tests, I shall do all in my power to rescue the party from the destruction with which it is menaced by the impolicy, the partisan spirit, and the want of patriotism by which some of its leading men are actuated, and to rally it, so far as my humble efforts avail, to the support of the Government and the preservation of the Union. If it cannot be saved, I will not be an agent in its downfall. But if it is doomed to succumb to the influence of unfaithful leaders and pernicious counsels, my hope still is, that the great body of its members will, before it is too late, reassert its ancient principles, and, combining with the conservative elements of the country, will resume its proper influence in the conduct of public affairs, and guide us, as in the better days. of the Republic, under the sacred banner of constitutional liberty and law, in our majestic march to prosperity and power. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOHN A. Dix. Messrs. MATT. II. CARPENTER, LEVI HUBBELL, C. D. ROBINSON. The Hartford Convention and the Draft. The address and resolutions of the Hartford Convention (referred to at Vol. II., page 92) are dated January 4th, 1814, and the following extract relates to the subject of the draft: "The power of compelling the militia and other citizens of the United States, by a forcible draft or conscription, to serve in the regular armies, as proposed in a late official letter of the Secretary of War,* is not delegated to Congress by the Consti The Report referred to in the text contains the following passage: "The idea that the United States cannot raise a regular army in any other mode than by accepting the voluntary service of individuals, is believed to be repugnant to the uniform construction of all grants of powers, and equally so to the first principles and first objects of the Federal compact. An unqualified grant of power gives the necessary means to carry it into effect. This is a universal maxim, which admits of no exception. Equally true is it that the conservation of the State is a duty paramount to all others. The commonwealth has a right to the service of all its citizens; or, rather, the citizens composing the commonwealth have a right, collectively and individually, to the service of each other to repel any danger which may be menaced. The manner in which the service is to be apportioned among the citizens and rendered by them are objects of legislation."- JAMES MONROE's Report, as Secretary of War, October 17, 1814; Niles's "Annual Register," vol. vii., p. 138. tution, and the exercise of it would be not less dangerous to their liberties than hostile to the sovereignty of the States. The effort to deduce this power from the right of raising armies is a flagrant attempt to pervert the sense of the clause in the Constitution which confers that right, and is incompatible with other provisions in that instrument. The armies of the United States have always been raised by contract, never by conscription, and nothing more can be wanting to a Government possessing the power thus claimed to enable it to usurp the entire control of the militia, in derogation of the authorities of the State, and to convert it by impressment into a standing army." -NILES'S Annual Register, vol. vii. (1814-'15). IX. (Vol. II, page 115.) New York, December 15, 1864. MY DEAR GENERAL,-May I ask you for two copies of your General Order No. 97 (I mean the order you issued in consequence of the decision of the Canadian judge releasing the robber-rebels). I desire to paste your order in my Schedarium Juris Gentium. Let me hope that you will excuse the trouble I give you. Perhaps I ought to add that I desire the copies of your Order only if you have your Orders printed in the usual 8vo form; otherwise I can cut it out of the papers, which is, however, the thing I do not like. One copy I desire to send to Heffter-the greatest international jurist on the continent of Europe. With the highest regard, your obedient servant, FRANCIS LIEBER (No. 48 East 34th Street). Major-general Dix, etc., etc., etc., New York. II.-23 X. (Vol. II., page 181.) Communication from the Governor, transmitting a Report from the Comptroller in regard to the Sinking Funds. To the Legislature: State of New York, Executive Chamber, I have the honor to transmit herewith a communication from the Comptroller in regard to the sinking funds set apart by the Constitution, and sacredly pledged to pay the interest and redeem the principal of the State debts. I cannot too strongly commend the facts and suggestions contained in this communication to your attention. They concern the proper administration of the financial department of the Government, and the preservation of the good faith of the State toward the public creditors. I have referred to this subject in both my Messages to the Legislature, and more particularly in the one which I had the honor to make to you at the commencement of your present session. In the financial statement presented to me when I was preparing it the aggregate amount of the several sinking funds was set down at $15,594,901 05. On inquiry in what manner these funds had been set apart, as required by the Constitution, I found that nearly two-thirds of the amount existed only on paper, and that the moneys belonging to them had been consumed in defraying the current expenses of the Government, in direct violation of the constitutional requirement and of the plighted faith of the State. The communication of the Comptroller explains the manner in which this failure to fulfil a high constitutional obligation has been caused, and points out the only mode in which the obligation can now be complied with. I do not doubt that it is his duty, under the higher law of the Constitution, to invest all moneys raised by taxation for these funds as rapidly as they come into his hands, instead of expending them to meet legislative appropriations, and to leave the latter unpaid until other means are provided for them. In my first annual Message I assumed that, as sinking funds were, in their nature, a solemn pledge of faith to creditors for the payment of the debts due to them, to borrow money on the credit of those funds for other purposes, to make them the subject of any other pledge, or to make even a temporary use of the moneys or securities of which they consisted, was a clear violation of the pledge originally given. Farther reflection has confirmed my confidence in the correctness of this conclusion. Some years ago there were uninvested moneys belonging to the capital of the general fund debt sinking fund, and these moneys were used to meet current expenditures. Since that time the Legislature has, in repeated instances, authorized the Comptroller to invest surplus moneys belonging to the capital of the sinking funds in taxes thereafter to be collected, and to apply these moneys to meet appropriations made by the same act. An investment in a tax does not convey a very definite conception of the financial measure intended. In plain terms, it is an expenditure of money to be replaced at a future time by taxation. But, in point of fact, when the authority to invest was given to the Comptroller, in the instances referred to, there were no surplus moneys in existence to be invested or expended, and the result has been that the principal of the sinking funds has been invaded and consumed, as already stated. The largest deficiency is in the sinking fund of the bounty debt. This debt was contracted under section 11 of title 7 of the Constitution. The sinking fund to extinguish it was created by chapter 325 of the laws of 1865, and the money provided for it became, by virtue of the section referred to, applicable to the repayment of the debt, and "to no other purpose whatever." Like the sinking funds of the general and canal fund debts, it is inviolable, and can only be invaded and consumed through an infraction of the constitutional requirement. The act, chapter 448 of the laws of 1867, amending that of 1865, requires the Comptroller to invest the proceeds of the annual tax authorized to be levied for this sinking fund, from time to time, as it can be judiciously done, in the bonds authorized to be issued under that act, "or in any of the stocks issued by this State or the United States." The requirement of the Constitution setting apart the sinking funds for the payment of the State debts, and the requirement of the law in regard to the bounty debt sinking fund, are in accord, and a failure to make the investment prescribed by the latter would involve a violation of both. I make these suggestions with entire confidence in your earnest desire to take such measures as may be necessary to maintain inviolate the faith of the State, and to relieve the financial department of all embarrassment in meeting public obligations, both of an ordinary and extraordinary character. JOHN A. Dix. State of New York, Comptroller's Office, To his Excellency John A. Dix, Governor: I called the attention of the Legislature, in my annual report, submitted at the beginning of the present session, to the general fund and bounty debts of the State, and the condition of the sinking funds intended for their payment at maturity, for the creation of which provision is made in the Constitution of the State. I deem it a matter of so grave importance to the proper administration of the financial department of the Government, and the present and future credit of the State, as to justify me in alluding to the subject more in detail in this special communication to you. The general fund debt now outstanding amounted on the first day of January, 1874, to $3,988,526 40, payable as follows: The bounty debt at the same date amounted to $20,815,000, payable April 7, 1877. The general fund and bounty debt amounted in the aggregate to $24,803,526 40. Provision was made for the creation of a sinking fund for the payment of the general fund debt in the second section of the seventh article of the State Constitution, which provides that "the principal and interest of the said sinking fund shall be sacredly applied to the payment of said debt." The whole amount required to take up and cancel said general fund debt has been contributed and paid into the treasury under said section and article of the Constitution, but the |