health, and peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of all the cereal and other productions of the temperate zone. Its lands are unsurpassed in fertility; its borders are surrounded by great lakes; and its broad surface is intersected by numerous large and navigable rivers; and, whether the immigrant has in view desirable locations, cheapness of lands, productiveness of soil, advantages of convenient intercourse, or facilities of transportation to market, the Peninsular State affords, in an eminent degree, all the advantages that may elsewhere be found. In conferring political privileges upon the foreign resident, no State has exceeded our own in generous liberality, and no where else has the foreign immigrant received a warmer or more sincere welcome than from the liberal and magnanimous people of Michigan. He is welcomed to our homes and firesides and made to partake of our kindness and hospitality; and the very difference of nationality that exists, ensures him, as a stranger, a more hearty reception and a greater degree of kind attention. His wants are cared for and his objects promoted.

The peculiar advantages offered to the immigrant by Michigan are so prominent in their character, that they must be known to all seeking a home in the west, and should we express too much anxiety upon the subject and make an unexampled effort to turn public attention to our State, we might thereby create a distrust of the reality of our representations.

Indeed, it may well be questioned whether the manifestation of too much anxiety to induce emigrants to settle amongst us may not in fact, by exciting their suspicion, drive them away. The settlement of the State has not been retarded from a want of information diffused abroad in regard to the great facilities it offers to commerce, agriculture and manufactures. The causes retarding settlement, besides our situation in regard to the course of navigation upon the lakes, if any exist, may be found in the fact that, at an early day, large tracts of public lands were taken up and held for speculation on terms beyond the means of most immigrants, and in the failure of the State to maintain its credit by meeting the interest on its public debt. These causes no longer exist. The lands held on speculation have mostly been disposed of, and, by the practice of a strict economy, public credit is restored.

The interest on our debt is promptly paid as the same accrues, and soon, I hope, we shall provide a sinking fund that, at no distant day, will entirely extinguish the principal itself.

To do this, however, we must continue to husband our resources with prudence and apply our means to the liquidation of our indebtedness, so far as the same may be spared from the expenses of the State government economically administered. The high financial character and commanding position which Michigan now maintains, and the prosperity which characterizes her people, will far more contribute to her future

settlement than the efforts of special agents employed for that purpose. All the most flourishing and important of our settlements of foreign immigrants were established without the intervention of any agency; and, under existing circumstances, there is little reason to doubt that we shall in future receive a full share of the increasing tide of emigration from the old to the new world, as well as of that from the eastern to the western portion of our country.

In 1845 an appropriation was made for the object intended to be effected by the bill now under consideration, and after making, as I supposed at the time, due investigation of the subject and a fair trial, I was induced to abandon the undertaking from the conviction that no adequate benefits would result from its further pursuit; and such, I believe was the opinion of the agent employed. About one-fourth of the appropriation made was expended and the balance now remains in the treasury.

My own views, however, so far as they relate only to the expediency of the measure, involving no constitutional principal, I might feel inclined, under ordinary circumstances, to yield to the decision of the Legislature; but the entire want of proper detail must deter me, under a sense of duty to the people, from giving my assent to the present bill, in the form in which it is now presented. The duties of the agent are not defined. He may or may not, at his option, expend a portion of the amount appropriated in diffusing information by publishing pamphlets and in other ways, or he may retain it all as a salary. He is not made accountable or responsible for his acts; and, however he may abuse his trust, no sufficient and summary mode is provided for his removal and the consequent saving of the money of the State from loss. In case of his death, resignation or inability to perform the duties required, no provision is made for filling the vacancy.

The operation of the bill would be little else than to grant as a gratuity, the whole sum appropriated to the individual named, for whose interest it seems better adapted than for the interest of the State.

I deem it inexpedient and for the most part improper to legislate an incumbent into office in the same act by which the office itself is created. If the public good requires the creation of an office, it should be established, I think, without reference to the particular individual who may be called upon to discharge its duties.

Without expressing or entertaining any wish in regard to the manner of the appointment, I may be permitted to say that I incline to the opinion that the person appointed for such an agency should, if possible, be a naturalized citizen, native of the country from which emigration is mostly expected, of high standing, great moral worth, and purity of life, possessing the confidence of his countrymen, speaking their language, and by consequence, intimately acquainted with their customs and

predilections. Of the propriety of this I was convinced by the investigation of the subject made in 1845, and, if it had been deemed advisable at the time to have expended the remaining portion of that appropriation, such person, if to be found, would have been selected. With the sum named in the bill, I doubt not the services of such a person might be secured for a full year, he residing in New York, if deemed advisable, during the season of navigation, and spending the remainder of the time in his own native land where he could more effectively perform the object of his mission and better serve the interest of the State. Indeed it is a well known fact that the direction of emigration can scarcely be influenced except at the point from which it first sets out, and the proper influence there exercised will be much more effectual than any efforts made in New York or elsewhere.

A great, if not an insuperable, objection to the establishment of the mission, at this time, is the extraordinary expenses to be incurred the present year consequent upon calling a convention to revise the constitution of the State. The amount of appropriations already made, and which, under existing laws, must be made for the support of the State government, will greatly exceed the taxes for the year. Should the bill now pass, the sum appropriated by it could not be supplied from the treasury but by first borrowing the money to be expended under its provisions.

JNO. S. BARRY.

1851

February 5, 1851

From Joint Documents of the Legislature of the State of Michigan,

pp. 1-28

FELLOW CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:

The interests of the State are, for the time, committed to our care; and we should be emulous to excel in the discharge of the duty thus imposed. Michigan, though early discovered, has been but recently settled. Twenty years ago its population was inconsiderable; in 1840 it exceeded 200,000. During the last decade it has nearly doubled, and will doubtless continue to increase in a like ratio.

The development of its vast resources has scarcely yet begun. Its mines of Iron and Copper are inexhaustible; its forests afford unfailing supplies of lumber; and its agricultural, commercial and manufacturing advantages are unsurpassed. Its climate is salubrious, and the cereal grains and other productions, adapted to the latitude, attain here their greatest perfection. The facility of transforming the wilderness to cultivated fields is no where else exceeded; and its lands not surpassed in fertility. Its surface is intersected by railroads and navigable streams, and its borders surrounded by inland seas, all affording advantages of intercourse and facilities of transportation elsewhere sought in vain. Waterfalls, suitable for propelling machinery, are found in every direction; and the manufactories of the east, in iron, in copper, in wool and in cotton, may with advantage be transferred to Michigan. The raw material for the three first named is produced on the spot, and the cotton of the south may be transported here, with greater facility and cheapness, than to any point in the Atlantic States. And the provisions that are required for subsistence may be obtained, in abundant supply, at every point, without the enhancement of price consequent upon transportation. Indeed, it is not visionary to predict that, at no distant day, the manufactures of Michigan, especially of articles made from the commodities named, will not only supply the home demand, but seek a market in all parts of the Union and in foreign lands. The navigable rivers of the State, and the great lakes that surround it connected as they are with the Atlantic, the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Gulf of Mexico, afford unrivalled advantages to interior commerce, and secure to agricultural products a ready transit and a certain market. Labor and capital, which will be timely supplied, are now only wanting to develop the resources of Michigan, and and to secure to her that high rank which she is destined to take, and

that influence which she is destined to exert in the constellation of States, of which she forms a part.

In view of the manifold blessings bestowed upon us as a people, and impressed with a just sense of our dependence, we have abundant cause to return thanks to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, and to solicit a continuance of Divine favor and protection.

In the political history of Michigan a new epoch is created by the adoption of a new constitution; and the representatives of the people now assembled, are required to give effect to its provisions.

The unanimity with which that instrument has been adopted, commends it to our favorable consideration. It is now the supreme law of the State, and while it remains in force, must be respected as such, and its requirements obeyed. In many respects it is doubtless an improvement on our former organic law; and, as time shall discover its defects, it may be so amended as more nearly to conform to the progressive spirit of the age in which it is our fortune to live. The adaptation of the laws of the State to its provisions will be among the principal duties of your present session. The most important alterations required I shall attempt to designate in this communication; and the Attorney General will, I doubt not, communicate all necessary details for your guidance. The first election of judges of the circuit courts, under the revised constitution, is required to be held on the first Monday in April next, in the several circuits, and some provision of law will be required, designating the time, place, and manner of canvassing the votes given.

The distinction between law and equity proceedings, as far as practicable, the Legislature is required to abolish; and the office of Master in Chancery being prohibited, the duties devolving upon that officer must be otherwise performed. The Legislature, if deemed expedient, may provide for the election in each organized county, of one or more persons to be vested with judicial powers, not exceeding those of a Judge of the Circuit Court at chambers.

The jurisdiction of justices of the peace is increased, with exceptions and restrictions to be prescribed by law.

The first election of judges of probate will be on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, 1852, and every fourth year thereafter.

A law will be required regulating the manner of demanding trial by jury in civil cases, when such trial is not waived under provision of the constitution.

It will be the duty of the Legislature, at its present session, to apportion the members of the House of Representatives among the several counties, and to designate the Senate districts, as required by the constitution. It is made the duty of the board of supervisors to divide. into representative districts the several counties entitled to more than