REPORT, &c.

STATE OF NEW-YORK,

SECRETARY'S OFFICE.

Albany, April 18, 1832.

The Secretary of State, who was required by a resolution of the Assembly of the 20th of April, 1830, in connection with Wm. B. Sprague and Aaron V. Fryer, "to examine the archives of that House, to select therefrom such orignal papers and documents as may be proper to be deposited in the office of the Secretary of State, and to deposit the same in that office; and to arrange the residue in chronological order, and place the same in cases already provided or to be provided for that purpose;"

RESPECTFULLY REPORTS :

That in May 1831, he and Mr. Fryer fixed upon the 30th of May to commence the examination and selection of the papers referred to in the resolution, of which notice was given to Dr. Sprague, who declined executing the trust contemplated by the resolution. Mr. Fryer did not attend at the time appointed, or at any time thereafter, and the Secretary of State went through the examination of the archives of the Assembly from 1778, to 1831, a period of fifty-three years. This service occupied him from the 30th of May to the 19th of July, with the interruption occasioned by office duties which could not be delayed. The time actually occupied in selecting the papers was twenty-nine days, averaging five hours each day.

The papers selected and deposited in the Secretary's office, consist, generally, of

Petitions and all papers having relation to estates confiscated for an adherence to the enemy during the American revolution:

Petitions of revolutionary soldiers, and the reports and papers connected therewith:

Petitions of heirs, executors and administrators, in relation to the real estate of deceased persons:

The original annual and other messages of the several executives, made to the Assembly:

The reports of the Attorney-General :

The reports of the Surveyor-General :

The resolutions of other States in reference to amendments to the United States Constitution :

The petitions, generally, for claims against the State, for lands, for contracts on the canals, &c. &c.

And all documents which it was conceived could have any important bearing upon the history or interests of the State, or the rights of individuals, have been deposited in the Secretary's office.

The papers which it was not deemed material to deposit in the Secretary's office, were packed in boxes prepared for the purpose; the packages being labelled, generally, in the same manner as they had been from year to year by the clerks of the Assembly. These papers fill ten boxes, each four feet long and twenty inches wide, and the boxes are placed in one of the committee rooms, numbered and labelled, so as to afford a convenient reference to the year, the general character of the petitions in the boxes, as well as of those in the Secretary's office. The papers deposited in the boxes at the Capitol consist, generally, of petitions, remonstrances and reports, in relation to

The division of towns and counties:

The incorporation of cities and villages:

The location of county buildings:

The incorporation of turnpikes and bridges :

The construction of canals, clearing rivers and declaring them public highways:

The erection of dams and wharves:

The encouragement of manufactories, and incorporations therefor: Reports in relation to the militia and military stores:

The botanical physicians and licensed practitioners:

Petitions for divorces, the destruction of wolves and other noxious animals, changing names, &c. &c. &e.

The papers deposited in the Secretary's office were less than two twelfths of the whole mass, as they did not fill two boxes.

It is in contemplation to have these papers bound and indexed in a manner similar to the revolutionary documents; and for this pur

pose they have been assorted, so as to bind up separately in chronological order, those which relate to revolutionary soldiers and claims, to the estate of deceased persons, to confiscated estates, and executive messages and correspondence. There is also a miscellaneous class, forming 13 volumes. The Secretary of State has been so much occupied with the more urgent duties of his office, that he has not yet had time to prepare all the Assembly documents for binding. The whole will constitute about fifty volumes, and only thirteen of these have been arranged so as to be given to the bookbinder.

Many of the Assembly documents deposited in this office are of a highly important character, either to individuals or the State: So much so, that it is desirable the Legislature should provide that exemplified copies of these papers shall be received in evidence in the courts of this State. A case has already occurred which made it important in settling the title to a house in Wall-street, to have one of the original petitions before a court in New-York; and a person was deputized for that purpose, and the original paper is necessarily out of the office for several weeks, and exposed to the casualties of transmission.

A single fact will shew the importance of some of the documents to the interests of the State, and the propriety if not necessity of making exemplified copies of them evidence in the courts of this State : A fact too, which exposes a most daring conspiracy to mutilate the records of the Supreme Court, with the intention of committing a gross fraud upon the State treasury. In the spring of 1831, a person presented to the Commissioners for extinguishing claims against the State, a claim of about thirty thousand dollars. It was presented by or in behalf of the representatives of a person who was attainted during the revolution, and whose lands had been taken and sold by the Commissioners of forfeiture: The claimant alledged that judgment in the Supreme Court had not been pronounced in the case, until after the signing of the preliminaries for the treaty of peace. In confirmation of his title to indemnity, the claimant presented to the commissioners a copy of a judgment record, duly authenticated by the clerk of the Supreme Court of the city of New-York, shewing that judgment was pronounced "of the term of APRIL, in the seventh year of the Independence," &c. which answers to April 1783. The preliminary treaty, acknowledging the independence of the United States, was signed at Paris, on the 30th November, 1782, intermediately between the July and April terms, in the seventh year of the independence.

This case was so perfect on paper, as to leave very little room for argument; and finally, the Comptroller and Attorney-General told the claimant they would make no compromise with him, and that he must seek his redress by ejecting the occupants; that those only who had purchased of the State had any claims upon the treasury; and that if dispossessed they could be indemnified by the Commissioners of the Land-Office, under sec. 6, title 5, of the first part of the Revised Statutes.

The applicant accordingly returned to New-York and commenced suits against several persons who were in possession of the confiscated property. Some of these persons employed Jno. L. Lawrence, Esq. to defend the suits; and in his investigations of the title, Mr. L. discovered that several leaves had been cut from the minutes of the court, and that the judgment record, of which the claimant had obtained an exemplified copy, appeared to have been altered, by erasing "July" and inserting "April." The term of July, in the seventh year of the independence, was in 1782; the term of April, in the seventh year of the independence, was in 1783, after the signing of the treaty. The letter of Mr. Lawrence to the Comptroller, giving a history of this matter, is appended to this report, and marked A.

In going through an examination of the Assembly papers, the Secretary of State found a copy of the identical judgment record which had been mutilated, which copy was made in 1793, and certified by John McKesson, then clerk of the Supreme Court.

This copy shows that the judgment was pronounced as "of the term of July, in the seventh year of the independence;" and also conclusively proves the forgery of the record, in erasing July and substituting April. The record having been altered, the clerk, of course, and without suspicion, gave an exemplified copy of the judgment record, which was presented to the Commissioners. A copy

of the judgment record, found in the Assembly chamber, is appended to this report, and marked B. The original of this was procured and presented to the Assembly, with sundry other papers, in 1793 or 1794, to establish the claim of the widow of the attainted person to her dower in the property sold; and to promote her interests, it became necessary not only to show the whole amount of the property sold, but also to show that the confiscation was perfected, leaving her no remedy in the courts; and hence the presen