WEDNESDAY, January 10, 1844.

The Senate met pursuant to adjournment, and the roll was called, but a quorum of members not appearing, the Senate adjourned until 12 o'clock to-morrow.

THURSDAY, January 11th, 1844.

The Senate met pursuant to adjournment, and a quorum of members answering on a call of the roll, the proceedings of Tuesday were read and approved.

Mr. Long gives notice that he will, on some future day, introduce a bill to be entitled, An Act relating to Steam Boats.

Mr. Hart gives notice that he will on some future day, ask leave to introduce a bill to change the name of a certain female therein named.

Mr. Haughton gives notice that, at a future time, he will ask leave to introduce a bill to divide the Western Brigade of the Florida Militia into two Brigades; the one comprising all the Counties situated between the Suwannee and the Apalachicola Rivers, and the other all those lying between the latter stream and the Western boundary of the Territory.

Mr. Long introduced a petition from Willis Watson, of the County of Jackson, asking a charter for a ferry over the Chipola River, in the County of Jackson, at the point where the old Federal Road from Tallahassee to Pensacola crosses said River.

Which was read, and referred to a Select Committee, consisting of Messrs. Long, Yonge and Pelot.

Mr. Pelot offered the following Resolution :

Resolved by the Senate, That so much of the Governor's Message as refers to Banks, be referred to the Committee on Banks, for their immediate action;

So much as refers to the completion of the Capitol, to the Committee on the State of the Territory;

That which relates to the Auditor and Treasurer, to the same Committee;

So much as relates to Seminary Lands, to the Committee on Schools and Colleges;

That which relates to the Militia, to the Committee on the Militia ;

So much as relates to Attachments, to the Committee on the Judiciary;

And so much as relates to our Territorial Government, to the Committee on the State of the Territory, with instructions to report tions to report at as early a day as practicable;

Which was read.

Mr. Pelot offered the following Resolution, which was read: Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate be required to furnish the Stationery requisite for the use of the Senate Chamber,

having respect to the strictest economy in his purchases; and that each member of the Senate do keep a minute of each article purchased by him, so as to certify to the Stationary account at the close of the session, and that no account will be admissible without such certificate.

On motion of Mr. Walker, of Leon, the amendment to the rules of the last session was taken up; which is in the following words: Mr. Baltzell moves to strike out the words, "appointed by the President," in the first and second lines of the 30th rule, and insert, "elected by the Senate by ballot."

On the question of adoption, the amendment was rejected.

On motion of Mr. Hart, the resolutions offered by him on Tuesday, were taken up and read a second time.

Mr. Smith offered an amendment in the following words:

Be it further resolved, That in obedience to the injunction, and in imitation of the most worthy example of Jesus, such Minister, when about to offer up his prayers, do retire to some closet and, after closing the door, implore our Heavenly Father in behalf of this Body, to direct and guide us in all our doings in the right way.

On the question of adoption, the same was rejected.

Mr. Pelot moved to strike out the word "stationed," in the first resolution, which was accepted by the mover; and on the passage of the resolutions, the yeas and nays were called for by Messrs. Pelot and Yonge, and those who voted in the affirmative were: Mr. President, Messrs. Cooper, Hart, Haughton, Long, Mathers, Pelot, Ramsay, Walker and Yonge-10.

In the negative, Mr. Smith-1.

So the Resolutions were adopted in the following words:

Resolved by the Senate of Florida, That the regular 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 these resolutions be made out, certified, and handed to each of the respective Ministers of the Gospel resident in Tallahassee.

The following communication was received from the Governor, transmitting the annual Report of the Union Bank of Florida, accompanied by a copy of a letter from the President of that Institu

tion:

Gentlemen of the Senate

EXECUTIVE OFFICE,
Tallahassee, 11th Jan. 1844.

and House of Representatives:

I transmit herewith, for the informaion of the Legislative Council, the annual report of the Union Bank of Florida, accompanied by a copy of a letter from the President of that Institution, to which I invite your attention. R. K. CALL.

REPORT OF THE UNION BANK.

UNION BANK OF FLORIDA,
January 2d, 1844.

Sir: I have the honor to present herewith the annual statement of the condition of this Bank.

Since the first of January, 1843, the Bank has redeemed of its then outstanding liabilities, besides the interest which had accrued thereon, as follows, viz:

Arrangements have also been made, but not yet completed, for payment of £13,500 more of sterling Bonds, and the interest due upon them.

In the early part of this year, much larger payments were anticipated. The disappointment has arisen from causes beyond the control of the Bank. It has done all that it could do, and that prudence would justify. The amount of debt in suit, with the interest now due thereon, exceeds twelve hundred thousand dollars; about half of which is in judgment; but the returns upon executions are generally, "No effects." Where payments have not been pressed to execution, the forbearance has been dictated by prudential considerations. Upon the Stock Note debts now in suit, amounting with interest to $287,000 it has been deemed proper not to press for payment, until the Court of Appeals shall have settled the question, " Whether, in exacting interest in advance, upon loans to its Stockholders, the Bank has been guilty of usury." If the judgment of the Court below be sustained by the Court of Appeals, the Stock Note debt, amounting, with interest, to two millions of dollars, will be annihilated; and leave the Bank in a state of hopeless insolvency.

Since the date of the judgment in the Court below, the interest received upon the Stock Note debt, is less than seven thousand dollars. But although every community contains men who will avail themselves of any and every plea, which will avoid the payment of debts, it would be injustice to the defaulting stockholders generally, to impute their default to an intention, or desire, to avail themselves of the plea of usury, if sustained by the Court of Appeals. Their apology

est.

may be found in the well-known fact, that they are, not less than their neighbors, embarrassd with debt; nor less affected in their circumstances by the failure of crops, by the depreciation of property, and by the general pecuniary difficulties of the times. They owe other debts which cannot be postponed, without subjecting their plantations to be stripped, by marshal's and sheriff's sales, of horses, mules, provisions, corn, fodder, farming tools, and all the materiel indispensable for their cultivation; whereas the preservation of these indispensables, will enable them hereafter to pay arrearages, and future interMen usually pay the most pressing debts. It is proper here to add, that a considerable amount of the liabilities which have been redeemed within the year, were received in payment of debts due to the Bank by Stockholders; and to the Bank the benefit is the same, whether the payment be for interest or other debt. The remarkable unanimity with which, subsequent to the judicial decision referred to, the Stockholders, in general meeting, instructed a committee to ask of the Legislative Council, powers more effectually to coerce themselves to pay their interest, is honorable evidence that few, if any of them, desire to avail themselves of the plea of usury. I have deemed it justice to the Stockholders, to accompany the annual statement with these remarks.

The notes of the Bank have ceased to form any part of the circulation of the country. Our citizens are no longer losers by their depreciation, or inconvenienced by its inability to redeem them. They are only seen now, "like angel's visits, few and far between." May it not, then, be hoped that a time has come, when a few words in behalf of the Bank will be heard with patience, and be judged with candor? This Bank brought into the Territory three millions of dollars, which, with half a million more of its own paper, then of equal value with gold and silver, it loaned to the citizens of Florida. Eleven twelfths of this amount were loaned to the agriculturists of the country, who invested the money in the purchase of lands, slaves, horses, mules and agricultural machinery. It is true that purchases were made at prices exceeding the present value of the things purchased. But it should be remembered that the price of slaves then as now, and always, was regulated by their value in other southern markets; and that land in Florida never did attain the prices at which land of similar quality was sold in the adjoining States. Let it also be borne in mind, that if the price of cotton had continued at 14 to 15 cents per pound, there would have been no diminution in the valu e of either land or slaves. These undeniable truths should have exempted the borrowers of bank capital from the charge of blind extravagance in their investments, so often alledged against them. But, however imprudent they may have been, the Bank was in no manner responsible.

Your Excellency can bear testimony of the promptness, with which in its prosperous days, the coffers of this institution were always thrown open to supply the Government of the Territory, with

out charge of interest, with the means of equipping troops, to defend our citizens from the inroads of their savage foe.

From the commencement of its operations, until the spring of 1837, an unexampled prosperity was diffused over the country with which this Bank was connected-a prosperity universally attributed to its benificent action. A change came afterwards over the scene; but this Bank had neither agency in, nor control over, the causes of the general prostration which succeeded. Some of those causes, (the Indian war, for example,) were peculiar to Florida; while others more widely extended, swept, as with the besom of destruction, from Maine, to New Orleans, and from the shores of the Atlantic to the remotest cabin in the far West. Every interest in our extended Republic suffered; but most of all, the Banks; for the obvious truth, that they could only meet their liabilities by collections from their debtors, was lost sight of, and by a monstrous perversion of judgment, the inevitable consequence of default in the one, was charged as a crime in the other. Such has been the lot of this Bank, whose greatest fault has been its effort to avert from this community, the ruin which it saw falling upon every portion of the Southern country.

Whilst engaged in that benevolent, and patriotic effort; and extending forbearance and indulgence to its debtors, it did not hesitate to make enormous sacrifices of its own effects, for the purpose of paying the interest upon the Bonds, with which it had been furnished by the Territory. Sacrifices, which were discontinued, only from regard to the true interest of the Bondholders themselves.Yet the Bank continued to experience nothing but denunciation and persecution; and the loudest in the cry, have often been those, who had been saved from utter ruin by its kind forbearance.

This Bank as is known to your Excellency, has not resumed the payment of interest upon the bonds of the Territory, which were sold by it. The failure to pay, has not been from want of will, but of ability. The Bank cannot refuse to receive its own liabilities; and so long as they are of less value than gold and silver, payment of interest, or of any other debt, will be tendered in nothing else.They must be absorbed, before payment of interest upon Territorial Bonds can be resumed. It is impossible to predict the time whne that can be done. But if the Court of Appeals does not sustain the plea of Usury-and if the Legislative Council will grant the prayer of the Stockholders for such amendment of their charter as is asked, without the addition of provisions which they cannot accept, it may be confidently predicted, that the next annual Statement will show a greater extinguishment of the liabilities of the Bank than the statement of any preceding year.

The Bank debtors must, by this time, have paid most of their other debts; and there is reason to look for better prices for the Cotton crop of 1844, than were obtained for those of 1842 and 1843. Increased power to coerce will be aided by increased