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JOHN A. KERR & CO., PRINTERS TO THE STATE.

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SIR-In compliance with the requirements of statute, I have the honor to submit to you my Annual Report, for the year A. D. 1863.

February 20th, 1863, the Honorable the Senate of the State adopted a resolution, of which the following is a copy, to-wit:

"Resolved, (by the Senate,) That the. Attorney General of this State, is hereby requested to make a report to this body what legal proceedings, if any, have been instituted against John McKinney, late State Treasurer, and against his sureties, in the bond executed by him and them to this State, as such Treasurer; also, if any judgment has been recovered thereon, and what measures have been taken to collect the same; also, if no portion of the moneys secured to be paid by said bond have been collected, to report the cause therefor; also, to report whether any sufficient cause exists to prevent the collection of said sum of money, by the use of due diligence, in enforcing the ordinary legal process and remedies in such case made and provided."

This resolution was officially transmitted to me, March 2d, 1863; and on the 6th day of that month, my answer to the same was duly communicated to the Honorable the Senate, a copy of which answer may be found in Senate Journal of 1863, page 546, and to which I respectfully refer your Excellency. Subsequently the claim of the State, involved in the suit

referred to in this resolution, and my answer to the same, (being the suit of the State against John McKinney and his sureties, then pending in the Circuit Court for the County of Ingham,) was, by a joint resolution of the Legislature, approved March 18, 1863, "referred and submitted to the Board of State Auditors for adjustment and final settlement;" said Board being thereby authorized and empowered to adjust and determine the liability of each of the sureties, and to settle and compound with him for the same, for such amount and on such terms as the said Board, taking into consideration the circumstances of the case, and the condition and responsi bility of such sureties, respectively, shall deem for the best interests of the State, &c."

By reason of the adoption and approval of this resolution this suit has not been further prosecuted in court.

On the 23d day of February, 1863, the Honorable the Senate passed a resolution, which is in language as follows, to-wit:

"Resolved, That the Attorney General be and he is hereby requested to examine Senate bill No. 1, being A bill to enable the qualified electors of this State, in the military service, to vote at certain elections, and to amend sections 45 and 61, of chapter 6, of the Compiled Laws,' and report to the Senate, at his earliest convenience, his opinion in reference to the constitutionality of the provisions of said bill."

A copy of the foregoing resolution was transmitted to me by the Secretary of the Senate on the day of its adoption. My views upon the grave questions thus presented, were duly communicated to the honorable body calling for them, on the 25th day of the same month. For a copy of the report containing them, I respectfully refer your Excellency to Senate Journal of 1863, page 424. Though written in haste, when much pressed with various official duties, and in the absence of all legal authorities devoted to the investigation of those questions, and before they had been much, if at all, discussed in this State, still I am fully satisfied with the positions

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therein assumed; nor do I now know of any reason which could induce me to change or modify any of them.

Considering the magnitude of these questions, and the fact that they are still pending before the people, it perhaps may not be amiss to add that to provide for citizen soldiers to vote is but the discharge of a high and pressing duty, which, when done, goes not beyond the recognition of a most vital and invaluable right, guaranteed to them, in common with the electors of the State, by the Constitution; while to refuse, or to neglect to make such provision, is, morever, to impose a penalty upon their loyalty, and to place an undue advantage in the hands of their and the Government's enemies, many of whom, no doubt, remain at home from the worst of motives. In a word, and in effect, it is justice denied and wrong promoted, patriotism shorn and treason strengthened. A view thus narrow and illiberal, which betrays so much of the citadel of free government into hostile hands, and closes its eyes upon the great fundamental truth, which is the corner stone of democratic rule, that to secure and not to destroy the unalienable rights of man, "governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," is, in my judgment, a view replete with danger, saddening the heart of loyality and delighting that of treason, and not supported by a construction of the Constitution, which, not entangling itself in imaginary forms and losing sight of the valuable substance of things, drinks in its large and generous spirit and meaning. The fiat which, unmindful of the great doctrines of freedom underlaying the Constitution, and constituting man's birthright, presumes to dash in the dust the sacred suffrages of tens of thousands of citizen soldiers, gone out with their lives in their hands, to rescue, vindicate and perpetuate that which we hold dearer than existence itself our liberties and the union of the States—should not, therefore, be the bitter fruit of passiveness, having its foundation in doubts or timidity, nor of a reasoning more technical and contracted than broad and enlightened, intent upon and

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