The judges of the Supreme Court are elected by the General Assembly, and are removable upon address of two thirds of each house. All causes shall be determined at the first term; and in case the plaintiff is not ready for trial, unless he be prevented "by some providential cause," the judgment of the court below shall be affirmed. Judges of the Superior Court are elected for six years, with jurisdiction exclusive in criminal cases, and in land cases; and concurrent in all other civil cases. Justices of the in ferior courts are elected by the people, and act as probate judges. The State is divided into eleven circuits, with a judge for each. N. C. Sayre, Judge of Eastern 66 Justices Circuit, Salary. $1,800 Middle 66 1,800 Alpheus Colvard, Attorney-General, $250 and perquisites. Mordecai Shaftall, Sen., of Chatham Co., Judge of Court of Oyer and Terminer, Savannah, John W. Wilde, of Richmond Co., Judge of Court of Oyer and Terminer, Augusta, 1,000 1,000 R. M. Orne, State Printer. FINANCES. The public debt of the State consists of bonds issued for the construction of the Western and Atlantic Railway. Its aggregate amount may be stated at $1,903,472, of which $1,831,472.22 are in federal bonds payable at the treasury, and $72,000 in sterling bonds sold by Messrs. Reid, Irving, and Co., of London, England. The semiannual dividends of interest, as well as the principal of the sterling bonds, are payable in London. The balance in the Treasury, Oct. 21, 1847, was Between Oct. 20, 1848, and November 28, 1848, there was received the sum of $113,897.39, and paid out $19,929.16, which leaves in the Treasury, Nov. Of this balance there are unavailable the Education Fund, $262,300, and stocks, scrip, and accounts, amounting to 287,935.50 $171,620.46 6,606.30 69,923.05 2,000.00 10,682.65 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. JUDICIARY. Circuit Courts. Thomas Douglas, of Jacksonville, Chief Judge, Eastern Circuit, $2,000- 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), $2,500 Fees and 1,200 1,250 1,200 Fees and 425 200 Quartermaster-General, 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. Marion A. Baldwin, of Montgomery, Attorney-General, Fees and 425 George C. Ball, of Montgomery, Clerk, Fees. * Appointed by Governor Chapman, in the recess of the Legislature. 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 February, June, and December. †The sessions of the Legislature being biennial, the financial statements are for two years. The last Legislature met in November, 1847. 57,922.87. 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 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 1818 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. The annual liabilities of the State are as follows:- Interest on $2,000,000 good debts due the State banks, $160,000, less current $469,657.80 15,000.00 57,922.87 120,000.00 $662,580.67 $414,175.61 $124,005.07 70,629.03 609,810.71 53,769.96 William L. Sharkey, of Vicksburg, Presiding Judge, Nov. 1853, $ 3,000 " 1851, 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. |