the public money; and with the latter kind may be classed, the settlement of the accounts of the commonwealth at different places, and by different persons; and, generally speaking, all the consequences of an undigested distribution of duties between the ComptrollerGeneral and Register-General.

other states, or foreigners, which, giving immediate ju risdiction to the federal courts, may be conducted by rules less rigid, and decided upon principles more liberal. I have, on a former occasion, observed, that the laws, respecting bankruptcy, are, likewise, defective in several points; and I cannot avoid repeating, that the want of an appeal from the mere doubt of the commis- As I am, persuaded, gentlemen, that this subject will sioners (which doubt is all the act requires to justify the soon engage your attention, I am induced to add a few refusal of a certificate) may hereafter be the source of hints, from the statement which the officers have preextreme oppression, and apparently, indeed, militates sented to me, in order to facilitate your investigation. against the constitutional right of trial by jury. What- It would, I think, be a radical improvement in the deever may be the objections, therefore, to the introduc- partment, if all the accounts which are rendered and tion of a system of bankrupt laws, I am persuaded, that, settled were deposited in one office, and the books of when introduced, you will think it proper in this, as well entry in the other. This separation would not only add as in every other respect, while you guard against frau- to the security of the public documents, as, in case of dulent practices, to protect and countenance the honest, accidental destruction of the accounts, the books might though unfortunate, trader. In reviewing the laws for remain; but it would likewise enable each officer, from the relief of insolvent debtors, and those which regulate the materials in his own possession, to collect and furattachments, many opportunities of making amend-nish, upon all occasions, the necessary information; and ments will occur; and a provision in the act respecting a chain of connexion often blending public transactions, juries, which shall, on the one hand, render a fairer each would have it in his power, without difficulty or compensation for the juror's service, and, on the other delay, to unravel and check the accounts under examihand, impose a heavier fine on his neglect or refusal to nation, by comparing them with the corresponding perform it, would, in effect, diminish the burthen of this vouchers. Several advantages, likewise, concur to jusindispensable duty, by giving certainty and despatch to tify a proposal, that books should be opened in the Rethe business of our courts. I will only further remind gister's office, in which accounts shall be kept with such you, as matter for deliberation naturally connected with of the public creditors, as may choose to give up the the subject, that the institution of a general fee bill, and certificates which they at present hold, for others in all the declaration of the forms, in which actions may be respects similar, except that the new certificates shall brought and prosecuted against the commonwealth, will not be transferable, although the debts, of which they be considerably useful in discharging the various offices are the evidences, may still be assigned, in the same of government: And, while I refer you to a report from manner, and with the same effect, as the debt of the U. the inspectors of the prison of Philadelphia, for a pleas- States. This measure would prevent the necessity of ing proof of the salutary consequences which the re- cutting up eertificatates to accommodate purchasers at formation of the penal code has produced, I am per- the Land Office; it would be convenient to the indivisuaded you will pay a proper attention to the opinion dual creditor, by enabling him to divide his claim into any that the Board has expressed, upon the expediency of sums that his wants might require; rendering the proabolishing what are termed the jail fees. perty more safe from fire and other accidents; it would relieve the legislature from frequent applications for the renewal of lost certificates; and, if it had not the effect of immediately appreciating the state debt, it would, at least, render all the business respecting it more uniform and stable.

In the executive departments some points will likewise claim your regard. Since the establishment of the present constitution, temporary laws have been passed to transfer, in the aggregate, all the powers of the late Supreme Executive Council to the Governor of the commonwealth: but, as many of those powers could be more conveniently, and more advantageously, exercised in other offices, I should be happy, if an opportunity occurs, to see them analysed and properly distributed. For the incidental and contingent expenses of the department, I conceive that a general provision should be made, in order to meet the section of the Constitution which declares, that no money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and, if a permanent authority were given to superintend the publication of the Acts of Assembly, that business would be facilitated, and the information of your proceedings with greater expedition communicated to our constituents. You will indulge me, gentlemen, in adding one wish of a more personal nature, that, as far as your conveniency will permit, bills may be delivered for the consideration of the executive, some time before the day fixed for the adjournment of the legislature: For, hitherto most of the laws have been transmitted at so late a period of the session, that there was hardly time to peruse them, much less to deliberate on their contents.

The improved state of our finances, the rapid progress that has been made in the settlement and liquidation of old transactions and engagements, and the consequent decrease of business in the respective offices, must render this period favourable for reviewing and reforming the department of accounts. The present system is, indeed, defective even in its foundation; in some instances furnishing no adequate check; and, in others, producing confusion and embarrassment by the complication of its forms. Of the former kind, is that provision, by which the Treasurer is authorised to settle the secounts of the revenue officers, from whom he receives

A provision for cancelling those certificates of the state debt, which, being redeemed, are deposited in the possession of the Comptroller-General are directed to be cancelled, would, I believe be useful; and it might, perhaps, with propriety, be extended to such certificates as shall in future be paid to the Receiver-General of the Land Office, allowing that officer to produce an authenticated document of the amount, which may from time to time be cancelled, as a voucher in the settlement of his accounts. In addition to these regulations, I am prompted by a desire of preserving uniformity in pecuniary transactions and statements, as well as by the greater conveniency of the method which has been adopted at the Treasury of the Union, and at the several Banks, to recommend that the Legislature should prescribe a period, after which all accounts between the state and her officers shall be kept in dollars and centss

You will receive by the Secretary, gentlemen, a copy of the joint report which the Comptroller-General, the Register-General, and the Treasurer, have made upon the state of the finances of the commonwealth; introduced by a recapitulation of the receipts and expenditures of the last year; and particular representations of the receipts and payments in the bills of credit of March 1785, in the state money and in the dollar money; together with a view of the real estate of the commonwealth; of the situation of the fund appropriated for the improvement of roads and navigable waters; and of the operation of the sinking fund, during the same period. The estimate of the productive revenues for the current year, amounts to seventy-one thousand three hundred and twenty-three pounds three shillings and eight pence; and the various demands for the public service, will require a sum of sixty-seven thousand three hun

dred and seventy-two pounds. But, gentlemen, it will be prudent always to remember, that although the arrearages of taxes on the present, as on every former occasion, constitute a considerable item in the calculation of our resources, yet, as the extent of the exonerations, which have been sanctioned by law, has not been completely ascertained, and as the difficulty of collection naturally increases with the delay, our expectations on this ground have been, and, probably will continue to be, greatly disappointed.

expediency of raising a small contribution from the estates of our constituents, in aid of the general revenues of the commonwealth. By this measure, seasonably adopted, you will prevent the inconveniency of imposing taxes upon every occasion; which must, otherwise, as I have observed, unavoidably take place, when our property in the funds of the Union shall be exhausted; and if such a contribution were expressly and exclusively applied to the support of government, the expense of the administration of public affairs, being always known and felt by the people, would excite that vigilance which is the best preservative of a free and republican constiiution.

In addition to the ordinary objects of revenue, permit me to remind you, that no fund is appropriated to pay the promised interest, on that part of the funded and de

to the loan proposed by Congress; and the faith of the state being pledged to redeem, in the course of the next year, the bills of credit, which were issued in the year 1785, you will be pleased to consider, whether, for that purpose, some special step ought not to be taken at this session, as well as for destroying the sum which is now accumulated at the treasury. I shall also be under the necessity of requesting the aid of a supplementary appropriation, to discharge the expenses which have been recently incurred for the defence of the frontiers. As the lieutenant of the county of Allegheney, however, has not yet made his return upon the subject, I am unable to furnish an accurate statement of the deficiency; but an account of the sums, that have been disbursed, will be laid before you.

The property which the state possesses in the stock of the United States, will require, and merits, particular attention. It appears from the report, to which I have just referred, that the subscription of the state debt to the funding system amounts at this time to two hundred and fifty-two thousand six hundred and ninety-seven pounds fourteen shillings and a penny; but the propor-preciation debt, which is assumable, but not subscribed tion of the assumed debt, allotted to Pennsylvania, being two million two hundred thousand dollars, she will be entitled to receive an annual surplus of interest, equal to the sum of twenty thousand nine hundred and eighty-four pounds eight shillings and five pence. This, however, is subject to a deduction for the interest that the state has engaged to pay to the subscribers in order to make up the rate of six per cent. upon their respective claims; to an allowance for that part of the state debt which was assumable, and is not subscribed; and to a charge for that part which shall be deemed not to be within the assumption. The product of the subscription which was made immediately on behalf of the commonwealth before the loan was closed, amounts in six per cent. stock to the sum of two hundred and seventyeight thousand and forty-nine pounds eighteen shillings and four pence; in the three per cent. stock to the sum of five hundred and fifty-seven thousand five hundred and sixty-eight pounds fifteen shillings and two pence; and in the deferred stock to the sum of one hundred and thirty-nine thousand and twenty-four pounds nineteen shillings and a penny. But the first article being allotted to discharge the proprietary claim, affords an unappropriated balance of only forty-two thousand six hundred and twenty-seven pounds sixteen shillings and five pence; the second article, being liable to various demands, leaves a balance of four hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred and thirty-six pounds nineteen shillings and two pence; and in the third article, after deducting the recent sales to pay the interest on the funded and depreciation debt, the state is still entitled to the sum of ninety-seven thousand nine hundred and fifty-one pounds four shillings and a penny.

The fund arising from the aggregate of these credits, has, gentlemen, been hitherto properly employed in discharging the debts of the commonwealth: but I am desirous that you should now take it into serious consideration, whether, if the public honour does not require, the public interest will permit any further diminution of the capital. The many other sources from which supplies may be advantageously drawn for the support of government, will leave even the interest disengaged for purposes of public enterprise and utility: And when we reflect, that a similar opportunity of accumulating wealth will never probably occur; or that, when this is expended, all the public wants and exigencies must be satisfied and relieved by a direct and constant pressure of taxation on the people, you will, I am persuaded, agree with me, that in future every act which trespasses upon the principal of the stock, ought to be the result of mature deliberation.

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives.

Gentlemen of the Senate, and of the

House of Representatives.

Among the records of the General Assembly you will find a variety of papers, which point out the necessity of establishing a more effectual mode to enforce the collection of the arrearages of taxes; and there are difficulties in carrying certain assessments into effect, for the removal of which the assistance of the Legislature has already been requested. Some regulations for rendering the revenue, arising from the several kinds of licenses, more productive and more equal, seem to be necessary; and it may be proper to renew the provisions which were formerly made for disposing of the barracks in the borough of Lancaster, and to authorise further proceedings with respect to the forfeited, or unsold, part of the barrack-ground in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia. An act for the inspection of gunpowder, and some improvements in the institution of the Health Office, will be suggested, as well by the documents which have formerly been transmitted, as by those which I shall direct to be presented to you; and, you will please to observe, that the appropriation for defraying the expenses of the wardens of the port, extending no farther than October last, your interposition will again be required in behalf of the board. You will deem it proper, perhaps, during your present session, to prescribe the manner of making the enumeration of the taxable inhabitants of the state, agreeably to the fourth section of the first article of the Constitution; and the bill to authorise the sale of the public islands, having been published by order of the preceding House of Representatives,. will now, I presume, be passed into a law.

The limitations of several acts of Assembly will likewise claim your attention, previous to an adjournment. The act transferring the powers of the late Supreme Executive Council to the Governor, and the act for inThe sentiment which I have just advanced, applies stituting the Board of Property, will expire with the particularly to your jurisdiction in matters of finance. I present session. The suspension of the act for the inam confident that you will make an ample provision, inspection of shingles, and the law to enable aliens to purthe most eligible manner, to defray the necessary ex- chase and hold real estates within this commonwealth, penses of the government, and to preserve the honour-will terminate on the first day of January 1792; the ble system that has been introduced for discharging our public engagements. But while you are doing this, I hink it my duty to submit to your consideration, the

continuance of the provision for regulating the exportation of pot-ash, and pearl-ash, is limited to the twentysecond day of February; the necessity of obtaining a li

cense for the exhibition of theatrical amusements, will cease on the second day of March; and the time allowed for patenting lands, which were located before the declaration of independence, will elapse on the tenth day of April in the same year.

It affords me great satisfaction, gentlemen, to be able to close these communications, in mentioning, that, upon the report of the commissioners appointed by law, which report states, that the subscriptions to the capital stock, for opening the canal between the creeks of Quitapahilla and Tulpehoccon, exceeds five hundred shares, a patent of incorporation has been granted to the subscribers; and by informing you, that the union of the College of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania has been effected, according to the provisions of the act of Assembly, From the great encouragement which has been given to the undertaking, the most flattering presage of success, in establishing the canal, may be drawn, and the institution of the associated seminaries of learning, upon a foundation so enlarged and so enlightened, must, under your auspices, prove an honour to the state, and a blessing to mankind.

THOMAS MIFFLIN

Philadelphia, December 9, 1791:

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

OF THE LATE MAJOR GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE.
Fashioned much to honour from his cradle,
He was a soldier, and a ripe and good one;
Exceeding wise, fair spoken, and persuading;
Lofty and sour to those that loved him not;
But to those men that sought him sweet as summer.
Heard ye him talk of Commonwealths,
You'd say it had been all in all his study;
List his discourse of war, and you would hear
A fearful battle rendered you in music.

-Now to his ashes honour!-Peace be with him!
And choirs of angels sing him to his rest.

SHAKSPEARE.

detached under General Thompson into Canada. In the defeat which followed, in which General Thompson was made a prisoner, Colonel Wayne, though wounded displayed great gallantry and good conduct in collecting and bringing off, the scattered and broken bodies of troops.

In the campaign of 1776 he served under General Gates at Ticonderoga, and was highly esteemed by that officer for both his bravery and skill as an engineer. At the close of that campaign he was created a BrigadierGeneral.

At the battle of Brandywine he behaved with his usual bravery, and for a long time opposed the progress of the enemy at Chad's Ford. In this action the inferiority of the Americans in numbers, discipline, and arms, gave them little chance of success; but the peculiar situation of the public mind was supposed to require a battle to be risked; the ground was bravely disputed, and the action was not considered as decisive. The spirits of the troops were preserved by a belief that the loss of the enemy had equalled their own. As it was the intention of the American commander in chief to hazard another action on the first favourable opportunity that should offer, General Wayne was detached with his division, to harass the enemy by every means in his power. The British troops were encamped at Tryduffin, and General Wayne was stationed about three miles in the rear of their left wing, near the Paoli tavern, and from the precautions he had taken, he considered himself secure; but about eleven o'clock, on the night of the 17th September, Major General Gray, having driven in his pickets, suddenly attacked him with fixed bayonets. Wayne, unable to withstand the superior number of his assailants, was obliged to retreat; but formed again at a small distance, having lost one hundred and fifty killed and wounded. As blame was attached, by some of the officers of the army, to General Wayne, for allowing himself to be surprised in this manner, he demanded a court martial, which, after examining the necessary evidence, declared that he had done every thing to be expected from an active, brave, and vigilant officer; and acquitted him with honour.

General Anthony Wayne occupies a conspicuous station among the heroes and patriots of the American Revolution. That eventful epoch was calculated to call into exertion the talents and virtues of our citizens, and the page of history can offer to our view, no country in the maturity of its age, with which the infancy of onr own may not be proudly compared. Never has a war been conducted with such purity of intention, such integrity of principle, as the one which separated the United States from the British Empire; and while these principles remain with us, while America continues true to herself, resting on the favour of that Providence which led her through the dangerous ordeal, she may confidently bid defiance to the arts, and to the arms of the old world.

Anthony Wayne was borne in the year 1745, in Ches ter County, in the State, then the Colony, of Pennsylvapia. His father, who was a respectable farmer, was many years a representative for the County of Cheste in the General Assembly, before the revolution. His grandfather, who was distinguished for his attachment to the principles of Liberty, bore a captain's commission under King William at the battle of Boyne. Anthony Wayne succeeded his father as a representative for the County of Chester, in the year 1773; and from his first appearance in public life, distinguished himself as a firm and decided patriot. He opposed with much ability the unjust demands of the mother country, and in connexion with some gentlemen of distinguished talents, was of material service in preparing the way for the firm and decisive part which Pennsylvania took in the general

contest.

In 1775 he was appointed to the command of a regiment, which Ifis character enabled him to raise in a few weeks in his native county. In the same year he wa

Shortly after was fought the battle of Germantown, in which he greatly signalized himself by his spirlted manner of leading his men into action.

In all councils of war, General Wayne was distinguished for supporting the most energetic and decisive meahe and General Cadwalader were the only officers desures. In the one previous to the battle of Monmouth, cidedly in favour of attacking the British army. The American officers are said to have been influenced by the opinions of the Europeans. The Baron de Steuben, and Generals Lee and De Portail, whose military skill was in high estimation, had warmly opposed an engagement, as too hazardous. But General Washington, whose opinion was in favour of an engagement, made such disaction, so honourable to the American arms, General positions as would be most likely to lead to it. In that Wayne was conspicuous in the ardor of his attack. General Washington, in his letter to Congress, observes, "Were I to conclude my account of this day's transactions without expressing my obligations to the officers of the army in general, I should do injustice to their merit, and violence to my own feelings. They seemed to vie with each other in manifesting their zeal and bravery. The catalogue of those who distinguished themselves is too long to admit of particularizing individuals. I cannot, however, forbear mentioning Brigadier-General Wayne, whose good conduct and bravery, throughout the whole action deserves particular commendation."

ing conceived a design of attacking the strong post of In July 1779, the American commander in chief havGeneral Wayne. The garrison was composed of six Stony Point, committed the charge of this enterprize to hundred men, principally highlanders, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Johnson. Stony Point is a consider

of the British fort. On the 20th the army advanced to the attack. The Miami covered the right flank, and on the left were the mounted volunteers, commanded by General Todd. After marching about five miles, Major Price, who led the advance, received so heavy a fire from the Indians, who were stationed behind trees, that he was compelled to fall back. The enemy had occupied a wood in front of the British fort, which from the quantity of fallen timber, could not be entered by the horse. The legion was immediately ordered to advance with trailed arms, and rouse them from their covert; the cavalry under Captain Campbell, were directed to pass between the Indians and the river, while the volunteers, led by General Scott, made a circuit to turn their flank. So rapid, however, was the charge of the legion, that before the rest of the army could get into action, the enemy were completely routed, and driven through the woods more than two miles, and the troops halted within gun-shot of the British fort. All the Indians' houses and corn-fields were destroyed. In this decisive action, the whole loss of General Wayne's army, in killed and wounded, amounted only to one hundred and seven men. hostilities continued on the part of the Indians, their whole country was laid waste, and forts established, which effectually prevented their return.

BEDFORD MEDICINAL SPRINGS. The town of Bedford, in the neighbourhood of which these springs have their source, and from which they receive their name, is situate on the great Pennsylvania A life of peril and glory was terminated in the month road, leading from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, two hunof December, 1796. He had shielded his country from dred miles from the former, and one hundred from the the murderous tomahawk of the savage. He had esta- latter. The site of the town is healthful and beautiful blished her boundaries. He had forced her enemies to beyond description. Built upon an eminence formed of sue for her protection. He beheld her triumphant, rich limestone and silex, it is always clean. Almost envein arts, and potent in arms. What more could his pa-loped with mountains, which pour their limpid streams triotic spirit wish to see? He died in a hut in the wilder-into the vallies, and which are deeply shaded by forest ness, and lies buried on the shores of Lake Erie. The trees, the inhabitants of this village enjoy delightful traveller may search almost in vain for his grave. summers: never incommoded by heat, they are refreshmausoleum points out the spot where he reposes. ed by pure and cooling breezes, which either play on who deserved a monument the hill, or sport in the dale.