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ployed to do the incidental printing of this House for the present

session.

On motion of Mr. Whitor,

Ordered, That the said resolution do lie on the table.

A message from the council by their secretary:

"Mr. Speaker, I am directed to inform you that Messrs. Janes and Learned have been appointed a committee on the part of the Council, to act in conjunction with the committee appointed by this House, to wait on his Excellency the Governor, and to inform him that the two Houses are now in organization, pro tempore, and ready to receive any communication he may have to make to them." On motion of Mr. Whiton,

The House adjourned until two o'clock, P. M.

TWO O'CLOCK, P. M.

Mr. Burt, from the joint committee appinted to wait on his Excellency the Governor to inform him that the two Houses are now in organization, pro tempore, and ready to receive any communication he may have to make to them, reported that the committee had discharged the duties assigned to them, and that his Excellency informed the committee that he would meet the two Houses on to-morrow at 12 o'clock, M., in the Representatives Hall, and make to them a communication.

On motion of Mr. Hackett,

The House adjourned until to-morrow at half-past 11 o'clock, A. M.

Friday, December 10, 1841.

Mr. Brunson offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That this Hall may be used for Divine service on each Sabbath day, during the present session of the Legislature, to be occupied by the different clergymen who may desire it in regular turn or rotation;

Which was, on motion of Mr. Whiton, ordered to lie on the table, On motion of Mr. Whiton,

Resolved, That the Doorkeeper of this House provide forthwith seats within the bar of this House for the accommodation of the members of the Hon. Council, preparatory to the reception of his Excellency the Governor.

On motion of Mr. Whiton,

Resolved, That the chief clerk of this House inform the Hon. Council that seats have been provided for their accommodation within the Bar of this House, preparatory to the reception of his Excellency the Governor.

CONVENTION OF THE TWO HOUSES.

The Council appeared and took seats.

On motion of Mr. Brunson,

Ordered, That a committee of one from each House be appointed to wait upon his Excellency the Governor and inform him that the two Houses have assembled in convention, and are ready to receive any communication he may have to make to them.

The President appointed Messrs. Brunson and Brigham the said committee.

His Excellency the Governor was introduced and addressed the two Houses as follows:

Fellow-Citizens of the Council,

and House of Representatives:

It has been usual for the Governor of the Territory to address the Legislative Assembly at the commencement of its annual session, upon such subjects affecting the public good as in his opinion are entitled to the consideration of the representatives of the people. In compliance with this custom, I have now the honor to meet you, and to respectfully invite your attention to those matters which are deemed important to the interests of the Territory, and the happiness of our fellow-citizens.

The time has arrived, when in my opinion, it is expedient to adopt measures preparatory to a change in the form of government of Wisconsin, from a Territory to a State; and I therefore present

the subject for your early action upon it, if it is your pleasure to consider it. The expense of a State government, and the number of our inhabitants, I am aware have heretofore deterred, and I think properly-the people from giving to this measure a favorable consideration. But our population is estimated to have increased to at least forty-five thousand souls, and before the State can enter the Union, will, it is believed, exceed sixty thousand. And if the district of country now under the jurisdiction of Illinois should sustain her claim to be made a part of the state of Wisconsin-and it seems to me to be a question which may very properly be left to the decision of the people who inhabit the disputed tract-and the boundaries prescribed by the Ordinance of 1787, and subsequent acts of Congress, for the fifth of the north-western States, be established as her boundaries, her population would now exceed one hundred thou sand.

But the adoption of a State government is presented in a different light from what it has ever previously been, by the passage by Congress on the 4th day of September last, of the "Act to appropriate the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, and to grant pre-emption rights." Its provisions, I think, present a sufficient inducement for a change as early as practicable, in the pecuniary advantages which they offer.

This act grants to Wisconsin, as soon as she becomes a State and a member of the Union, five hundred thousand acres of land. This will constitute a fund for the construction of "roads, railways, bridges, canals, and the improvement of water courses and the draining of swamps;" and greatly exceeds any fund we can ever hope to obtain by appropriations by Congress for these purposes, made in consequence of the territory remaining under its present form of government. It is to this fund we must also look for means to improve permanently her Harbors, by removing the bars and obstructions at the mouths of her rivers, so as to permit vessels of every class which navigate her waters to enter them freely.

She will be entitled to receive from the public treasury, ten per centum upon the nett proceeds of the sale of all the lands owned by the United States within her limits. This would have amounted,

upon the sales which were made from 1835 to the 30th of September, 1840, (deducting therefrom the expenses of the surveys, sales and salaries of officers,) to the sum of two hundred and forty thousand five hundred and sixty-four dollars.

She will be entitled to receive five per centum of all the public lands within her limits, as one of the new States, to place her on an equal footing with each of those States, and to be applied to the making of roads and harbors, or such other internal improvements as may be agreed upon by the State and Congress..

She will also be entitled to receive her equal proportion with all the other states, of the nett proceeds of all the public lands in the United States, sold after the 31st December, 1841.-The receipts from the sale of all lands in the United States from 1833 to the 30th September, 1840, amounted to seventy-two millions, two hundred and eighty-nine thousand, four hundred and seventy-nine dollars.

The receipts from sales made during the years 1837, 1838, and 1839, averaged five millions nine hundred and twenty-five thousand, nine hundred dollars each year.

The receipts from the sale of lands within Wisconsin during the same term, averaged three hundred and eighty-four thousand two hundred and sixty-eight dollars each year. The lands which are now reserved for the support of common schools, and which are at present unproductive, will then be placed under her control, and can be applied beneficially for that object. These will amount to about 500,000 acres.

And besides these pecuniary benefits, she will obtain the position of an independent State, honored and respected, if she is worthy; contributing no more than the same equal proportion which she now contributes towards the expenses of the General Government, but entitled to be heard when she speaks of her interests or of the rights of her citizens-she will obtain constitutional liberty, for undefined legislative colonial privileges.

The territorial officers are, generally, I believe, required by law to make their reports directly to the Legislature; I am therefore unable to inform you of the condition of their offices, and whether further legislation is required to advance and secure the public interests.

The Secretary of the Territory is made its fiscal officer by an act of Congress, for the purpose of expending all sums appropriated by Congress to defray the expenses of the Assembly, and the incidertal expenses of the territorial government. He has informed me that a large DEBT has been created, to defray those contingent expenses, by acts of the Legislature, a part of which is now in the shape of bonds or certificates bearing ten per centum interest, and for their payment the faith of the territory is pledged. These were issued by his predecessors; but there is no record in his office showing their amount, or the names of the persons to whom they were issued, or the services rendered. This debt it is supposed, amounts to about thirty-nine thousand dollars, for the payment of which it does not appear that any adequate provision has been made by those by whom it was incurred.

The power to appropriate money to defray the expenses of the Legislative Assembly is reserved to Congress by the act establishing the Territorial Government. The amount to be expended is appropriated by Congress, upon an estimate to be made by the Secretary of the Treasury of the U. States. The expenditure is, of course, limited to the objects and sums specified in the estimate. It is not perceived therefore how the Territory can become legally chargeable with any of those expenses. Specific provision having been made by Congress for the payment of the members of the Legislature, and all of the officers of the Territorial Government, and for the contingent expenses of that Government, it appears to me that the power to contract a debt for these purposes, and to levy a tax upon the people for its payment, was not intended to be granted→ and was not granted-to the Governor and Assembly. The holders of the bonds can have no other remedy than by application to Congress.

If the laws creating this debt had been submitted to Congress before they took effect, Congress would, it is presumed, have disappro ved of such of their provisions as exceeded its appropriations, or given its assent to them and thus assumed the debt. This, and yet greater evils are likely to arise from the mode of legislating heretofore pursued. The great number of statutes which have been passed

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