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sustained the call . And it should be a source of gratification, that they found nothing, after a laborious search, that ought to be placed to the account of any officer of the government as an impeachment of his integrity or fidelity to the State. Following up what they supposed was the object of the call, they seem to have sought, in their report, for terms of unusual indecorum & disrespect, furnishing a singular contrast to the respectful & deferential language addressed to the House by the Governor in his two messages before mentioned. In that of the 8th he 'deferred to the wisdom of the House, in the most respectful terms, his opinions of the Constitutional right to remove the Records from the possession of the Executive department". In that of the 9th. in a spirit which we think might well have been imitated by the committee & by the House, he suggested a mode of arriving at the result proposed in a manner consistent with the principles contained in his message of the 8th. Yet the committee appear to understand him as retracting those principles, & comment upon it in language not usually indulged in reference to the Executive of any State.

The acceptance of that Report by the House, is sincerely regretted by the undersigned, as affording the first example in the history of our State, of one department of the Government venturing upon the experiment of treating a coordinate department of the government, in a manner as we believe unbecoming itself and inconsistent with the character and genius of our political institutions. It was hoped the time was far off when such collision would be sought, where no cause is afforded to excite it. And it is still hoped that an observing and reflecting people will justify the undersigned in entering their protest against a course which is so certain to produce unhappy contentions among the several Departments of the government, and ultimately lead to consequences to public character and to public good. John Ruggle WIlliam Vance Albert Smith Joshua T. Chase Allen H. Cobb