Courts are also required to hold, every year, two terms of the General Court in the Capitol at Richmond. It is the duty of fifteen of the judges to attend this Court, eleven being necessary to form a quorum. One term begins on the last Monday in June; the other, on the 1st Monday of December. The judges are required to arrange themselves into four classes, of five judges each, one of which is exempt, in rotation, from attending the court.

The General Court has appellate jurisdiction in the last resort in criminal cases; also, original jurisdiction of probates and administrations, and some claims of the Commonwealth. Its judges, or a portion of them, sit as a special Court of Appeals, in cases in which the judges of the Court of Appeals proper are disqualified by interest or otherwise.

County Courts.-A Court sits in each county every month, held by four or more Justices of the Peace. These Courts, formed by plain farmers or country gentlemen, are invested with a jurisdiction wider than that of any other Court in the State, covering almost the whole field of cognizance, civil, criminal, legal, and equitable. Any one Justice can hold a Court with jurisdiction over all causes in which the value does not exceed $20. At the monthly and quarterly sessions, which are held by four or more Justices, deeds and wills may be proved, and chancery matters and suits at common law be heard and determined, with a right of appeal to a Superior Court. These Courts, exclusively, try slaves for all offences; and they examine free persons charged with felony, previously to their trial in the Circuit Court. Free Negroes and Indians are on the same footing with slaves.

$6,595,843 99

Railroad companies for dividends due,

Funds and Resources of the Commonwealth, Sept. 30, 1845.

1. Productive stocks and funds,

2. Funds unproductive, but available,

350,000 00

3. Stocks in improvements not completed, and unproductive, 3,357,568 44

4. Stocks in improvements completed, but unproductive, and other unproductive funds, about 5-12ths of these may become productive,

1,039,758 18

$11,343,170 61

FINANCES.

Whole amount of State Debt,

Annual interest on this debt,

$1,406,021.51 of this debt is owned by the State itself.

Chief Sources of Income.

$7,384,793.87
451,746.07

Number of poor children in 121 counties and towns,
Sent to school in 120 counties,

53,909

27,212

Sent to Lancasterian and other schools in 4 towns,
Sent to 45 district schools in 4 counties,

584

498

Total number of poor children educated in 124 coun

ties and towns,

27,796

Exp. for tuition at the common and Lancasterian schools, $66,826 49

Average attendance of each poor child at common schools, 58 1-4 days, equal to 11 1-2 weeks.

Average amount paid for the tuition of each poor child at common schools, $2 39.

Average at district free schools, $2 63 3-4.

Average cost per diem of each poor child sent to common schools, 4 1-10c. It is estimated that there are 166,000 children in the State, of an age fit to be taught; that is, between 7 1-2 and 16 years of age. 12,000 of these are sent

to colleges, academies, and classical schools. More than 120,000, therefore, appear to attend no school whatever. The Governor, in his last annual message, wishing to remedy this evil, recommends the adoption of a school system like that which exists in several of the northern States.

XIII. NORTH CAROLINA.

GOVERNMENT.

WILLIAM A. GRAHAM, of Hillsborough, Governor, (term of

office, from Jan. 1, 1847, to Jan. 1, 1849,)

Salary.

A furnished house & $2,000 Secretary of State, $800 and fees. Treasurer,

1,500

Council of State.- William O. Britton, of Bertie Co.; James W. Howard, of Jones Co.; Dr. Willie Perry, of Franklin Co.; Nathaniel M. Roan, of Caswell Co.; James Lowry, of Buncombe Co.; Absalom Myres, of Anson Co.; and Josiah Cowles, of Surry Co.

Pay, $3 per diem while in service, and $3 for every 30 miles' travelling.

The Supreme Court holds two sessions in each year, in the City of Raleigh; to wit, on the second Monday in June and the last Monday in December; and continues to sit at each term until all the business on the docket is determined, or continued upon good cause shown. It has power to hear and determine all questions at law, brought before it by appeal from a Superior Court of Law, and to hear and determine all cases in equity, brought before it by appeal from a Court of Equity, or removed there by the parties thereto. It has original and exclusive jurisdiction in repealing letters patent, and also has power to issue writs of certiorari, scire facias, habeas corpus, mandamus, and all other writs which may be proper and necessary for the exercise of its jurisdiction.

The judges of the Supreme and the Superior Courts are elected by joint ballot of both houses of the General Assembly, hold their offices during good behavior, and, under a provision in the amendments to the constitution of the State, their salaries cannot be diminished during their continuance in office.

Spier Whitaker, of Halifax Co., Attorney General.

Salary of a Solicitor - $20 for each Court which he attends, besides fees for conviction. The Attorney General receives, in addition, $100 for each term of the Supreme Court which he attends.

The Superior Courts of law and the Courts of equity are holden in each and every county of the State, twice in each year, by the judges thereof. For this purpose, the State is divided into seven circuits, each of which comprises about ten counties; and the judges ride these circuits alternately, according to an arrangement agreed upon among themselves, the only restriction imposed upon them in making the arrangements being, that no judge shall ride the same circuit twice in succession. As judges of the Superior Courts of law, they have jurisdiction of all pleas, real, personal, and mixed; of all suits and demands relative to legacies, filial portions, and estates of intestates; and also, of all pleas of the State and criminal matters of what nature, degree, or denomination soever, whether brought before them by original or mesne process, or by certiorari, writs of error, appeal from any inferior Court, or by any other way or means whatsoever. As judges of the Courts of Equity, they have all the jurisdiction and powers appertaining to Courts of Chancery.