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fixing the time at which the election is to be held, and
also the period when the electors must meet for the purpose
of voting. In order that we may have our full weight
in the elections for President and Vice President hereafter,
I would recommend that the general ticket system
should be adopted. It is true that no danger of division
is to be apprehended at the approaching election; but in
future when we may differ in our choice, an indivdiual
by the force of circumstances, may under the arrangement
by districts obtain a plurality of electoral votes, to
whom a majority of the State may be decidedly opposed.

Since the close of the last session, the following -
temporary appointments have been made. William A
Cook, Esquire chancellor, Thomas H Fletcher Esquire
Secretary of State, Bromfield L. Ridley Esquire, Attorney
General for the fifth solicitorial District, and Gideon
J. Pillow, Esquire Attorney General of the ninth solicito-
rial District. Those appointments were made to fill
vacancies occasioned by the resignations of the former
incumbents. As the commissions under which the
present officers act, will expire at the end of this
Session, the duty of making permanent appointments will
devolve upon you before your adjournment.

In casting a glance at the present condition
of our State, it is gratifying to observe its eminent
prosperity. The rapidity of its recent growth, the
important relative position it has attained among its
sister states - the fertility of its soil and the industry