hundred and thirty-two, and the number of children five hundred and forty-three thousand and eighty-five, of whom five hundred and forty-one thousand four hundred and one have received instruction in the common schools. The public moneys distributed to these schools amount to three hundred and twelve thousand one hundred and eighty-one dollars and twenty cents, including the one hundred thousand dollars derived from the income of the Common School Fund, and eighteen thousand six hundred and twenty dollars and ninety-two cents from local funds belonging to particular towns. The residue was raised by taxation on the property of the several towns and cities. A further sum of about four hundred and twenty thousand dollars was also paid by the inhabitants of the several districts. The aggregate amount of these sums, seven hundred and thirty-two thousand one hundred and eightyone dollars and twenty cents, (except a few thousand dollars expended in the city of New-York upon school-houses,) was paid for teachers' wages. The whole amount of expenditures on account of common schools in this State, for the year 1834, was at least one million three hundred thousand dollars.

Our academies and seminaries of learning are objects of great public interest, and worthy of the fostering care of government; particularly so in regard to their agency in supplying to some extent, the demand for common school teachers. There are many of high character and of extensive usefulness, that are not under the supervision of the Regents of the University, and consequently receive no aid from the Literature fund. I have not the means of ascertaining their number or their particular condition. There are sixty-eight academies subject to the visitation of the Regents, and all but five of them made reports to the Regents last year. The whole number of students receiving instruction in them at the date of these reports, was five thousand two hundred and ninetysix; the amount of tuition paid by them in 1834, was seventythree thousand four hundred and seventy-two dollars; and the real and personal property owned by these academies, including philosophical apparatus and libraries, amounted to five hundred and seventy-one thousand four hundred and seventy-dollars.

There are seven colleges in this State, including the two medical institutions. Hamilton and Geneva colleges have had to struggle with difficulties for want of a more liberal endowment. The plan of the University of the city of New-York, is, in many re

spects, similar to that of the most extensive universities on the continent of Europe, and contains arrangements for imparting instruction on many other subjects than those usually embraced in the ordinary collegiate course. This institution is in its infancy, and many parts of its plan are not yet put in execution. It is, however, reasonable to hope that it will in due time fulfil the expectations of its founders. Columbia and Union college are both in a very flourishing condition.

Our penitentiaries continue to present very favorable results. The number of convicts in the Auburn prison is a very little larger than that of the last year. The number in the Mount-Pleasant prison has been very much reduced. On the thirtieth day of September last, it was forty-five less than on that day in the previous year, and the number received in 1835, from the counties that are required to send their convicts to this prison, was also forty-five less than was sent from the same counties in 1834. The whole number of convicts in both prisons on the first of December last, was one thousand four hundred and fifty-one.

The earnings and profits of the Auburn prison during the last fiscal year, exceed the expenses for general support and ordinary repairs, seven thousand three hundred and eighty-eight dollars and thirty-eight cents. Of this sum there have been expended on buildings and for machinery, in payment of fees to sheriffs for transporting convicts, under the act in relation to the State Prisons, passed at the last session, and for expenditures on a few other unusual objects, five thousand six hundred and fifty-six dollars and ten cents. The officers of the Auburn prison estimate the sheriff's fees, which by that law are to be paid from the earnings of the convicts, at more than seven thousand doilars, and they are apprehensive that this additional charge upon, and the diminution of, the income, which will result from that law, will make an appropriation from the treasury to some extent necessary to defray its expenses.

Creditable as this statement is to those who have managed this institution, the prison at Mount-Pleasant presents still more successful results. The moneys received for the earnings of the convicts in this establishment, including ten thousand dollars for work done for the State, for which payment has not been required, amount to eighty-five thousand one hundred and sixty-four dollars and forty-two cents, and the expenses for general support have

been only fifty-six thousand three hundred and sixty-one dollars and six cents. It should be recollected that this prison defrays the expense of supporting the female convicts. Atter deducting the sum paid for this object, and for building materials, which together amount to five thousand five hundred and ninety-six dollars and twenty-nine cents, the surplus earnings of this prison for the past year are twenty-three thousand two hundred and seven dollars and

seven cents.

When the old contracts shall have expired, the new direction which the law of the last Legislature gives to the labor of the convicts, will undoubtedly cause a considerable reduction in the amount of their earnings. The officers of these prisons have, as by this law they are required to do, given their attention to the subject of introducing the manufacture of silk, but not much has yet becn done towards effecting it. The expense attending the introduction of this kind of manufacture, will be so great that I fear it cannot be done in a manner to ensure its success, without an appropriation for this object from the treasury. In relation to the Auburn prison, such an appropriation will be indispensable. The officers of both prisons have, pursuant to the late law, begun to cultivate the mulberry and have already about fifteen hundred trees growing on the State property adjacent to the prisons.

With the exception of the varioloid, which prevailed among the prisoners at Mount-Pleasant for a short time last spring, the inmates of both prisons have enjoyed more than an usual degree of health, and have conducted themselves in an orderly manner.

I am fully persuaded that if better means were provided for punishing petty offenders in a proper manner, the number of crimes which are punishable by labor and confinement in the State Prisons, would be greatly diminished; and with a view to effect this desirable object, I have repeatedly called the attention of the Legislature to the condition of our county jails. Referring you to the remarks in my former messages on this subject, I again present it as worthy of your favorable consideration.

In the course of the present year, the laws making most of the appropriations to the two institutions for instructing the deaf and dumb, will expire. The charter of the asylum located in the city of New-York, will also expire in 1837, and that of the Central Asylum in a few years thereafter. I presume that it will not be

within the views of the Legislature to withdraw the public patronage from this unfortunate class of our fellow citizens, or to suffer these valuable institutions to go out of existence. They have both fulfilled public expectation. The New-York Institution is, in all respects, one of the best in the country. The approaching events to which I have alluded, render it necessary for you to give your attention to this subject at the present session. The policy of consolidating them, and making a single institution, adequate to the wants of the whole State, is respectfully submitted to your consideration.

With the fullest conviction that it is the duty of the government to give to the insane, and especially to the insane poor, for whom as yet comparatively little has been done, the benefit of a proper institution, I most earnestly call your attention to the subject. In my Annual Message of 1834, I presented my views of the strong claims which this forlorn class of our fellow beings have upon the Legislature for its assistance, and the great public and individual advantages which would result from a well regulated institution of this kind. To these views I refer you with an urgent request that you will not suffer this session to pass without satisfying a claim supported by so many and such powerful considerations.

It is now ten years since the discontinuance of the State tax. The General Fund then accumulated, with an inconsiderable income from other sources, besides paying two hundred and ninetyfour thousand one hundred and eleven dollars and sixty-nine cents for the support of the lateral canals, and many large appropriations for other objects, has sustained the ordinary expenses of the government far beyond the period anticipated when the State tax was discontinued. This fund is now not only exhausted, but the State at the end of the last fiscal year, was in debt to other funds for the current expenses of the treasury, four hundred and six thousand and sixty-eight dollars and ninety-seven cents.

In consequence of the recent amendment of the Constitution, the income from auction and salt duties, after July next, will be paid into the treasury of the State to the use of the General Fund. If this fund were relieved from the support of the lateral canals, the receipts of the present year, in the opinion of the Comptroller, would be nearly adequate to the ordinary expenses of the government. The amount required for those canals, increased as it will be

by the Chenango canal, will, I hope, be provided by some system of finance applicable to internal improvements generally; but if it should not be, I trust the ability of the treasury to meet these demands will not be supplied by the generally and justly condemned policy of borrowing money for that purpose, without, at the same time, providing a revenue sufficient ultimately to pay both the interest and principal of the debt.

The productive capital of the Common School Fund is one million eight hundred and seventy-five thousand one hundred and ninety-one dollars and seventy-one cents. Its income during the last fiscal year, was one hundred and thirty-four thousand dollars. This income exceeds the estimated amount about twenty-six thou sand dollars, and is considerably larger than it will be in future. years. It will not, however, fall in any year much short of one hundred and ten thousand dollars. The distribution to the common schools may therefore be permanently raised to one hundred and ten thousand dollars annually, as soon as an apportionment can be made under the census recently taken.

The Literature Fund is two hundred and sixty-five thousand three hundred and forty-two dollars and eighty-seven cents, and produced an income last year of fifteen thousand seven hundred and thirty-six dollars and twenty-five cents.

The Bank Fund at the close of the fiscal year, was four hundred and seven thousand and ninety-four dollars and ninety-nine cents, and the payment due on the first instant will add to it one hundred and thirty thousand dollars.

The great importance of internal improvements is conceded by all; and the claims of the several parts of the State to participate in them, so far as they afford capabilities and offer advantages, cannot in justice and fairness be contested. I have repeatedly expressed my anxious desire to have the State progress in the career which has been so honorable and advantageous to it. I have described the character of such works as, in my opinion, should be executed by the State, and directed the attention of your imme diate predecessors to those particular undertakings which seem to be most earnestly desired by our constituents. For a full exposition of my views on all these points, I take the liberty to refer you to my previous communications to the Legislature. I have not been without apprehensions, and I still entertain them, [Assem. No. 2.]

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