(D) REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON ACCOUNTS OF THE SIXTEENTH TO WILLIAM SLADE, REGIMENT. Governor of Vermont: The undersigned having been appointed a Committee, by Governor Mattocks, pursuant to a joint resolution, No. 50, of the General Assembly, passed A. D. 1843, entitled "Resolution relative to the accounts of the 16th Regiment of Militia," respectfully report, that they met at St. Johnsbury on the 2d day of April, A. D. 1844, for the purpose contemplated in said Resolution. Your Committee, after a careful examination of the officers of said Regiment and documents relating to the assessment of fines, and the collection and disbursement of the same, found the records kept in an extremely loose and unsatisfactory manner. However, your Committee were able to come to the conclusion that there had been fines imposed on various individuals belonging to said Regiment, under the Militia Laws of 1837, 1839 and 1840, amounting to the sum of $210,45, and costs to the amount of $131,33, amounting in the whole to $341,78. It appeared from the certificate adjutant that of this sum $27,69 was decidedly worthless. Your Committee find that of the above fines and costs $88,40 was collected and disbursed towards defraying the expenses of Courts Martial. Your Committee were unable to determine what had become of the balance, amounting to $224,69, including the costs, of $131,33. They were unable to determine whether all or any part of it had been collected, from the proper documentary evidence or any other source. If collected, it is not properly accounted for, and if not, much of it has probably been lost through carelessness. But your Committee do not find sufficient evidence of the misapplication of moneys arising from said fines, to authorize them to commence suits in behalf of the State, as contemplated by said resolution. All of which is respectfully submitted by your Committee. BLISS N. DAVIS, M. HALL. P. S. It is proper to add, that C. B. Fletcher, Esq., was a member of the Committee and assisted in the investigation, but left the State before the report was made up. It is believed he would concur in the report. B. N. DAVIS, M. HALL. (E) REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON THE STATE PRISON. The Committee on the State Prison, to whom were referred the accompanying Resolutions, ask leave to report, that they have had the subjects connected with the State Prison under consideration, by themselves, and in connection with the Finance Committee of the Senate, and have spent considerable time with a view of ascertaining the amount of appropriations necessary to be made to pay the liabilities of that institution; and notwithstanding the Superintendent has been attentive to the calls of the Committee, and at all times evinced the most perfect willingness to afford the Committee all the information in his power, yet from the manner in which the Report of the Directors of the Prison is made, the Committee have been unable to fix upon the sum necessary to be appropriated, with that degree of certainty which they could wish. This difficulty has mainly arisen on account of the Report of the Directors not distinguishing, in all cases, between available and unavailable property. Taking the Report of the Directors as a basis, All the property of the Prison exceeds its liabilities by $895,09 633,63 Fuel and Lights, on hand, 315,08 Furniture and personal property under the head of Prison, 790,27 1 Medicines and property belonging to the medical department, 152,43 447,68 Stock and tools in the Gun department, on hand, 405,12 Stock and tools in Carriage Shop, on hand, 4,492,16 Stock and tools in the Shoe Shop, on hand, 13,971,46 Amounting to the sum of From this sum the Committee deduct, Amounting to the sum of $21,207,83 $895,09 45,00 3,000,00 $ 11,207,83 Which, deducted from the above sum of 21,207,83, The Committee have also taken into consideration, the subject of the Insane, to which the attention of the Legislature is directed in the Report of the Superintendent, and herewith present a Bill "for the relief of Insane Prisoners in the State Prison," to which they invite the favorable consideration of the House. The Committee have also had under consideration the case of Eugene Clifford, convicted of murder, and sentenced to solitary confinement in the State Prison until the punishment of death shall be inflicted. Clifford has been in solitary confinement nearly two years and a half, and there is now little or no probability that he will ever be executed. The Committee can see no advantage to be derived from a longer confinement in the solitary of this unfortunate being, and are of opinion that humanity requires that his punishment be commuted to that of confinement to hard labor in the State Prison for life; and they herewith present a Bill for that purpose. There is one other subject, which, at the suggestion of the Superin⚫tendent, the Committee have considered, and have reported a Bill for the consideration of the House. This is in relation to the sale of the Old Stone Prison. This building is composed of rough-hewn granite, probably about 80 by 20 feet, three stories high, divided into cells, with iron doors. This whole Prison, since the erection of the new brick Prison, has become nearly useless, and is now a mere incumbrance in the Prison yard; and it is believed that the interest of the State requires that the same should be sold, and the avails thereof deposited in the Treasury of the State. A Bill, to define the duties of the Directors in making their Appraisals and Reports, and to extend their powers to contract the service of the convicts for the period of five years, will be presented to the Senate by their Committee on Finance, to whom the subject relating to the internal Police of the Prison has been referred by that body. All which is restpectfully submitted. THOMAS F. HAMMOND, for Committee. (F) REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF CLAIMS, ON THE PETITION OF SYLVESTER PHELPS. To the House of Representatives, now in session : The Committee of Claims, to whom was referred the petition of Sylvester Phelps, survivor of Jedediah P. Ladd and James Wilson, praying to be compensated for tobacco seized and confiscated under the non-intercourse law of 1813, have had the same under consideration, and respectfully report: That the petitioner, one Jedediah P. Ladd, and James Wilson, then partners in trade, were causing to be conveyed across the waters of Lake Champla into the province of Canada, thirteen kegs of tobacco, each keg weighing 200 lbs. ; that said tobacco was seized and libelled by one John Downing, in the month of June, 1813, at Alburgh, about three miles south of Canada line, under the Vermont Non-Intercourse Act, passed November 6, 1812. On the same day of the seizure, at Alburgh aforesaid, the said John Downing filed his libel against said tobacco before Lewis Sowles, Consider Hammond and Joseph Sewall, Esqrs., a Court organized under said law. That proceedings were thereupon had in said Court, and the said tobacco was by said Court adjudged, condemned, and forfeited, one-half to the said libelant and the other half to the Treasurer of the State of Vermont. The said tobacco was sold at Alburgh aforesaid, and one-half the proceeds of the sale was paid to said libelant, and the other half, amounting at that time to $156,46, was paid to said Court for the use of the Treasury of the State of Vermont. The affidavit of Israel P. Richardson was before your Committee -in which he states that at the time of the seizure he was a revenue officer of the United States, and refused to seize said tobacco on the ground that it was not a contraband article under the laws of the United States then in force. It was also proved that the said Richardson directed the tobacco to be seized, but whether the direction was to seize under the United States or the Vermont law does not appear, otherwise than by the testimony of said Richardson. It is sufficient that the subsequent proceedings were under the law of Vermont. No effort seems to have been made by the petitioner or either of his partners aforesaid to recover the value of said tobacco of either of the persons who acted under the supposed authority of the act aforesaid, until the year 1833. The principal reason now as signed by the petitioner for not having commenced a suit, or suits, in this State, for the recovery of the value of the property seized, is, that although the courts had decided the act aforesaid to be unconstitutional and void, new judges were elected, and the change in the judicial bench rendered it doubtful whether the former decisions would be sustained, and the unconstitutionality of the law confirmed. They chose to defer prosecuting the claim till an 'opportunity should be afforded to try its merits in the New York Courts. It appears that a suit was commenced in 1833 against the aforesaid Lewis Sowles, by the petitioner and the said Jedediah P. Ladd, survivors of James Wilson, before the Supreme Court of New York, which suit was finally determined before the Hon. John Willard, in the Clinton County Circuit, in the year 1839: the plaintiffs having been non-suited on the ground that the cause of action did not accrue within six years next before the commencement of the suit. The petitioner is now the only survivor of the three partners aforesaid. The said Wilson died about the year 1818, and the said Ladd within the last year. Your committee find that the claim of the petitioner and said Ladd was investigated at the Legislative session of 1843, by a committee of the Senate. By a reference to the report of that committee, found in the journal of the Senate of that session, it will be seen that there was evidence tending to show that the aforesaid suit against Sowles in the New York courts, was decided upon the ground that the plaintiffs were engaged in an illegal trade. It is however believed by your committee, who have had before them a letter from Judge Willard, before whom said cause was tried, that the suit was finally decided upon the statute of limitation. The petitioner represented to your committee that the claim had never been before the General Assembly except at the session of 1843. In this the petitioner was mistaken. By referring to the Journal of the Senate of 1842, it will be seen that the same claim was presented by petition, referred to the Judiciary Committee, and that Mr. Briggs, of said Judiciary Committee, reported adversely to the petitioner's prayer. At the session of the General Assembly in 1839, said Sowles presented his claim for defending the above named suit against him, and was allowed the sum of $380,78. Inasmuch as the unconstitutionality of the law under which said tobacco was seized, has long since been universally admitted; all persons who acted under its provisions were liable in damages for the seizure and detention of property; and the State are bound to indemnify all persons and officers who were by said law authorized to institute any proceedings whatever. But inasmuch as it was the settled policy of the State, and the law was unjustifiable only upon the ground of its unconstitutionality; your committee cannot believe that the State is bound to protect and indemnify those persons, who, contrary to its provisionsin violation of the policy and expressed wishes of the people of the State of Vermont, and in opposition to the spirit, if not the letter of the laws of the United States, were, from selfishness or other cause, furnishing the least facility to its determined enemy. In all judicial proceedings, the staleness of the claim is presumptive evidence of its demerit. And although there is no statute of limitation to bar the petitioner, the long delay in prosecuting the claim seems to |