VUl 



The publication of my Report has been delayed, at the ex- 

 pense of some little impatience on the part of some of my friends. 

 The delay has been occasioned, mainly, from a desire to render 

 it more worthy of the acceptance of my fellow-citizens ; and, as 

 I have given to it more than six months' anxious labor, without 

 any compensation, I cannot doubt that my apology will be ac- 

 cepted. The difficulty of selecting, compiling, and arranging 

 it, out of a voluminous mass of materials, has been more 

 than I myself had anticipated. The difficulty of obtaining the 

 information which I sought, can only be appreciated by those 

 who have attempted it. I should be very ungrateful not to ac- 

 knowledge the kindness, which I have, in many cases, expe- 

 perienced. But, in numerous instances, I have applied once, 

 twice, five times, ten times, but without success ; and have on 

 hand a large bundle of promises to pay, which have been re- 

 peatedly renewed, and new endorsements added, but which, in 

 taking account of stock, I have long since been compelled to 

 mark as "unavailable." By many persons, the Commissioner 

 has been regarded as a kind of tax-gatherer, or his visits sup- 

 posed to be in some way associated with a pecuniary assessment; 

 and his approach carried their hands, almost involuntarily, to 

 clench their pockets. Some old colts, if he went into the pas- 

 ture with the measure of oats in his hands, and shook them 

 before their eyes, could not be caught but by coming up the 

 blind side of them ; and this, at the hazard of being kicked ; 

 and, even if fortunate enough to catch and bridle them, they 

 would not suffer him to mount, or if mounted, they would not go 

 any more than their ancestor, spoken of in the Old Testament, 

 in the time of Balaam. To his great amusement, if it were 

 not unbecoming the gravity of an officer of the Commonwealth 

 to be amused, he was sometimes reminded of the woman in 

 Illhiois. who was first visited by the Town Assessors, and next 



