than 100,000 inhabitants, nor any such city may, in addition to its present indebtedness, contract any debt to exceed five per cent. of the valuation of its real property.1 The total indebtedness of such county or city may not exceed ten per cent. of such valuation. An exception to this is made if it is necessary to borrow money to provide for a water supply; but in this case provision must be made for paying such loan within twenty years.2

For the extinguishment of an existing debt it is Sinking customary, and in some cases obligatory, to provide funds. a sinking fund—that is, a fund set apart for the express purpose of paying the interest and reducing the principal of a debt. The State constitution provides that the sinking funds of the State shall be kept separate, and shall not be used for any other purpose than the one specified. By this means the State seeks to prevent the possibility of a standing debt.

State debt.

The most important debt of the State of New York The present is at present the canal debt, which has been incurred for the construction and maintenance of the Erie Canal and its tributaries. This debt amounts to

about eight and a half millions of dollars. The other
debts of the State are the Adirondack Park debt of
$275,000, incurred for the purchase of lands in that
region; and the National Guard debt of $900,000,
incurred for the public defence. The total debts of
the State amount to something more than ten millions
of dollars. But suitable means have been provided
for the gradual reduction of this indebtedness. It is

1 General Laws of New York, ch. 17, § 2.
2 Constitution of New York, Art. VIII. § 10.
Ibid., Art. VII. § 5.

Conclusion.

to the great credit of the State of New York that it has performed its vast administrative work for so many years, and its present indebtedness is less than one half of its annual revenue.

From this general review of the growth, the structure, and the work of our State government, we may see how our political institutions have been gradually developed to meet the needs of a growing commonwealth. We may see how it has become organized with its various branches and its multitude of officers, in order to carry out the will of the people. We may also see, from the various kinds of administrative work which it performs, how it preserves and promotes our common freedom and our common welfare. It is evident that this common freedom and common welfare cannot be attained by the isolated and desultory acts of individuals. They can be fully attained only by the organized efforts of the whole community, that is, by the proper exercise of governmental authority. We must be convinced that government, when properly organized and administered, is not a "necessary evil," as some would have us believe, but is one of the most important and essential conditions of a prosperous society; that it should be maintained as a sacred institution, kept free from corruption, and upheld by all good and patriotic men who prize the privileges and respect the duties of citizenship.

APPENDIX A

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES

87. IMPORTANT HISTORICAL EVENTS

(1) THE DUTCH PERIOD

1609. Discovery of the Hudson River by Henry Hudson. 1613. Occupation of Manhattan Island as a trading-post. 1614. Charter granted to New Amsterdam Company. 1621. Charter granted to Dutch West India Company.

1623. First settlements at Fort Orange (Albany) and on Long

Island.

1624. Cornelius Jacobzen Mey appointed director.

1625. William Verhulst succeeds Mey.

1626. Peter Minuit appointed director general — usually reckoned first in the list of governors. Colonial government organized. Purchase of Manhattan Island. 1629. Charter of "Freedoms and Exemptions," in favor of

patroons.

1630. Patroonships established - Rensselaerwick, Swaanendael, Pavonia.

1633. Walter (Wouter) Van Twiller appointed director. 1635. Surrender of Swaanendael to the Company. English from Massachusetts settle on Connecticut River.

1637. Pavonia purchased by the Company.

1638. William Kieft appointed director. Swedes plant a colony on the Delaware.

1640. New Charter of Freedoms, encouraging towns.

1641. First popular assembly called. The "Twelve Men." 1642. Mespath (Newtown) settled from Massachusetts and incorporated.

1643. Second popular assembly. The "Eight Men."

1644. Complaint of the "Eight Men " to the Company. Heemstede (Hempstead) settled from Connecticut and incorporated.

1645. Vlissingen (Flushing) and Gravensande settled and incorporated.

1646. Breucklen (Brooklyn) partly incorporated, with two schepens and a schout subject to the schout-fiscaal at Manhattan.

1647. Peter Stuyvesant appointed director. Council of "Nine Men" selected from eighteen nominated by the people. 1653. Assembly meets, remonstrates, and is dissolved. New Amsterdam incorporated with a schout, two burgomasters and five schepens. Beverwick (Albany) partly incorporated.

1654. Breucklen fully incorporated — also Amersfort (Flatlands) and Midwout (Flatbush).

1655. New Sweden conquered by the Dutch.

1656. Governor's proclamation to form villages. Rustdorp (Jamaica) incorporated.

1661. New Haerlem incorporated. New Utrecht and Boswick (Bushwick) incorporated, which with Breucklen, Amers

fort, and Midwout, became known as the "Five Dutch Towns" under a single schout.

1664. General provincial assembly. Surrender of New Netherland to the Dutch.

(2) THE ENGLISH PERIOD

1664. English take possession of New York under Richard Nicolls, lieutenant of James, Duke of York. Eastern Long Island joined to New York.

1665. Meeting at Hempstead, "Duke's Laws" promulgated. Conveyance of New Jersey to Berkeley and Carteret.

1668. Francis Lovelace appointed governor.

1673. Dutch regain the province.

1674. New York restored to the English. Edmund Andros

appointed governor.

1675. Popular assemblies disapproved by the Duke.

1683. Thomas Dongan appointed governor. Assembly. "Charter of Liberties."

First New York

Erection of coun

ties. New York incorporated as a city, and divided

into six wards.

1685. James, Duke of York, becomes king of England, and New York becomes a royal province.

1686.

"Charter of Liberties" repealed by James. Assembly abolished. English Church established. Albany incorporated as a city.

1688. New York consolidated with New England, under Andros as Viceroy with Francis Nicholson as lieutenant governor of New York. James abdicates, and William III becomes king of England.

1689. Leisler's rebellion. French invasion.

1689-1697. King William's War against the French.

1690. First congress of the colonies called by Leisler at New York City.

1691. Arrival of William Sloughter as governor. Meeting of assembly which reasserts the "Charter of Liberties." Trial and execution of Leisler.

1697. King William rejects the "Charter of Liberties."

1702. Anne becomes queen of England.

1702-1713. Queen Anne's War, against the French.

1735. Trial and acquittal of Zenger on charge of libelling the governor.

1749. Forts erected on the French frontier at Albany, Schenectady, and Oswego.

1754-1763. French and Indian War.

1754. Congress of the colonies at Albany. Franklin's plan of

union.

1764. The Stamp Act. New York appoints a "committee of correspondence."

1765. Stamp Act Congress at New York. "Non importation agreement."

1766. Repeal of the Stamp Act.

1767. New York forbidden to exercise legislative power.

1771. William Tryon appointed royal governor.

1774. "Meeting of the Fields"; Hamilton's first speech.

1775. “Provincial Congress" takes the place of the "Colonial Assembly."

1776. New York approves the Declaration of Independence.