of public property be authorized to employ some person to assist in taking charge of the public balls and act as fireman to the governor's room, during the session of the legislative assembly;"

Which was adopted.

The officers elect of the council appeared at the President's desk and were severally sworn to the faithful discharge of the duties of their recpective offices.

A message from the house of representatives by their chief clerk:

"Mr. President-I am directed to inform you that the house of representatives have organized permanently by the election of the hon. William Shew, speaker, and La Fayette. Kellogg, chief clerk."

Mr. Palmer introduced the following resolution:

Resolved, That all editors of newspapers in this territory be admitted to seats within the bar of this house;"

Which was adopted.

A message from the house of representatives by their chief çlerk:

"Mr. President-I am directed to inform you that seats. have been prepared in the representatives hall, for the ac-. commodation of the hen, council, preparatory to the reception of the message of his excellency, the governor."

On motion of Mr. Collins,

The council proceeded to the hall of the house of representatives, where the governor, Henry Dodge, appeared and delivered the following message, to wit:

Fellow citizens of the Council

and House of Representatives:

We are assembled to perform the high and responsible du-. ty of making laws for the people of Wisconsin. Sound principle, disinterested motives, and a spirit of patriotism, should direct our course and be our rule of action. Equal rights and equal laws, are at the foundation of our free institutions, and are in the keeping of the people themselves; the fewest and simplest laws suited to their state and condition, consis

tent with the great objects to be obtained, will be the most salutary and acceptable to them; that legislation which makes equal the taxes and burthens of government, and extends the same encouragement to the enterprise and industry of all, in ev ery situation and employment, securing no special privileges to any, will be the means of diffusing prosperity throughout the whole community. To confer favors upon classes, or localities, by legislative enactment, produces a competition destructive to profitable industry.

In accordance to the provisions of a law passed at the last session of the legislative assembly, the convention elected by the people of the territory, have assembled and framed a constitution for the state of Wisconsin, which has been submitted by them to the congress of the United States, and to the people of the territory for their acceptance or rejection. The admission of Wisconsin as a state into the Union will be the means of promoting the best interests of the peoplefrom territorial dependence, they will assume the powers of a sovereign state; they will be represented in both houses of congress, where they will have a voice and a vote in the councils of the republic. They will participate in all the advantages of a government created by themselves-founded on the equal rights of all-when all public functionaries will be immediately responsible to them-and when their expressed will at the ballot Lox will be the supreme law of the state.— The donation of 500,000 acres of land, to which the state will be entitled under the provisions of an act of congress, entitled "an act to appropriate the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, and to grant pre-cmption rights," approved September 4, 1841; also, five per centum on the nett proceeds of the public lands lying in the state, to which she will be entitled on her admission into the Union-with the lands grant-. ed by congress for schools and a university-if properly applied, will add greatly to the prosperity of the state.

At the organization of the territorial government of Wisconsin, in 1836, her repulation was twelve thousand three hundred souls, east of the Mississippi; at the late census, taken to the first of June last, her population was composed of

one hundred and fifty-five thousand, and before the organization of the state government, her inercased population would entide her to three representatives on the floor of congress, agreeable to the present ratio of representation fixed by that body. No te ritory of the United States has been populated with the same rapidity, in the same period of time.

When we take into view the natural advantages and resources of Wisconsin-the salubrity of her climate, and the fertility of her soil-her inexhaustible sources of mineral wealth, composed of lead, iron, and copper-with the most extensive pine forests in the United States-with her inland sea, Lake Michigan, on the east, the "Father of Rivers" on the west, with several navigable rivers running through the territory-with a population, intelligent, industrious and enterprising may we not anticipate that Wisconsin will be one of the most populous states in the Union. In truth, it can be said that immigration has rapidly swelled our population; the forests and prairies have been subdued, and cultivated fields have taken their place; flourishing towns and villages have been built; capital has found profitable employment in the exploration and working of our mines, and in the navigation. of our inland sea and rivers. Industry has rewarded the mechanic, and abundant harvests the toil of the husbandman.

I would respectfully recommend the appointment of a joint committee from the council and house of representatives, to ascertain, if practicable, the amount of the indebtedness of the teritory. As the present will doubtless be the last meeting of the legislative assembly during the ter ritorial government, it is due the people, as well as the creditors of the territory, that this investigation should take place. Provision was made by an act of congress, approved March 29, 1842, for the payment of certain arrearages and claims created by appropriations made by the legis lative assembly prior to that period. What amount of these claims have been paid, or what appropriations made by the legislative assembly subsequent to that time remain unpaid, will be the subject of inquiry. By the organic law the secretary of the territory is made the disbursing officer of the govment-and until the settlement and adjustment of the ac

counts of those chored with the di-bursements of the public moneys, with the

rdopament it counot teksown what amount they have paid under appropriations made by the legislative assembly.

At the last session of the legative assembly, I submitted my views on the subject of harbor and river appropriations by congress. My opinions as then expressed, have undergone no change. Appropriations having been made by congress. for the commencement of harbors at the towns of Milwaukee, Racine, and Southport, in accordance with the long estab lished usage of the government, it was not doubted but that annual appropriations would have been continued until their completion. I would respectfully recommend to the legislative assembly the propriety of memorializing congress, asking an appropriation to complete the harbors commenced at the towns designated, agreeable to the estimates made under the direction of the war department, and reported to congress. The increased importance of the commerce of Lake Michigan far surpasses that of any other inland waters in the United States. The policy of the government, heretofore, has been to afford every facility to commerce, by diminishing as much as possible the dangers of navigation. The towns where harbors have been commenced by the government, in this territory, have rapidly increased in population and commercial importance; they are the principal depots for a large extent of country in the interior, densely populated, and in a high state of cultivation and agricultural improvement; where a large surplus of wheat and other products is raised annually for the eastern markets. During the 27th congress, a bill was introduced into the house of representatives, without the action of the committee of commerce, appropriating eighty thousand dollars for harbors, at the towns of Milwaukee, Racine, and Southport, which passed the house; and although the appropriations for Racine and Southport were stricken out of the bill in the Senate, and St. Joseph, in Michigan, and Chicago, in linois, inserted, the bill passed that body with that amendment, and became a law. During the 28th congress, a bill reported by the committee on roads and

canals to the house of repressa dives, making appropriations for harbors at the towns of Racine and Southport, passed Loth houses of congress and became a law. I have mentioned the course observed by congress, when legislating for this territory alone, on separate bills, for specific objects, disconnected from others.

I would respectfully invite the attention of the legislative assembly to the settlers on the line of the "Rock River and Milwaukee canal." By a law of this territory, approved February 24th, 1845, all the unsettled portions of the lands granted by the United States, (the odd sections) are to be sold until the whole tract is disposed of, under the direction of the register and receiver of the canal fund. The sales reported to the office of the executive, by the register and receiver, on the 1st of June, 1816, and the 30th of October, 1846, are twenty thousand two hundred and thirty acres of land sold, for the sum of twenty-five thousand two hundred and thirty dollars and ninety-two cents. The 17th section of the law of the 21th February, 1845, states, "if congress shall approve this act, then the foregoing provisions shall be in full force, and the land shall be sold at the minimum price of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre; but if congress does not disapprove, or shall fail to approve of this act, then the lands shall be sold at the maximum price of two dollars and fifty cents per acre; one-half of such bid to be paid in cash on the day of sale; and the purchaser or purchasers shallexecute a mortgage upon the land so purchased, to the territory of Wisconsin, for the use of the future state of Wisconsin, in a sum of money equal to the sum which shall be equal to the difference between the amount of money thus paid upon such lands, and the amount the same would be if the same had been sold at two dollars and fifty cents per acre; if the money, so paid shall not equal such amount, conditioned to pay the same in case the United States shall require the future state of Wisconsin to pay more than the sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, otherwise such mortgage shall be void." The present is a short session of congress, and I do not believe there will be any action on the