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"Burlington," and inserting the word "St. Albans ;" and the question being taken, it was decided in the negative.

And the question was stated from the chair, Shall the resolution pass! On which question the yeas and nays, having been demanded by Mr. Spafford, were taken, and were as follows:

Those who voted in the affirmative are, Messrs.

Maynard,
Morse,
Needham,

Nelson of Derby,
Nelson of Ryegate,

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Newell,

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Nutter,

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Ordway,

Beedy,

Gage,

Paine,

Beers,

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So it passed in the affirmative.

A message from the Governor, by Mr. Beaman, Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs:

MR. SPEAKER-I am directed to inform the House of Representatives that the Governor has this day approved and signed bills of the following titles:

(H. 132.) "An act to pay Alvin H. Baker the sum therein mentioned." (H. 135.) "An act altering the names of certain persons therein mentioned." (H. 11.) “An act to alter the name of Mary Arabella Parker." (H. 93.) "An act relating to Subsequent Attaching Creditors." (H. 107.) "An act altering the name of Calvin Clark, and constituting him an heir at law of Noah Paine and Patty Paine."

Mr. Danforth introduced the following resolution :

Resolved, That the thanks of this House be presented to the HON. EBENEZER N. BRIGGS, for the impartiality, courtesy and ability with which he has performed the responsible duties of Speaker of this House the present session, and that the remembrance of our intercourse here, will be that of high regard.

Which was read and passed unanimously.

A message from the Senate, by Mr. Clarke, their Secretary:

MR. SPEAKER:-The Governor has announced to the Senate that he has approved and signed the bill (S. 22) entitled "An act relating to Common Schools,"

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The Senate have considered the amendments of the House of Representatives to bills from the Senate of the following titles, and have adopted the same in concurrence, namely:

(S. 43.) "An act to incorporate the Vernon Glass Manufacturing Company."

(S. 47.) "An act to incorporate the Vermont Rail Road Iron Company."

The Senate do not concur in passing bills of the following titles, namely:

(H. 103.) "An act in amendment of Chapter 107 of the Revised Statutes, in relation to Fees of Town Clerks.”

(H. 35.) "An act in relation to the Competency of Witnesses." (H. 137.) "An act in addition to Chapter 72 of the Revised Statutes, relating to Usury."

The Senatec oncur with the House of Representatives in passing bills of the following titles:

(H. 119.) An act in addition to Chapter 28 of the Revised Statutes, entitled Of Process.'"'

(H. 145.) "An act to pay Lewis Tucker the sum therein mentioned."

The Senate have passed House bills of the following titles, with amendments, in which they request the concurrence of the House of Representatives, namely:

(H. 147.) "An act to incorporate the Otter Creek Iron Company." (H. 106.) "An act to incorporate the Springfield Paper Mill Company."

The Senate have passed a resolution relative to the sale of a certain

house and lot belonging to the School Fund, in which they request the concurrence of the House of Representatives.

A message was received from the Governor, by Mr. Beaman, Serretary of Civil and Military Affairs; which was handed in at the Speaker's table.

On motion of Mr. Fairbanks,

The House proceeded to consider the resolutions from the Senate, relative to certain documents, acts, and journals, in hands of Henry Stevens, and to furnishing certain documents to the Vermont Historical and Antiquarian Society, which this evening were laid on the table. And the said resolutions were passed.

A message from the Senate, by Mr. Clarke, their Secretary:

MR. SPEAKER-The Senate have considered the amendment of the House of Representatives to the Senate bill, No. 55, entitled "An act to increase the Capital of the Bank of Montpelier," and have adopted the same in concurrence.

(H. 136.) The Senate concur with the House of Representatives in passing the bill entitled "An act to incorporate the Windham Slate and Mineral Company," with amendments, in which they request the concurrence of the House of Representatives.

A message, in writing, from the Governor, received this evening, was read, and is as follows:

To the House of Representatives:

I have received and considered a bill presented to me for approval, entitled "An act to pay Guy C. Sampson the sum therein mentioned," and herewith return the same, with my objections there:o, to the House of Representatives, in which it originated.

It is declared in the bill that the sum therein directed to be paid, is "for labor and expenses in preparing a digested Index of all such portions of the Revised Statutes passed in one thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine, as have been altered or repealed, and all public acts passed since such revision, with the public laws passed at the session of the Legislature of this State for one thousand eight hundred and fortyfour."

It appears that the service in question was performed by Mr. Sampson, under an appointment made by the Governor, in pursuance of the following resolution, adopted at the last session of the General Assembly:

Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives, That the Gov ernor be requested to appoint some person to make a digested Index of all such portions of the Revised Statutes passed in 1839, as have been repealed or altered, and all public acts of this State passed since said revision, with the public laws passed at the present session of this Legisla ture, and cause the same to be published, with the laws passed at this session. Provided, the whole expense of publishing, with compiling the same, shall not exceed one hundred dollars,—and provided it shall not cause a delay in the publication of the laws passed at the present session, of more than ten days."

It will be observed, on an inspection of the resolution, that the Index was to be published with the laws of the session of 1844. It became the duty, therefore, of Mr. Sampson, to furnish an Index in season to be in the hands of the person who had contracted to print the laws, by the

time he was, by his contract, to have them ready for delivery-which it appears was on the first of December.

As the Governor was to cause the Index to be published, it was, of course, to be sent to him, when completed,—and that, for the obvious reason that he would be held responsible (as by the resolution it was evidently intended he should be) for its correctness. The General Assembly could not have intended to impose on him the duty of publishing any Index which might be furnished him by the person he should appoint, because it would have subjected him to the hazard of severe censure for sending forth an erroneous or defective Index, besides suspending the public interest upon the same hazard. The Legislature evidently intended the double security of ordinary care in making the appointment, and the subsequent supervision of the Governor himself-else they would have provided that the person appointed to prepare the Index, and not the Governor, should cause it to be published.

But notwithstanding this obvious and necessary construction, Mr. Sampson took upon himself to determine that, after making the appointment, I had nothing more to do with the matter; and that the Index was not to be sent to me, but to the Secretary of State; and that he was bound to see that it was published with the laws-their publication being subject to his superintendence. He accordingly sent the Index to the Secretary; but not until the 28th of November, two days, only, before it was to go into the hands of the printer for publication. The Secretary, on the 29th, very properly sent it to me. On examining a few pages, I found several errors in the references to the pamphlet laws putlished since the revision-the appropriate references being to the years of their passage, and the pages of the pamphlets in which they were published-which in numerous cases were found erroneous in one or both these particulars. Great errors and deficiencies were also found in the descriptive part of the Index, while to a great number of important unrepealed sections of laws, there was no reference whatever. Of sections not thus noticed, I have found more than thirty, ou a recent examination of about one half the Index.

The errors to which I have referred, were specified in a paper accompanying my communication on this subject, to the Senate, on the 3d instant; with which I also sent the Index itself, with a request that it might be preserved in the archives of that body, as appropriate evidence of my fidelity to the trust committed to me. The Index and accompa nying explanation were referred to the Committee of Claims of the Senate, before whom I was requested to appear, and by whom it was admitted that my specification of errors was correct, and that the Index, as it came to my hands, was not such as should have been published.

I did not publish the Index; and but for the previous preparation of another without my authority, which at that juncture I decided to accept, none would have been published.

But it has been contended, that the Index should have been returned to Mr. Sampson for correction; and that because it was not, he is entitled to compensation for making it, though it was fatally defective. To this position I will devote a moment's attention.

Upon examining the Index on the 29th of November-the day that I received it-I not only saw that I could not order its publication, but that if I should return it, I could not trust to any corrections which Mr. Sampson might make, without a subsequent inspection of it, since very

gross errors had escaped him in a copy prepared with apparent care, for the press. And besides, as he had denied my right of supervision in the case, I had reason to doubt whether he would submit the Index to me after he should have attempted to correct it. The proper corrections would, moreover, have involved the necessity of re-constructing, and re-drafting it, which, it was apparent, could not be effected, and the whole submitted to me, and necessary time allowed me for its re-examination, before the expiration of the ten days when the printing of it should be completed-much less could all this have been done within the twenty-four hours which only remained between my examination of it, and the first of December. Indeed, it could not have even reached Mr. Sampson-his residence then being at Montpelier-about seventy miles distant from me-until the first of December,-the day when it should have been in the hands of the printer at Burlington, in a condition to be published.

1 did not, therefore, return it to him; and I am unable to see upon what principle my omission to do it can lay a foundation for a claim on his part, for compensation. It is evident that my return of it could not have resulted in its publication with the laws, which, before it could have reached the hands of the printer, would have been completed, and in the process of delivery to the Sheriffs for distribution, and, of course, that even if corrected, it could not have been made available to the State in the way contemplated in the Resolution under which it was prepared -namely, its publication with the laws of the last session.

The truth is, it was the duty of Mr. Sampson to prepare an Indexnot a defective one, but an Index fit to be published—in such season that it might have been placed in the hands of the printer by the first of December. Having failed to do this, he failed to do the duty which, by accepting the appointment, he contracted to perform. And, having thus failed, I am unable to see on what principle applicable to the ordinary affairs of life, he can be entitled to compensation;-how, indeed, he is more entitled to it than one would be who, having engaged to furnish an article of manufacture by a given time, furnished a defective one, unadapted to the purposes of its construction.

But Mr. Sampson claims that, having performed labor, under an Executive appointment, it is hard for him to lose it, and that he needs compensation for it. But the question is not one of necessity, but of principle-not whether labor was performed, but whether it was worth any thing, not whether the article, which was the product of that labor, could have been re-produced in a more perfect form at some subsequent time, but whether it could have been re-produced within the time when it must have been forthcoming in a state of reasonable perfection, in order to have served the purpose of the Legislature in providing for it. Pressed by this view of the matter, Mr. Sampson has even contended that though the Index might have been imperfect, and could not have been made otherwise in season for publication with the laws of last year, yet that it should (to use the language of his letter to me of the 5th of February last) have been "sent back for correction," and "have rested until 1845 for the action of the Legislature, as (to continue his language) the proviso says,-in case it shall not delay the printing of the laws more than ten days-plainly implying," (still to continue his language,) that there might not be time, and then the Index need not be published."

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