It was evident from the first that the success of the plan must depend upon the degree of confidence entertained by the public in the future sufficiency of the canal revenues.

The steady increase of the western trade, as exhibited by the returns from year to year, ought to dissipate all apprehensions concerning the future productiveness of the source from which the certificates are to be redeemed. It has been shown that the annual contributions to the Sinking Fund (being $1,650,000 until 1855 and afterwards $2,050,000 per annum) will discharge the entire State debt in about seventeen years. When that result shall have been reached, inasmuch as no new debt can be charged upon the surplus canal revenues, they will be released and become exclusively applicable, by express constitutional requirement, to pay the certificates issued for completing the canals, unless the surplus shall have proved sufficient to extinguish them at an earlier day. If past results furnish a safe indication of the future business of the canal, it can hardly be doubted that the annual surplus will discharge the certificates in a shorter period than is required for the payment of the present debt; but if this anticipation should be disappointed, they will be rapidly entinguished after the existing stock shall have been paid.

The extent of the annual surplus must depend upon the prudent regulation of the canal tolls. That important responsibility has been devolved upon the Canal Board, subject to the control of the Legislature. It is made their duty by the 11th section of the act of the last session to adjust the rates "in such manner as in their judgment will produce the greatest amount of trade and revenue." The whole community are concerned in the wise and faithful performance of this obligation. It is of vital importance to the rights of public creditors and the soundness of a large portion of our currency. While good faith and so many pervading interests concur in demanding stability, there can be no good cause for apprehending that the representatives of the people will venture up on rash or doubtful experiments. Reductions of toll on certain articles have resulted in an increase of trade and revenue; and the same policy may doubtless be extended

with advantage to some additional branches of tonnage, such as cotton, tobacco, &c., from the States in the southwest. But constant care and an enlightened discrimination will be required to avoid all reductions which are calculated to affect the revenue unfavorably, until the obligations resting upon the canal incomes shall have been satisfied. It should be constantly borne in mind that inasmuch as the revenues have been pledged for the specific payment of the debt and the redemption of the certificates, we no longer possess the moral or constitutional right to make changes which shall impair their sufficiency for these purposes.

The funds devoted to school purposes are believed to be in a safe and healthy condition. On the 30th of September, the capital of these several funds was as follows:

Making an aggregate of $6,612,850.55 invested in productive securities for the advancement of education.

The annual report of the Superintendent will present a complete view of the operations of our common school system.

The number of children taught during the year was 726,291: the whole amount expended for teachers' wages, including books for school libraries, was $1,432,696. Under the present law the State furnishes $1,100,000 of the amount required annually for the support of the district schools, viz: $300,000 from the income of the School Fund and $800,000 required to be raised yearly by State tax. It is estimated that the sum thus furnished from the treasury will be sufficient, in most cases, to make the schools free for six months in each year; leaving it for each district to provide means by rate bills for such additional period as the school may be taught.

The act passed by the last Legislature was adopted as a compromise of conflicting opinions, and appears to have been received with general favor by the community. It has put an end to the controversies produced by the unequal operation of the law of 1849, which had for some time agitated the public mind and kept

the districts in a state of fermentation. It is gratifying to observe the return of that harmony which is essential to the successful working of a system of popular education. In considering any further changes that may be proposed, we should endeavor to avoid any experiment calculated to reproduce the divisions that have been so happily, but with so much difficulty, healed.

In pursuance of a resolution of the last Assembly, I appointed Samuel S. Randall a commissioner to embody in a single act a common school code for the State. His report will be placed before you at an early day, and will doubtless receive the respectful consideration due to recommendations coming from one whose long experience and enlightened zeal in the cause of education are widely and justly appreciated.

The ordinary appropriations in support of Colleges were omitted by the two last Legislatures. The present condition of the United States Deposit Fund is such as to justify a moderate grant in aid of the higher institutions of learning, and I would renew the recommendations in their favor, contained in my last annual message. Several new institutions, including the Genesee College and the Rochester University, which have not yet enjoyed the public bounty, present strong claims to encouragement, and it would seem but just and reasonable that they should be admitted to an equal participation in the patronage of the State. The University of Albany has been organized under favorable auspices, and if the design of its patrons and professors shall be realized, it will ultimately be made equal to the best universities of Europe.

Much interest has been manifested for some years past in favor of creating an institution for the advancement of agricultural science and of knowledge in the mechanic arts. The views in favor of this measure expressed in my last annual communication, remain unchanged. My impressions are still favorable to the plan of combining in one college two distinct departments for instruction in agricultural and mechanical science; but many, whose opinions are entitled to weight, contend that a separate establishment for each branch would be most advantageous to

both. Before adopting any final action on the subject, the merits of the several systems of organization that have been proposed, should be maturely considered. I would respectfully recommend that a sufficient portion of the proceeds of the next sale of lands for taxes be appropriated to the erection of an institution which shall stand as a lasting memorial of our munificence, and contribute to the diffusion of the useful sciences and the elevation of the producing classes, during all future time.

Our charitable institutions continue to fulfil the beneficent purposes for which they were designed. The particular condition of these establishments will be presented in the annual reports of their officers. We may contemplate with intense satisfaction the blessings that have been conferred upon the children of adversity by the humane spirit of our past legislation. The State has given its powerful aid to every plan of practical philanthropy calculated to ameliorate the condition of the unfortunate. So far as human skill can supply the faculties of which they have been deprived by their Creator, the blind have been made to see, the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. Liberal provision has been made for the infirm and the destitute; the paternal guardianship of the Legislature has been extended to the fatherless, the insane, and even to the idiotic. I cannot too strongly commend the agencies by which these generous aims are accomplished to your fostering care and attention.

It appears from the official report that the number of inmates in the State Lunatic Asylum at Utica, on the 30th of November last, was 435; the number in the Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island on the 20th of December, was 523.

The total number of insane persons in this State in 1850, as shown by the census of that year, was 2,506, of whom 1,106 were in asylums, leaving 1,400 to be supported in private families or poor houses. It is evident, therefore, that some further provision ought to be made for the relief of this unhappy class of our fellow beings. The number of pupils in the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at the close of the year, was 244, of whom the State supports 160.

The New-York Institution for the Blind contained one hundred and thirty-nine inmates, of whom eighty-six are State beneficiaries. In pursuance of the act passed by the last Legislature, the trustees appointed for the purpose have established an Asylum for Idiots. They have fortunately secured the services of Dr. H. B. Wilber as Superintendant, whose efforts for the improvement of imbeciles have been attended with great success. A suitable building was procured in the vicinity of this city, and the school has been opened under encouraging circumstances. The report of the Trustees will present their proceedings more fully, and impart some valuable information in regard to the merits and prospects of this noble undertaking.

The Houses of Refuge for the reformation of juvenile delinquents have been administered with a degree of fidelity and success which reflect high credit upon the managers of those institutions. At the date of the last return the number of inmates was as follows:

New-York House of Refuge,..
Western

do

do

393

128

Some further legislation is recommended in regard to youthful convicts between the ages of sixteen and twenty. As the power of the courts to send delinquents to the Houses of Refuge is confined to persons under the age of sixteen, many young offenders who have passed that age are sentenced to hard labor Some of them are the

in the State Prison for a term of years. victims of early abandonment, ignorance, and vicious associations; and if placed in a proper school for reformation, might be restored to virtue and prepared for a life of honest industry. It is worthy of consideration whether a separate department for this class of offenders should not be added to our present Houses of Refuge, or erected as a distinct establishment.

The important institutions in the city of New York, under the supervision of the Governors of the Alms House, are in excellent order and condition. The expenses have been largely reduced, the discipline improved, and every branch of their management gives evidence of skill, efficiency and fidelity.