tion in the bill was attributed to the counsels of the comptroller and Colonel Young. The Chemung and Crooked Lane canals were also authorized to be constructed at this session; but as those works were esteemed more feasible, and as promising a more speedy return to the state, on the moneys to be invested in their construction, there were no conditions or limitations, to hinder or delay their completion.

At the commencement of the session of Congress in December, 1829, Mr. Fisher, the candidate supported in opposition to Mr. Wright, at the election in 1828, took his seat in the House of Representatives. A petition was immediately presented on behalf of Mr. Wright, setting forth the facts and circumstances under which the certificate had been delivered to the incumbent, and claiming that the seat should be awarded to him. The petition was referred to the committee on elections, who reported a resolution giving the contested seat to the claimant. The resolution passed the House unanimously; the sitting member himself acquiescing in the justice of the decision. Mr. Wright then forwarded his letter of resignation, which was laid before the House on the 9th of March, 1830.

In his annual message delivered to the two houses of the Legislature at the session of 1830, Governor Throop did not recommend any additional improvements, either by roads or canals; but stated that, in his opinion, a direct tax would soon become necessary to defray the ordinary expenses of the government, in consequence of the diminution of the general fund. The views of the executive were founded upon the financial condition of the state, as made known to him by the comptroller. The report of that officer was ably drawn, and presented a clear and distinct state

ment of the monetary concerns under his supervision and control. It appeared that the general fund had diminished, to the amount of nearly four hundred thousand dollars, within the three previous years, during which time no state tax had been collected; and that a deficit of more than one hundred thousand dollars, beyond the means of the year, existed on the 1st day of December, 1829, notwithstanding the sale of canal stock, and the other large expenditures during the year, to meet the demands upon the treasury. The deficit for the ensuing year was estimated at seventy-five thousand dollars.

“In the estimate of receipts for the present year," says the report," are included the ordinary receipts of principal from the general fund, amounting to $40,000, and also the anticipated receipts from the tax sales to take place in the spring, amounting to $150,000; so that from neither of these sources can anything be expected to meet the above deficiency. The receipts of this year will be increased at least $120,000, by the tax sales, beyond what they can be calculated at for several future years, and until another sale occurs. No hope, therefore, can be entertained, that the next year will be better able to make up for the deficiencies of the last, than is the present, unless new sources of income are supplied; but, on the contrary, the certainty now exists, that the ordinary revenue and the ordinary receipts of principal from the general fund, for the next year, must fall short of the ordinary expenses of the government."

After this positive and unequivocal statement of the resources and liabilities of the state, no member of the Legislature could have complained that he was not forewarned in time to meet the emergency which was

likely to arise. The reports of Mr. Wright, while he filled the office of comptroller, were, in like manner, distinguished for their plain and straightforward exhibition of the condition of the treasury. He was no alarmist, but he did not attempt to conceal anything that required correction. He was a faithful and accurate accountant, keeping his books posted up, and his balance-sheet ready to show, at any moment, the situation of the important interests committed to his charge.

The canal commissioners made their annual report on the 21st of January. They stated that they had examined, and again surveyed and explored, the proposed route of the Chenango canal, and that from the result of that examination they could not, consistent with the terms of the law, commence the construction of the work. They also expressed their opinion, that it would cost more than a million of dollars, and that "in regard to its revenue, it would not produce an amount of tolls, in connection with the increased tolls on the Erie canal, that would be equal to the interest of its cost, and the expense of its repairs and superintendence, or of either of them." This portion of the report was attributed to Colonel Young, then one of the canal commissioners; and when it was taken in connection with the exhibit of the financial condition of the state made by the comptroller, it presented a very strong argument against going on with the work. But the facts and conclusions of the state officers were not satisfactory to the citizens interested in the construction of the canal, though subsequent experience demonstrated their fidelity. A bill was introduced into the Assembly peremptorily ordering the commissioners to commence the work without delay. The bill was

strenuously advocated by Francis Granger, a member of the House from Ontario county, and the candidate of the anti-masonic party for governor at the ensuing November election. The democratic members generally opposed the bill, and it did not receive a favorable vote at this session.

Mr. Wright was one of the delegates to the democratic state convention which met in September, and warmly urged the nomination of Mr. Throop for the office of governor. The friends of General Root, in connection with the Chenango canal interest, endeavored to prevent this result; but the attempt was unsuccessful. Mr. Throop was nominated and elected, notwithstanding a large portion of the democratic electors residing in the Chenango valley, gave their votes to Mr. Granger, the opposition candidate.

Early in the session of the Legislature, commencing on the 4th of January, 1831, a bill for the construction of the Chenango canal was introduced into the Senate. After considerable discussion, it was lost, by a vote of sixteen to fourteen. But five democratic senators voted in its favor. At this session Judge Marcy was elected to the Senate of the United States, as the successor of Mr. Sanford, whose term expired in March.

The message of Governor. Throop in 1832, advised the imposition of a state tax, in conformity with the recommendations of the comptroller, Mr. Wright, in order to supply the deficiency in the general fund. A bill was soon after reported in the Senate, authorizing a tax of one mill on the dollar, to be levied annually, for three years, on all real and personal property. A similar tax had been collected, for the same purpose, from 1819 to 1825, when it was reduced to one-half of a mill, and, in 1827, it was entirely removed. The

fund immediately began to diminish, and the comptroller was of the opinion that measures should be taken to arrest that diminution. His views were presented in his annual report with his accustomed ability. The governor also, who was much indebted to Mr. Wright, for the clearness and force with which he exhibited the financial condition of the state, expressed his decided approbation of the measure. But the friends of the Chenango canal would not give their assent to any proposition that might jeopard the success of their own project; and a number of the senators were inclined to believe, that before the general fund could be exhausted, there would be a sufficient surplus revenue from the canals, after paying all the cost of construction, to defray the ordinary expenses of the state government; which was the object had in view in the creation of that fund. The tax bill, therefore, failed to secure a majority vote in the Senate. The deficiency in the fund was afterwards made up by temporary loans from the common school and other specific funds, and it was ultimately found necessary to resort to a direct tax. The Chenango canal bill, containing very severe restrictions, was passed in the Senate at this session, by a vote of sixteen to fifteen, but was defeated in the Assembly. Mr. Wright was re-elected in the month of February to the office of comptroller. Some little opposition was manifested at one time, by those whose measures he considered it his duty to oppose, to his remaining in the office he held; but his acknowledged abilities, and his conceded fitness for the station, prevented any formidable effort to defeat his re-appointment.

The excitement and agitation growing out of the veto of the bill to re-charter the Bank of the United