nized. I would also call attention to the question whether any method can be devised in the present state of the work of filling the Back Bay, to secure to the public health the benefits contemplated by the reservation of a full basin, agreeably to a memorial of Hon. Josiah Quincy, Senior, and other citizens, to the last Legislature, which stands referred to the present

one.

Marriage and Divorce.

While considering the personal interests of the people of the Commonwealth, I cannot persuade myself that I shall have performed my duty until I have invoked your consideration of an anomaly in our law, by which, under the operation of the process of divorce, society creates husbands who have no wives, and wives who have no husbands. This anomaly originated many ages ago, in certain ecclesiastical theories concerning the institution of marriage, and was devised by the ecclesiastics themselves. In our own age, the theory upon which the law enforces the celibacy of a divorced husband or wife, is that of punishment for the offence which was the occasion of the divorce. But this offence, so far as it relates to the injured party to the marriage, is punished by the dissolution of that relation upon the petition of that very party, and by the decree of alimony, or other pecuniary advantages, as the Statutes may determine; and so far as it relates to society, it ought

Thus a

to be punishable solely by means of criminal process maintained by the public prosecutor in conformity with the criminal laws. Thus only can each case receive its appropriate and proportionate punishment, according to its peculiar circumstances, and thus only can the accused be insured the benefit of a trial for his alleged crime, such as shall be in accordance with the principles of our criminal jurisprudence. Now, upon the hearing of a libel for divorce, before a single judge, the party seeking the divorce is entitled for his or her relief, to certain inferences of guilt from circumstances from which a jury, in many cases, would not and ought not to draw such inferences, were the controversy between the government and the accused, and not between a husband and a wife. party is sometimes practically sentenced to celibacy so long as he shall remain a citizen of Massachusetts, as a punishment for a crime for which he was never tried nor indicted, and of which in truth and fact he may not have been guilty, although a divorce was properly decreed against him according to the rules of the ecclesiastical law. And whether morality is promoted by prohibiting the formation of new domestic relations, and thereby withholding the opportunity for fidelity in the future in order to punish infidelity in the past, is a question much debated in the gravest and most thoughtful minds; but long reflection has satisfied me that it is expedient at least to lodge in some tribunal the power to mitigate the hardships

of the law, according to the circumstances of each case, whatever may have been the cause of the dissolution of the marriage.

The Cape Cod Canal.

The surveys ordered by the last Legislature for a Ship Canal between Barnstable and Buzzard's Bay are in progress under the care of the Joint Committee which was charged with their direction. Statistics have been collected which exhibit the dangers incident to the navigation around Cape Cod, and demonstrate the commercial advantages to be derived from the contemplated canal. A topographical chart of the proposed route, and hydrographical charts of its termini, have been completed at a moderate expense, by officers of the National Coast Survey, assisted by the advice of the United States' Commissioners on Boston Harbor. Engineers are now engaged in locating the line of the canal upon this route, and preparing for sectional surveys, and making plans and estimates for the entire work. The appropriation made at the last session for these objects has been exhausted, and an additional grant is needed to cover the expense of past as well as to provide for future services. The design of this canal having been entertained by the State as well as by the Federal government at intervals ever since 1776, there seems to be a propriety in completing at the present time this examination into the feasibility of the proposed undertaking, in order to act intelli

gently upon a question which has claimed so large a share of public attention. The Joint Committee will report to the Legislature at an early day the results of their labor, so far as they are ascertained. The report which was ordered by the last Legislature, has been delayed, by reason of the impossibility of completing the surveys in season to comply with the terms of that order.

The Provincial Statutes.

I earnestly recommend the collection and publication under the patronage of the Commonwealth, of the Statutes enacted between the time of the union of the two colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay under the Charter of William and Mary in 1691, and that of the adoption of the Constitution of 1780. Not more than a moiety of these Provincial Laws are to be found among the accumulations of the State Library; but the zeal and intelligent industry of one gentleman of the bar, has enabled him, after years of careful search, to complete a collection of them. They are of inestimable value on account of their historical interest, their usefulness in throwing light upon subsequent legislation, and the assistance which they afford in the determination of many important questions mooted by the profession and the courts. An edition of 2,500 copies, in two octavo volumes, can be published at a cost of not more than $10,000, including the expense of editing the work.

The Two Years Amendment.

I beg leave to ask the Legislature to consider the propriety of initiating the appropriate measure for enabling the people to pass once more upon the subject of the limitation of the exercise of the right of suffrage by citizens of foreign birth. The amendment of the Constitution by which that limitation was imposed, was voted upon at a time specially assigned for that purpose, and not at any regular or usual meeting of the towns, or any day of election. The vote was so small as to afford no safe indication of the will of the people, and I am convinced that the result does not agree with their opinion.

The whole number of votes cast was only 36,517; while a full vote is about 180,000.

This amendment has been thought by some to be needful to preserve the purity of elections by preventing frauds upon our system of registration. But it is to be remembered that the person naturalized cannot vote, (any more than a native born citizen)-unless he shall have "resided within the State one year, and within the City or Town, in which he claims the right to vote, six months next preceding any election.” This precludes the sudden influx of strangers; and when any person desires his name to be placed on the list of voters, the Mayor and Aldermen, or Selectmen, require the proper proof of the residence of the party, of his naturalization and the payment of his tax, and of his other qualifications.