Lunatic Asylum. - The average number of inmates during the year has been 89. Whole number at the end of the year, 90,-71 of whom are lunatics, 10 lunatics and epileptics, 7 idiots, and 2 partially idiotic. THOMAS BROWN, October, 1853), Chas. W. Downing, Simon Towle, Wm. R. Hayward, XVI. FLORIDA. Government for the Year 1850. of Tallahassee, Governor (term expires of Jacksonville, Secretary of State, 66 Treasurer, Salary. $1,500 Fees & 600 1,100 800 Register of Public Lands, and Wm. B. Lancaster, of Key West, Clerk of the House, $5 a day during [the session. The members of the General Assembly are chosen the first Monday of October, biennially. The Assembly meets biennially on the third Monday in November. Thomas Douglas, Thomas Baltzell, JUDICIARY. Circuit Courts. of Jacksonville, Chief Judge, Eastern Circuit, $2,000 of Tallahassee, Eastern '' "L Southern 66 Attorney-General and Rep., The State is divided into four circuits, Eastern, Middle, Western, and Southern; and the judges of the Supreme Court, in the order in which they are named above, preside in the respective circuits. Internal Improvements. - There are no railroads or canals in operation in this State. The General Assembly of 1848-49 chartered three companies, for the establishment of railroads; one, the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad Company, to connect the waters of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, upon such route as may be deemed most advisable and judicious by the company; another for the purpose of constructing a communication between the Chatahoochee River and the Gulf of Mexico, at some point on St. Andrew's Bay, to be called the Florida and Georgia Railroad Company; and another for the purpose of constructing a road from some point on the St. Mary's River to Pensacola. None of these roads have, as yet, been commenced. HENRY W. COLLIER, of Tuscaloosa, Governor, (term of office Salary. expires on the 1st Monday in December, 1851), Comptroller of Public Accounts, $2,500 William Garrett, Secretary of State, Fees and 1,200 Joel Riggs, 1,250 Michael Toumey, of Tuscaloosa, State Geologist. 200 The Senate consists of 33 members, elected for four years, one half going out every two years. The House of Representatives consists of 100 members, elected for two years. The Legislature meets biennially in the city of Montgomery, on the second Monday of November. The second biennial session will be held in 1849. The pay of the members of both Houses is $4 a day each. The public records, archives, and offices were removed from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery, in November, 1847. George C. Ball, William P. Chilton, * Silas Parsons, Cocke, Marion A. Baldwin, of Montgomery, Attorney-General, * Appointed by Governor Chapman, in the recess of the Legislature. Associate Justice, 2,250 66 2,250 Reporter, Fees. Fees and 425 Fees. The judges of all the courts, and the chancellors, are elected by a joint vote of the two houses of the General Assembly, for six years. The sessions of this court are held at the seat of government on the 1st Mondays of January and June of each year, for hearing and determining points of law taken by appeal or writ of error from the Chancery, Circuit, and County Courts. The volumes of reported decisions are upwards of thirty in number. The State is divided into forty chancery districts, in each of which a session of the court is held annually, except in Mobile, Sumter, Montgomery, Dallas, Madison, and Barbour counties, where two sessions are held. This court has original jurisdiction in all civil and criminal causes in the State. Two sessions (spring and fall) are held each year in every county. The Solicitors, besides fees, receive a salary of $250, except in the first circuit, where the salary is $350. The Attorney-General acts as Solicitor for the eighth circuit. In Mobile county the criminal jurisdiction has been transferred to a special John E. Jones, Criminal Court for Mobile County. of Mobile, Judge, Salary. $1,500 This court holds three terms each year, on the first Mondays of Febru †The sessions of the Legislature being biennial, the financial statements are for two years. The last Legislature met in November, 1847. State Debt. The bond debt of the State is $9,170,555.55, bearing an annual interest of $469,657.80. Besides this there is the University Fund, made by the last Legislature a permanent charge on the State, $250,000, on which the annual interest is $15,000, and the School (or sixteenth section) Fund, of $ 965,381, on which the annual interest is $57,922.87. Total debt, $ 10,385,936.55; annual interest, $542,580.67. Besides this, the State owes $600,000, for bonds invested in the capital stock of the Mobile Bank, on which the bank has, thus far, paid the interest; but for this payment it now presents a claim of $90,000 against the State. The resources of the State are, in addition to the annual taxes, which in 1848 amounted to $414,175.61,-$2,000,000, good debts due the State banks, and other means to the amount of $1,177,150.54. $124,005.07 70,629.03 $608,810.71 53,769.96 The annual resources of the State are: State taxes, 1848, Interest on $2,000,000 good debts due the State banks, $160,000, less current expenses of the banks, $ 35,994.93, Interest on other means, $1,177,150.54, Total annual resources, Total annual deficit, XVIII. MISSISSIPPI. Government for the Year 1850.* Term ends. Salary. William L. Sharkey, of Vicksburg, Presiding Judge, Nov. 1853, $ 3,000 The jurisdiction of the High Court is appellate exclusively. There are *The election for Governor, &c., to hold office two years from January, 1850, is on Nov. 5 and 6, 1849. two terms each year in Jackson, commencing on the first Mondays of November and January. The court may continue in session as long as business requires, and may order a special term, or adjourn to meet at any time. The Superior Court of Chancery, held at the Capitol, at Jackson, is in law considered always open. The chancellor is authorized to hold the same at such times and for such periods as business may require, upon giving three weeks' notice in the newspapers. The District Chancery Courts have concurrent power and jurisdiction, within their respective districts, with the Superior Court of Chancery, where the amount in controversy does not exceed $ 500,000, and have the same power as the chancellor of the State, both in term time and in vacation. Special terms of the District Chancery Courts may be holden by the vice-chancellors, respectively, by giving thirty days' public notice. The Circuit Court has original jurisdiction in civil cases in which the sum in controversy exceeds $50. For each of the seven circuits, a judge and attorney are elected, every four years, in the month of November. It has also exclusive criminal jurisdiction. Superior Court of Chancery. Stephen Cocke, of Lowndes Co., Chancellor, Term ends. Salary. Nov. 1851, $2,600 District Chancery Courts. Henry Dickinson, Vice-Chancellor, Northern Dist., * The sessions of the Legislature being biennial, there have been no financial reports since the fall of 1847. For a full statement of the taxable property of the State, see American Almanac for 1849, p. 278. |