act efficiently for the accomplishment of the object intended, and fully impressed with the necessity of adopting some decisive measures for the preservation of these lands from damage and waste, I respectfully renew the proposition contained in my last annual message, to place this valuable endowment of the Government under the guardianship and protection of the County Courts, within whose respective jurisdictions the lands may be situated.

These Courts, composed of the presiding Judges and the Justices coming from every portion of the counties, will embody in themselves all the local information required to enable them to protect this valuable domain, and to make such disposition of it under the authority of the Legislature, as may best promote the public interest. As the guardians of the orphan and the poor, these Courts might well be entrusted with the disbursement of the funds arising from the lease of the seminary lands, for a few years, until by their annual appropriation, public schools shall have been established in those places where they would be most useful. The school fund reported by the Treasurer, now amounting to eight hundred and thirty-three dollars seventy-five cents, ($833 75) has been collected entirely from the annual rents of certain sixteenth sections situated within Leon County, and I respectfully recommend that it may be appropriated to the establishment of a School on the sixteenth section of Township one, Range one, South and West; and that the land embraced within that section may, under the direction of such persons as the Legislative Council may authorize to be appointed for this purpose, be divided into lots of convenient dimensions, and be leased for the support of the School to he established. This section is delightfully situated, and has already become a favorite resort for health during the summer seasons. Its contiguity to this city, and the most densely populated portion of the county, added to the good health for which it is distinguished, should, perhaps, give it a preference over any other situation.

Since the last adjournment of the Legislative Council, I have received a letter from the Comptroller of the Treasury of the United States, informing me that the Territory of Florida is entitled to a further sum of one hundred and ninety dollars thirty-three cents, ($190 33.) under the provisions of the act of the 4th September, 1841, appropriating the proceeds of the sales of the public lands among the different States and Territories. This sum yet remains in the Treasury of the United States, subject to the draft of the Agent of the Territory, and may be available for any purpose the Legislative Council may direct.

I regret to inform the Legislative Council, that but little progress has been made during the past year, in the organization and discipline of the Militia. The accompanying report of the Adjutant General of the Territory will inform you that he has not received from the General Officers, the annual returns which they are required by law to make, of the military strength of their respective Brigades; in consequence of which he has been unable to furnish the report

of the military strength of the Territory to the Adjutant General of the United States, in conformity with the act of Congress on that subject. This will deprive the Territory for another year, of any participation in the benefit of the arms and equipments directed by the act of Congress, passed in 1808, to be distributed for the use of the militia of the several States and Territories. It should be humiliating to our pride to know, that Florida is the only portion of the United States delinquent in the performance of an important military duty, and that we are the only portion of the American people, who do not share in the distribution of the arms provided by the bounty of the Government. The loss of the Territory from this continued delinquency for so many years past, is already considerable, and will continue to be experienced, until the officers and men shall be animated with a higher degree of emulation and military zeal. It is much to be lamented that the importance of a well organized and well disciplined militia, is not sufficiently appreciated generally in this Territory. From the form and structure of our government, the militia must at all times constitute an important arm of our national defence, and in cases of emergency inust be the only reliance for the protection of the country. If in other portions of the United States, securely situated from geographical positions, with a dense population, where every able-bodied man contributes to the strength and defence of the community, the discipline and equipment of the militia are deemed important considerations, how much more so should they be to the people of this Territory. Our frontier position, our defenceless situation, and domestic institutions, all speak in the language of admonition, against the indifference manifested on this subject.

It is gratifying, however, amidst the general apathy which prevails, to perceive] that there is a martial spirit which animates a portion of the community, and which has prompted the organization of volunteer companies in many of the towns and villages of the Territory. The example of these patriotic citizens is worthy of imitation, and their military zeal is as creditable to them as it may be serviceable to the country. These companies, in cases of emergency, may be rendered available, and would constitute the earliest and most efficient defence of the country. In order to give encouragement to the formation of others, I respectfully suggest the propriety of organizing them into independent battalions, under officers of their own choice, and that they be made subordinate to no other military authority, except that of the Generals of Brigades and the Governor of the Territory.

I deem it proper to invite the attention of the Legislative Council to the act regulating proceedings by attachment. Under the provisions of this act, although the creditor may possess the most conclusive evidence of the intention of his debtor to remove his property beyond the jurisdiction of the Territory, yet he cannot avail himself of the benefit of the writ of attachment, unless he will make oath that the party is actually removing himself, or is removing his

property, beyond the limits of the Territory. The oath on which the writ is founded, cannot be safely taken by any conscientious person, until the debtor has made some progress in the act of removing, when in most cases, it will be too late to obtain the writ, in time to arrest the property, before it will have passed beyond the jurisdiction of the Court from which the writ has been obtained. The bail writ, by which the person of the debtor may be arrested and required to give security for his appearance at Court, not being in force in this Territory, the process by attachment is a highly important remedy to the creditor, and although it should ba so guarded as to prevent oppression and injustice, it should not be manacled with such restrictions as may render it inoperative. I therefore suggest the propriety of amending the law in such manner as to render the writ of attachment more available, and at the same time to prevent the abuse of any power or right which it may confer on the creditor.

Our Territorial Government and the manner in which our officers are appointed or chosen, is necessarily a matter of deep interest to the people. Accustomed to exercise the elective franchise as a birthright, under our constitutional form of government, they naturally look with jealousy on every abridgement of this valued prerogative. The Grand Juries in some sections of the country, speaking no doubt the will of the people, have expressed an earnest desire that our organic laws may be so amended as to give to the people the right of electing all their officers. To this expression of public opinion I most cheerfully respond, and shall give my unfeigned approbation to any measure which may be adopted, to promote this desirable end. According to the theory of our republican govern ment, all power must emanate from the people, and they have a natural and inalienable right to be heard in the choice of their rulers. Incident to, and inseparable from this right, is the responsibility of the rulers to the people they govern. Without the first essential principle of a representative government, the incidental connection between the people and their rulers can never exist. The officer from expediency or necessity, will, most generally, feel his greatest responsibility to that power from which his own authority is derived. It is highly important that all public officers in the exercise of their functions should give satisfaction, as well as do justice to the people. And I am well convinced, that the people of Florida would be much better satisfied with officers selected by them, than with any who may be appointed by the President of the United States. Congress has already gone far to confer the elective franchise on the people of the Territory, and I see no impediment to its further extension. The only objection, I apprehend, which can be urged against the election by the people, of any officers, except those of the Superior Courts, is that the exercise of this right, would to that extent, abridge the patronage of the President of the United States. This objection, in the magnanimity of the Federal Executive, would no doubt be considered trivial when compared

with the satisfaction the exercise of this valued privilege would give to the people of the Territory. The officers of the District Courts of the United States, under the Constitution, must necessarily derive their power from the General Government, and unless our Judicial System can be so reorganised as to separate the Federal from the Territorial jurisdiction, and create separate tribunals, to take cognizance of cases arising under the laws of the Territory, the power cannot be conferred on the people or their immediate representatives, to elect the judicial and ministerial officers of the Territory. But, wherever the office can be filled by election, the result would be no less gratifying to the incumbent than to the people who exercised that right. The same office would be more valued as the gift of a free people in the exercise of their highest prerogative, than when conferred even by the exalted authority of the President of the United States. The dependence of the officer on the people, is the best guarantee for his fidelity, and would increase the sympathy and strengthen the mutual confidence which should subsist between them. And being responsible to the people alone for his conduct in office, he would enjoy a security against the secret misrepresentations and moral assassination to which he is ever exposed under the present system of appointment. So long as the responsibility of the office is held at Washington, if he is not made the victim of unfounded accusations, his reputation will often be assailed in secret, and his conduct and motives be misrepresented, with all the address that party zeal and personal animosity can devise.

I therefore recommend, that application be made to Congress to confer on the people of Florida, the right (which I conceive should not be denied them,) of electing all the officers of the Territory, except the judicial and ministerial officers of the District Courts.

I tender to the Legislative Council my sincere congratulations on the termination of Indian hostilities, and the restoration of peace and tranquility to our borders, so long exposed to the havoc and desolation incident to savage warfare. I congratulate you on the tide of emigration which is now bearing population, settlement and civilization to every portion of the wilderness within our Territory, and upon the dawn of renovated success and prosperity to the country.

I shall be gratified to unite with you for the accomplishment of every measure calculated to promote the happiness and welfare of the people, and I tender to you my best wishes for a successful and harmonious session, and for a safe and happy return to your homes and families.

R. K. CALL,
Governor of Florida.

Tallahasssee, January 5, 1844.

Which was read, and on motion of Mr. Haughton,

the message with the accompanying documents were laid on the table and five hundred copies of the former ordered to be printed.

The Senate then adjourned until Monday next, 12 o'clock.

MONDAY, January 8, 1844.

The

The Senate met pursuant to adjournment. roll being called and a quorum of members not answering to their names, the Senate adjourned until to-morrow, 12 o'clock.

TUESDAY, January 9, 1844.

The Senate met pursuant to adjournment. The roll being called, and a quorum of members answering to their names, the proceedings of Friday last were read and approved.

Mr. Yonge offered the following Resolution, which was read, and on motion, the rule was waived, and the resolution read a second time and passed:

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Territory be requested to furnish for the use of the Senate, sixteen copies of all the laws of Florida, and the acts of Congress in relation to Florida.

Mr. Haughton offered the following Resolution, which was read and on motion the rule was waived, and the resolution read a second time and passed:

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate be authorized to subscribe for eight copies of each of the newspapers printed in Tallahassee, to be furnished to each of the members of the Senate.

Mr. Hart offered the following Resolutions, which were read, and by the rule lies over one day :

Resolved by the Senate of Florida, That the regular stationed Ministers of the Gospel in the City of Tallahassee, be invited alternately to perform the duties of Chaplain for the Senate during the present session.

And be it further Resolved, That a copy of this resolution be made out, certified, and handed to each of the respective Ministers of the Gospel resident in Tallahassee.

Mr. Yonge gave notice that he would, on some future day, ask eave to introduce a bill to be entitled, An Act for the Protection of the rights of Females;

Also, a bill to amend the Execution laws.

On motion, the Senate adjourned until to-morrow, 12 o'clock.