Prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Mayo.

The President, on taking the chair, addressed the Senate as follows: SENATORS-Permit me to congratulate you upon your return here in health to resume your official duties.

The annual session of this body is practically limited to one hundred days; this fact, with the knowledge that the business of legislation in this State is increasing each year, should admonish you of the necessity of giving all important subjects that may be presented for your consideration, early and prompt attention-particularly the bills relating to our public works, and the annual appropriation and supply bills for the support of our State government.

There is a constant effort upon the part of many of the citizens of this State to seek special legislation for the accomplishment of objects that can be obtained under general laws; and you will allow me to say that if the bills to which I have referred receive an early consideration, and you shall adopt some rule to discourage the special legislation to which I have alluded, that you will be prepared to unite with the Assembly in early adjournment of this session.

You may rest assured of my best efforts to discharge the duties devolving upon Chair with fairness and impartiality, and I trust I may rely upon your aid and assistance to give effect to the rules which you shall adopt for my guidance and your government.

Mr. Warner offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That a committee of two be appointed by the President to wait upon the Assembly, and inform that body that the Senate is ready to proceed to business.

The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to said resolution, and it was decided in the affirmative.

Ordered, That Messrs. Warner and Connolly, be such committee.

Mr. P. P. Murphy offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That a committee of two be appointed by the President to wait upon the Governor and inform his Excellency that the Senate is now organized and ready to proceed to business.

The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to said resolution, and it was decided in the affirmative.

Ordered, That Messrs. P. P. Murphy and J. M. Murphy, be such committee.

Mr. Ketcham offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That when the Senate adjourns it will adjourn to meet daily, at 11 A. M., until otherwise ordered.

The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to said resolution, and it was decided in the affirmative.

Mr. Goss offered the following resolution :

Resolved, That the Clerk of the Senate be directed to invite the clergymen of the city of Albany, who have charge of religious congregations, to open the daily sittings of the Senate with prayer, and to attend in such order as shall suit their convenience.

Mr. Richmond moved to amend by adding the following:

That the clergymen of the city of Troy, be included in said invitation, and the clergy of Albany officiate the first half of the term.

The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to said motion to amend, and it was decided in the negative.

The President then put the question whether the Senate would agree to said resolution, and it was decided in the affirmative.

Mr. Fiero offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That the President of the Senate shall have power to fill all the offices and pages of the Senate now vacant.

The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to said resolution, and it was decided in the affirmative.

Mr. Goss offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That the rules of the Senate, adopted at its last session, be in force until otherwise ordered, and that they be referred to the standing committee on rules.

The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to said resolution, and it was decided in the affirmative.

Mr. Munroe offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Clerk of the Senate make the usual arrangements for the payment of all papers received by and sent out, also all public documents sent out by Senators and officers during the session.

Mr. Truman moved to amend by adding the words, "but that nothing be sent costing over ten cents postage

The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to said motion to amend, and it was decided in the negative, as follows:

The President then put the question whether the Senate would agree to said resolution, and it was decided in the affirmative.

Mr. P. P. Murphy, from the committee appointed to wait on his Excellency the Governor, and inform him that the Senate is ready to proceed to business, reported that they had discharged that duty, and that the Governor was pleased to say that in consequence of this being New Year's day, and regarded as a holiday, he would make no communication to the Senate until to-morrow.

Mr. Bell moved that the Senate take a recess until one o'clock.

Mr. Lawrence moved to amend, that when the Senate adjourn it be until to-morrow at eleven o'clock.

The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to said motion of Mr. Lawrence, and it was decided in the affirmative.

On motion of Mr. Lawrence, the Senate adjourned.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1861.

The Senate met pursuant to adjournment.

Prayer by Rev. Dr. Rogers.

The journal of yesterday, was read and approved.

Mr. Warner, from the committee appointed to inform the Assembly that the Senate was ready to proceed to business, announced that they had discharged that duty.

Messrs. Prendergast and Varian, a committee from the Assembly, appeared in the chamber and announced that that body was organized and ready to proceed to business.

A message from his Excellency the Governor, by the hands of Lockwood L. Doty, his private secretary, was received and read, in the words following, to wit:

To the Senate and Assembly:

You have met under circumstances of more than usual interest, to perform the high and responsible duty of making laws which are to affect the honor, welfare and happiness of millions. High, because no earthly power is superior to that which prescribes rules of action for all; and responsible, because you are acting in a representative capacity, and are therefore charged with sacred trusts. If anything were needed to heighten the importance of your position, you have but to reflect that you represent the sovereignty of the State of New York, the noblest, the grandest commonwealth that ever had existence; an empire of nearly four millions of people, imperial in all its proportions, with interests the most varied, and hopes the most exalted. It has a proud history and a proud name to preserve. Those who fashioned our institutions have passed away, but their works stand, immortal monuments of their wisdom and patriotism, and accepted as fit models by other States. It remains for us to say whether these shall continue to be worthy of emulation, whether we appreciate the legacy committed to our keeping. Entering upon our grave duties with the first day of the New Year, let us implore the favor, and seek the counsel of Him who has warded off the pestilence, who has quickened our energies, rewarded our labors with abundant return, and whose guidance has been apparent in every trying period of our country's history.

Having been chosen by your respective constituencies under circumstances which impose especial obligations upon yourselves, it is for you to determine whether the eighty-fourth legislative session shall be characterized by acts of wisdom and justice, by measures which shall confer honor upon your own names and reflect credit upon the State and country.

Let us each recollect that the people are the source of all political power, that their will is the simple and safe rule of conduct, and that, however complicated at times may seem the condition of public affairs, by permitting it to give shape and direction to our acts, we shall be representing the governed and shall thereby secure their approval.

Without pledges of any kind, save those imposed by duty to God, the Constitution and the laws, and anxious only for the passage of the wisest and best measures, I promise you my ready co-operation in perfecting such enactments as will promote the interests of the people and the honor of the State; and it may not be out of place here, in giving a new pledge for the performance of duty in a manner becoming my position, to express my gratitude for the continued confidence and support of the people.

In submitting for your consideration such general recommendations as I deem expedient, and in making such observations as are most deserving of notice, I shall leave to the very capable heads of the respective departments, to whose co-operation in the Government I am greatly indebted, the more specific and detailed statements and suggestions, anticipating only so much as will enable me to lay before you a general account of the condition of the State.

And first of all I would, in respectful though decided terms recommend a session as brief as is consistent with the public interest. The Constitution has practically limited even the most important sessions to one hundred

!

days, and I think it may be fairly inferred that it was not expected that ordinary sessions should be prolonged to that extent. One of the most serious evils of legislation is its excess. Such is the facility under our system for multiplying statutes and making innovations, that we scarcely reflect how serious a matter it is. Amendments are adopted, and laws are passed without any seeming demand for them. Every State in the confederacy has experienced this, and has tried to remedy it. Some have sought a corrective in the policy of biennial sessions. New York, restrained from following their example in this respect by her organic act, can only rely upon the wisdom of each recurring legislature for the needed reform.

I earnestly advise you to avoid the practice, by far too prevalent of local and special legislation. The great evil sought to be remedied by our present Constitution, was that of monopolies and class legislation. If difficulties arise, let general laws be amended or passed, but let our policy be opposed to special enactments. No rule can be more equitable than that of laying down general laws, and requiring all alike to regulate their conduct by them. Special laws interfere with the administration of justice, and operate unequally upon our citizens, engage the time and energies of the Legislature, and serve to confound rather than protect the rights of the people. Our financial condition presents some interesting facts which I doubt not you will carefully consider.

The recipts of the treasury from all sources, during the fiscal year, ending with September 30th, 1860, were....

The balance in treasury on October 1, 1859, was.

The total payments from the treasury during the fiscal year, were...

$15,538,263 09 1,909,942 04

$17,448,205 13

14,148,667 64

Leaving a balance in the treasury on October 1, 1860, of $3,299,537 49

The funded debt of the State on October 1, 1860, was of General Fund debt.....

Of canal debt...

Making a total of.....

$6,505,654 37

27,064,584 48

$33,570,238 85

The stock or funded canal debt, outstanding on September 30, was authorized by the Constitution as follows, viz:

When, in any year, the surplus revenues of the canals ao not exceed the sum of seventeen hundred thousand dollars, the Constitution requires that the interest on the old canal debt, amounting in the last fiscal year to five hundred and fifty-seven thousand six hundred and seventy-seven dollars, shall first be paid therefrom, and the balance, which last year was one million one hundred and eleven thousand nine hundred and thirty-four

dollars sixty-one cents, shall go to the Sinking Fund, established by article 7, section 1, to redeem the principal.

The balance of $966,629.28, due for annual interest on the canal debt alone, was, last year, paid by anticipating the income of the direct tax, and will necessarily continue to be paid in the same manner so long as the surplus revenues are insufficient.

If the surplus revenues of the canals shall enable the Commissioners to set apart annually, to this Sinking Fund, the whole sum of one million seven hundred thousand dollars, it will form a fund sufficient to extinguish the debt of 1846, amounting to $10,721,998.99 by the 1st day of January, 1867. This portion of the public debt is to be immediately reduced, by the payment of nearly one million dollars thereof due this day, the money for which is in the treasury.

The Legislature of last winter authorized a levy of one and one-eighth of a mill tax, to pay the interest on loans, overdrafts, and interest on overdrafts; but the money being needed before the taxes could be collected, the Commissioners of the Canal Fund, under authority of chapter 335, of the Laws of 1855, anticipated the collection of so much of it, by borrowing the sum of one million two hundred thousand dollars. This sum, which forms in the above table a part of the debt of $13,200,000, will, with the accrued interest, be paid from the proceeds of that levy, on the 1st of January next.

There was, on the 30th of September last, of ascertained canal claims unpaid, the sum of $580,653.84, consisting of drafts and certificates of Canal Commissioners, and of awards for land damages made by the Canal Appraisers. Of this sum, $187,500 have been or will be paid out of the Floating Debt Loan, and the remainder, $393,153.84, from the proceeds of the direct tax raised and to be raised under chapter 213, of the Laws of 1860. There are unascertained claims outstanding for the 15 per cent. withheld on contracts not yet completed. When due, these also will be payable from the taxes as above.

Under the provisions of chapter 105, of the Laws of 1857, the Contracting Board placed the ordinary repairs of the canals under the contract to the lowest bidder. The aggregate annual cost under these contracts, is $259,372. Certain portions of the repairs, such as rebuilding locks and aqueducts, and other important structures, are excepted, and it is not, therefore expected, that that sum will cover the entire cost of the ordinary repairs. Although there are some evils consequent upon this system, yet its advantages are so manifest, that for the present at least it should be continued.

Assuming the correctness of the estimates of the State Engineer, the sum of six hundred thousand dollars, already raised on the credit of the half mill tax, and applicable to that object, will complete, ready for navigation by the first of May next, all the work under contract on the 1st of October last, thus opening the enlarged water channel of seven feet by seventy, throughout the entire line of the Erie, Oswego, and Cayuga and Seneca canals.

Although enlarged at too great a cost, and the completion quite too long delayed, it is, nevertheless, a matter of much congratulation that the end approaches, that no more laws imposing taxes for construction will be required, and ere you will have concluded your labors the present session, New York will possess, finished and complete, a system of internal works unequalled both for capacity and extent in this or any other country.

The Constitution disposes of the revenues derived from the canals, annually, in the following order, and for the purposes designated: