate and assembly, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the governor : if he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two thirds of the members present shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered; and if approved by two thirds of all the members present, it shall become a law, notwithstanding the objections of the governor. But in all such cases, the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the governor within ten days (Sundays excepted), after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the legislature shall, by their adjournment, prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law."

These three sections are plain. They are partly copied from the federal constitution. The approval of bills must take place during the time of the session. The peremptory term of ten days in the ninth clause is good. Such peremptory terms should be adopted by the Code of Civil Procedure, in all stages of a process, to avoid delays and the starting of new points, too often from mere motives of intrigue and chicanery. The veto of a law should have the effect to transfer the bill to the next following legislature; if this should approve it by a two-third vote, it may become a law, for a vetoed bill, presumptively, is not required by the urgency of circumstances and time, but merely by a party and for party purposes.

The veto power is an important part of the supreme control of the state institution. The state governors, after having taken the oath on the constitutions of the Union and State, are bound to prevent unconstitutional, party, and mere partisan legislation. What is unconstitutional legislation, each governor must make clear to himself before he is sworn in, because, by approving an unconstitutional law, he commits legal perjury. A man who is not able to judge about constitutionality as certain as the court of

ernors.

appeals, should not be governor. The constitution gives him full power to promote the good of the commonwealth, but he must, of course, understand its laws. It must be a cardinal duty of the governor never to approve any bill, or even resolution, which interferes in the least with the constitutional national business of Congress. All our states, Connecticut included, have been in this regard great sinners, mostly owing to the incapacity of their govThe powers bestowed in this article upon the executive require special laws to make them operative, to instill more activity into this officer, and terminate the present know-nothing and do-nothing practice, but the constitution is here well enough, the practice in the gubernatorial office, however, deplorable. Most of the public corruption may be traced to the apathy, incapacity, and faithlessness of our state governors. Again, in this constitution nothing is wanting to make the governor of the state of New York an effective officer. And if I claim entire independence for the subdivisions of the state in regard to their own constitutional business sphere, I am far from asking for them an exemption from the supreme executive and state control, plainly defined in this article.

Administrative. torney-General.

LETTER VII.

Secretary of State.

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At

Comptroller. Treasurer. Election.Salary. -English Circumlocution.-Proper Administrators. American System. Representative and Non-Representative Officers.- State Engineer.- Surveyor.- Canal Commissioners. State-Prison Inspectors. Land Office. Canal Fund.- Local In

spectors.

You are now to become acquainted with the administrative affairs of the state.

ARTICLE V.

Administrative.

"1. The secretary of state, comptroller, treasurer, and attorney-general, shall be chosen at a general election, and hold their offices for two years. Each of the officers in this article named (except the speaker of the assembly), shall at stated times, during his continuance in office, receive for his

services a compensation, which shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which he shall have been elected; nor shall he receive, to his use, any fees or perquisites of office, or other compensation."

The first three named officials are subordinate to the governor, the fourth belongs to the state judiciary. But there may be different meanings of the word administration; to avoid misunderstandings, I give you my idea about it. The real administrators of our municipal affairs are only the chief of the state, called governor; the chief of the county, called, in my letters, overseer, and the chief of the town, called mayor, as you will remember from the first part.

The clerical officials and boards, mentioned in this article, are all subordinate to the several governors or administrators, according to the nature and order of the business. I well know that the practice differs from what I say, that there is no head in the county and town administration, that the city mayors have no real central governing power, but this is not right. Farmers will think a mayor in their towns a strange novelty, because there is no such officer in old England; but a sober second thought will convince them, that the government of three selectmen in a town, or of a dozen supervisors in a county, without a responsible head, is one of the causes that villages and cities grow up, requiring charters, and leading to uncontrollable and, therefore, corrupt administrations. In all well-organized communities there ought to be a responsible, leading, and directing executive, similar to the president in the Union. It is so in the best European states, whose administration is praised by our travellers. History tells sad stories of states ruled by several consuls or kings. I would not take the English municipal administration as a pattern. There you find little else than "circumlocution."

These three administrators should be the head-managers of the public affairs in their several districts, and should, therefore, have nothing to do with mere detail office-business. They might serve without a salary; they have to take care that the laws and ordinances are well executed, the business kept in perfect order by the clerks, treasurers, &c., justice well administered, the respective property and interests of their districts faithfully represented, managed, and attended to; in one word, to do all in their power to keep the political organization in those districts in