COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE, 2 Statement of the Situation of the Safety Fund. The advances from the Treasury since that Balance of Safety Fund, 24th Nov. 1841.. next Which would make the whole amount of Leaving the balance, 1st Jan., 1842 ..... $485,487 99 106,031 00 $379,456 99 $158,776 24 31,175 00 $569,408 23 3,000 00 $566,408 23 The Comptroller has no authority to redeem the bills of a suspended bank until the Chancellor makes the order required by the act of May, 1837, which provides that: "It shall be lawful for the Chancellor, upon the certificate of one or more of the Bank Commissioners that the amount of the debts of such Banking Corporation, over and above its property and effects, will not exceed two-thirds of the amount of the Bank Fund then paid in and invested, exclusive of all prior established claims thereon, to make an order upon the Comptroller, authorizing him to take such measures as he may deem necessary for the immediate payment of the ordinary bank bills, or notes of such banking corporations then in circulation, out of the bank fund then paid in and invested." Upon filing a certified copy of the Chancellor's order, under this section, and not before, the Comptroller is authorized to make provision for the redemption of the bills; nor is there any authority, without such prior order, to receive the bills of a suspended bank in payment for tolls or other in debtedness at the Treasury; which of course would be virtually redeeming them in anticipation, as nothing else but such uncurrent notes would in that case be offered in payment, until the whole circulation was exhausted. In relation to the recent failures of the Bank of Buffalo and the Commercial Bank of Buffalo, the Bank Commissioners were not able to give the required certificate, and the Chancellor could therefore make no order upon the Comptroller, authorizing him to redeem. The Safety Fund, as the law now stands, is only to be re plenished by the annual contribution of the banks of one half per cent. upon their capital; and unless farther legislative provision is made, the bills of the above banks cannot be redeemed from the Safety Fund until the annual contributions shall so far replenish the fund as to enable the Bank Commissioners to give the required certificate to the Chancellor, and he shall make the order. JOHN A. COLLIER, Comptroller. Circular Letter. To the Special Agents of the Post-Office Department. Sir-To the duties assigned you by any former instructions, as special and confidential agent of this department, I desire to add, that of strictly observing the manner in which the post-offices are kept in the section and along the lines of route you may be called to inspect and travel. The Postmaster General expects that every post-office, whatever may be its importance, shall be attended to, or supervised by the deputy postmaster.-The practice which, I regret to learn, has obtained in many portions of the United States of one man holding the commission of postmaster, whilst another discharges its duties, must be stopped; and when such cases fall within your knowledge, I desire that they shall be made the subject of special report. Great carelessness in the opening and keeping the mail in insecure places, and permitting persons, other than the postmaster, or his sworn assistants, to have access to the same when opening, or after it is opened, has been charged, in general terms, upon many of the postmasters in the small towns and villages. This evil must be corrected, and when you have evidence of the fact, it is expected you will make it known to the department, that the only efficient remedy may be applied. I will not continue in office those who will not themselves give their time and attention to the discharge of its duties, or who violate or suffer violations of the rules of the department in opening and distributing the mail. It is also desirable that you observe the deportment of all carriers and drivers of mails, and report any misconduct arising from wilful negligence or carelessness and inattention to their employers and to the department. Many complaints have been made against the agents or travelling postmasters on railroad routes, you are expected to observe the conduct of such as may fall within the range of your supervision. Information has been communicated to this department that drivers and carriers of the mail, on the more distant and more unimportant routes, are in the habit of carrying letters in violation of law, thereby lessening the income of the department. As this may be done in ignorance of the law, you will inform and instruct the contractors to charge the carriers and drivers not to violate the law in this particular. The act of 1825, section 20 directs that all carriers shall deliver such letters, whether sealed or unsealed, to the first post-office at which they arrive after receiving them, and the postmaster is directed to rate and charge the postage. If you become satisfied that any post-office is not of public utility, and not required for the public accommodation, you will report that fact and the reasons for the opinion. Upon the active exertions and vigilant supervision of the special agents of this department mainly depend the regularity, and efficiency of mail transportation, and I cannot too strongly impress on you the importance and high responsibility of your stations. It is to you the Postmaster General must look for accurate information upon all subjects pertaining to the out-door operations of the department.Give me your efficient aid, and I do not despair of making the Post-Office Department eminently useful and popular. Very Respectfully, Your obedient servant, C. A. WICKLIFFE. The Washington Riot--President's Letter. Our readers will learn, from the report of proceedings in our Criminal Court, that, at the request of the President of the United States, a nolle prosequi was yesterday entered by the Attorney of the United States in the case of the prosecution against the individuals indicted for a breach of the peace at or near the President's House, in the month of August last, (on the night following the first veto.) We subjoin a copy of the President's letter, not merely as a mark of respect for an honorable official act, but from the pleasure which its just and liberal sentiments have given to us, and will, we are sure, impart to our readers: [National Intelligencer. WASHINGTON, Nov. 21, 1841. Sir-Having understood that a prosecution was pending in the Criminal Court of the District of Columbia against certain persons charged with having been engaged in a riot. in August last, to the disturbance of my family, I beg leave to submit to you the propriety of entering, with the consent of the court, a nolle prosequi in the cases. It was one of those outbreaks of popular feeling incident, in some degree, to our form of government, and entirely evanescent and harmless in its character. My confidence in the good sense and becoming feeling of the people of this District, leads me to believe that there will be no danger of a similar occurrence in future, and that therefore those who have been betrayed into a thoughtless proceeding will not be likely to repeat it. Be assured of my constant regard, JOHN TYLER. Mr. FENDALL, District Attorney, Washington. Great Lawsuit. The New York American says, that the former Marshal of that district, Mr. W. C. H. Waddell, is litigating before the Supreme Court of the United States a very comprehensive claim against the State of New Jersey. It embraces all the land under the water in all the rivers of East Jersey, and for three leagues beyond the shore. No farmer can build a dock, even, if he succeeds. All the fisheries, ferries and oyster beds in East Jersey depend upon the result. It is the most important case that has arisen since the settlement of the colony of New Jersey. Mr. George Wood and Mr. G. D. Wall, are employed by the State to defend its rights; and, so important is the matter deemed by the Legislature, that before adjourning they passed a resolution requiring the Governor, if his duties will permit, to repair to Washington in person "and superintend the argument."Mr. Waddell sues in the name and in behalf of the East Jersey proprietors, and the appeal by the State to the Supreme Court is from a decision in the Circuit Court favorable to the claimants. The issue of the suit will decide a similar claim by the West Jersey proprietors. Singular Tree. There is a tree in this county, on the road from Wye Mill to Hillsborough, the trunk of which, a few feet from the earth, branches off, into two distinct and entirely differént trees, the one being an oak, the other a chestnut. [Princess Ann Sentinel. Iowa Tin. It is said that a bed of tin ore, twenty miles square, has lately been discovered in Iowa. If this be correct, it must prove a most valuable discovery, and cut off a very considerable item of expense for foreign importation. Oil for Lamps. In the baneful process of distilling good honest corn into bad whiskey, we are glad to hear there is one beneficial result obtained-the production of a superior kind of lamp oil. This fact has only lately been known to distillers. The process of gathering the oil is very simple. After the oil rises on the top, and may be skimmed off at the rate of "mash" has fermented as usual, and nearly settled again, the about one quart to each bushel of corn mashed. The mash must be entirely of corn or the oil will not rise. The article thus produced, burns beautifully clear, is very durable, and is afforded at the West where it is manufactured, at about $125 per gallon, at retail. The Germans, on the banks of the Wabash, in Indiana, instead of throwing away or giving to the pigs, the seeds of their pumpkins, as usually done, make an oil from them which they use for all the purposes of lamp and olive oil. One gallon of seed gives about half a gallon of oil. They are pressed like rape and flax-seed.-Buffalo Com. Adv. Great Yield. We are often surprised with accounts from the West of the primeval soil and the abundance of its yield. We have heard nothing however, from any part of the Union, which surpasses the productiveness of the land of Samuel Carman, Esq., of Fire Place, on this Island. Two acres and three quarters of his highly cultivated farm have yielded the present fall 500 bushels of ears, equal to about 250 bushels of shelled corn, something over 100 bushels to the acre. Brooklyn News. Segar Monopoly in France. The American contains a letter from Paris which states that the Regie had recently imported six million of segars from Manilla, but which appears likely to prove a bad speculation. The writer says, our tobacco growers have nought to fear from such competition. The Regie have got stuck with their importation, and the segars must remain in their sample, to prove what trash they are in comparison with warehouses for years unsold. I send you half a dozen as a Havana, or even our best Yankee made. They are retailed at 15 centimes each. Western Copper. The Galena, Ill. Advertiser of the 6th, mentions the arrival at that place of two loads of copper from the mines of Mineral Point, Wisconsin, which, it adds are destined at no distant day to be a source of large income to the Territory. A number of the miners, smelters and citizens of Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois have united in a petition to the Federal House of Representatives praying them to adopt some measures to relieve the mining interests of those districts from the grievances which oppress them. Sheep. The Warren (O.) Chronicle says; a flock of over one thousand merino sheep passed through our village, on their way to Illinois. They belong to an enterprising farmer from Massachusetts, and were driven from that State. They will be a valuable acquisition to the State of Illinois, and we trust the enterprising Yankee will be well rewarded for his exertions in introducing them into the West. The UNITED STATES COMMERCIAL AND STATISTICAL REGISTER, is published every Wednesday, at No. 76 Dock street. The price to subscribers is Five Dollars per annum, payable on the 1st of January of each year. No subscription received for less than a year.Subscribers out of the principal cities to pay in advance. PRINTED BY WILLIAM F. GEDDES, No. 112 CHESNUT STREET, Where, and at 76 Dock St., Subscriptions will be received. COMMERCIAL AND STATISTICAL REGISTER. EDITED BY SAMUEL HAZARD. VOL. V. PHILADELPHIA, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1841. MESSAGE OF GOVERNOK KICHARDSON OF SOUTH CAROLINA. Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives: I congratulate you on the recurrence of this occasion of assembling in the service of your constituents, under circumstances as auspicious to the useful discharge of your duties, as I trust they will be conducive to the harmony of your deliberations. Reviving Prosperity. While, in the general health of our citizens, and the abundance of the harvest, we have experienced the usual beneficial distribution of the blessings of an overruling Providence, we have not less cause for congratulation in the reviving prosperity of our people, from the unexampled de. pression and embarrassment of the times. Already has credit begun to regain confidence and stability-capital to seek permanent investments-commerce to pursue its accustomed channels-property to resume a fixed and reasonable value-and the energy and enterprise of our people to embark with new and invigorated hope, in its various employments and pursuits. Not the least gratifying reflection arising from these cheering auguries of our condition, is derived from the consciousness that they are the results not of any pampering patronage to the government-not of the artificial stimulants of Legislative aids or interference-but of a wise and vigilant economy in the people, awakened by the disastrous experience of the past, to improve the permanent and enduring sources of their prosperity. If some of the lingering effects of the late derangement in the monetary affairs of our country are still painfully experienced, in the reduced value of property,-diminished as it must be from the inflated standard of a depreciated and expanded currency-or in the difficulty of discharging debts, incurred in the flood-tide of extravagant prices, and a redundant circulation-they are to be regarded as the unavoidable consequences of former errors and delusions, and perhaps the surest indications of a progressive state of convalescence and improvement. Our Government. No. 23. and distracted councils have, I trust, again gathered and assembled the Republican portion of the nation, in the unity and strength of one fold, and one conviction. And if the great measure of" deliverance and liberty," important as we still regard it to the faithful, as well as equitable administration of the financial affairs of the country, has been repeated, in form and in name, we have still the unquestionable assurance of its final success, in the overruling necessity resulting from the signal failure of every other substitute or device, A National Bank Among these abortive expedients, none was regarded with more intense and absorbing solicitude, than the proposition" to re-establish a National Bank. On no occasion has the exercise of the conservative power vested in the Federal Executive, been received with warmer approbation by the people of this State; or been more wisely and fortunately interposed, to arrest the most dangerous, and most obnoxious of all the premeditated violations of the Constitution. Of all the great measures of national policy, productive of the bitterest contention among the great parties of this Union, and which has always and justly been regarded as fraught with the most powerful influences (for good or for evil,) on our political institutions, the establishment of a National Bank, is certainly the most obvious and important. If such has been the experience of the country, in the primitive and purer ages of the Republic, under the regulations of a bank, arising out of the embarrassments of the first war, and the exigencies of the last-of comparatively limited capital, and directed by the wisest and ablest officers-what were we to anticipate from an institution organized as the instrument of a party then in power-opening amidst the ruins of a disordered currency, and the wreck, weakness and dismay, of State and local institutions. The expiring struggles of the United States Bank, to perpetuate its existence against' the fiat of the people, and the constituted authorities of the country, are recent in the recollection of all of us, and form an important epoch in the history of our Government.— Doubtful as that contest must be admitted to have been, waged even as it was against an Administration, perhaps the most efficient and energetic that has ever controlled the destinies of this nation, what were we to anticipate, when our rulers themselves should have become its alkes, its party, or its pageants. In this view, it would have changed the character of our Government, become part of our political institutions, and consummated the greatest of all the depre Nor have we less cause to exult in the hope, that our Go-cated evils that could befall a country-" the union of purse vernment may now be regarded as having passed in security, through the most trying and difficult exigencies, that ever tried its virtue, or tested its stability. In the events of a single year, the sudden ascendency of a party, actuated by a high-wrought enthusiasm-impelled by the disasters of the times to seek relief in change, and rashly imputing them to the conduct of our rulers-seemed to threaten the subversion of the well established principles of 1798 and 1799, and of the republican policy of the government, as well as the overthrow of the exponents, by whom they were administered. But a few weeks experience of power, have as suddenly disbanded, dissipated and resolved this magnificen: array of party power and organization into its distinct and original elements. The deliberations of the late session of Congress have dispelled the delusions of party-zeal and fervor, Its impracticable expedients VOL. V.-45 and sword, in the Federal head," or worse, in the hands of a Federal party. Well may such an institution be supposed to have had the power to regulate the currency; but it would have been with the iron rule of despotism-restraining all interests, absorbing all capital, measuring all profits, overpowering all competition, and attracting the wealth and prosperity of every other portion of the Union, to the centre of its operations. Power of the Late United States Bank. It was an honest confession, of one of the ablest presiding officers of the late United States Bank, before a committce appointed by Congress to investigate its affairs, that it was at any time within its power to crush State and local institutions! What an appalling fact for the contemplation of What a prophetic the Sovereign States of the Union! which she can so amply command through her organized government, and with which God and the People have endowed her, there can no emergency arise, in which the hands and the hearts of her citizens, would not be invincibly united in her defence. As a source of revenue warning of the institutions chartered by their authority!The institutions of the country to be uprooted and erased at the bidding of a heartless, soulless, cent. per cent. calculating corporation! The rights of the States, and the liberties of the people, to be subjected to the dominion of a sordid moneyed Autocracy! And yet, such is the supremacy over law, liberty, and the constitution, to which such an instituDistribution of the proceeds of the Public Lands. tion would inevitably have attained. Encroachments upon Another topic, of not less importance in itself, or of deep the liberties of the people, in other times and nations, were to be apprehended from the swords of conquerors, and the moment to the citizens of this State, is the act distributing usurpations of ambitious rulers; but experience has shown which it is proposed to abstract, at the very instant when the proceeds of the public lands. that in our own age and country, the strongest contests to maintain constitutional, and even sovereign rights, have been the Federal Treasury is said to require to be replenished, it waged against an ambitious money power, in all its various tion. But considered in any point of view, it can be regardwould seem like wantonly seeking a pretext to increase taxaforms, of bank monopolies, and protective tariffs. Well, ed in no other light than that of a distribution of the public therefore, may we congratulate the country on having escaped the ambitious pretensions of an institution which, revenue. In one year, during a previous administration, the after imperiously dictating the humiliating duty to the Fede. proceeds of the sales of public lands, produced a revenue of upward of twenty millions-a maximum to which, in more Jal Executive, of violating his constitutional obligations, now threatens, through the vengeance of a disappointed party, prosperous times, it would possibly again attain. Its average the rash and iniquitous retribution, of abolishing the most may even now be estimated at five millions, which, if annuuseful and conservative, of all the prerogatives of his depart-least to be supplied by increased duties on imports. That ally withdrawn from the treasury, leaves that deficiency at ment. Duties on Imports. the government can exercise the power of taxation to raise The revision of the duties on imports, justly regarded by the people of this State with a solicitude proportioned to the burdens which the Protective Policy has hitherto imposed on them, has been made, neither in that spirit of equity, or of compromise, which we had just reason to anticipate, from the principles and concessions of the act of 1833. The history of the opposition of this State, to a Tariff for protection, can neither be obliterated nor forgotten. And the high considerations which actuated her, in consenting to compromise her interests for a term of years, to the peace and safety of the Union, should be a warning, as well as an inducement, to respect her rights, as well as her forebearance. While the government is acknowledged to be disembarrassed of debt, and the manufacturing interests perhaps the least oppressed and the most prosperous of any in the Union, the renewal of a policy by indirect means, which is now universally admitted to bear unequally upon the productive industry of different portions of the Union, is a most flagrant abuse of power, as well as a most wanton violation of faith. The living generation, who were the witnesses of the struggles and pledges in the late effect of this measure is the condition of dependency, to But the most dangerous, as well as the most humiliating contest for her constitutional rights, have not yet passed which it reduces the States, upon the bounty and benefacaway-the monuments of the times have not yet perished-tion of the government-existing as they would, in the rela the very altars consecrated by her vows, still stand before us -even her preparations for defence, are still in readiness and requisition-the age, its records, and recollections, have scarcely become a part of history, before the very burdens and oppressions which they were intended to resist, are renewed with a shameful infidelity, which seeks neither pretext nor justification. A home valuation, cash duties, and an unreasonable and exorbitant revenue of more than thirty millions, it is believed are little less onerous in amount, or unconstitutional in effect, than the enormous forty per cent. duties which the sovereignty of this State was so sternly interposed to resist. And if, upon the principle of all protective duties, they are destined to increase to an extent and enormity to which our experience of the past, as well as the tendency of the times, most emphatically forebodes, then it will be for you to say, whether South Carolina has so fallen from her high eminence of sovereignty and independence, as to admit by a silent acquiescence in these wrongs and grievances, that there is no " mode, or remedy, no measure of redress." If she was sufficient then for the emergency; she is doubly adequate and fortified now in the union and strength of all her citizens, to meet aggressions upon her rights, come from what source they may. Nor is it less becoming the dignity and character of a free State, in assuming a position of defence which she is resolved to maintain, to Among other resolutions, which as the official communimanifest a due and timely regard for all the means and ap- cation of a sister State, it is my duty to submit to a co-ordipliances of rendering that position, as strong and impregna- nate branch of the government of this, is one proposing to ble in fact, as it is in equity, and in argument. Disregard-alter the Constitution, to limit the eligibility of the Federal ing all theories, that so often confound the convictions of Executive to one term of office. The experience of this the best and purest minds, and resorting to the resources State furnishes no reasons for such an innovation upon the tion of subsidiaries upon the profits of their own estatereceiving its charity, doled out from their own wealth, and subdued to a state of homage, servility, and compliance, by bribes, stolen and lavished from their own treasury. Is it State debts-designed to consummate a consolidation of innot to be regarded as the first step to the assumption of terests, obliterating all distinctions of sovereignty, or pride of independence, and tending to concentrate Empire and Dominion over the rights of the States, and the libertics of the people? I trust, however, that the spirit of reform, which has been so powerfully evoked by the errors of the late session of Congress, and so decidedly manifested in the results of the the spoils and plunder of this system, from ever soiling the late popular elections throughout the Union, will prevent the Union. Let us pause, at least for a moment, in the treasury, or contaminating the coffers of a single State in hope, that the correct principles and high motives of an unoperating their sure and salutary influences on the counsels bought, and unterrified and incorruptible Democracy, are and measures of government. Resolutions of a sister State to alter the Constitution. long established usage and principles of the government. I cannot conceive that it can be productive of any other effects than to increase the usually over-wrought excitement of the Presidential canvass-to render its recurrence more frequent -to disconnect the relations of sympathy between the Executive and his constituents-to divest him of the most powerful motives to regard the will, or to merit the approbation of the people-and to make him the instrument of a party, to minister to its purposes, and to pander to its lust of dominations. of equity and of interest, to make common cause with any State whose rights and institutions are thus wantonly violated and assailed. Means of Safety and Defence. In all the history of our government, the influence of the Executive power, to modify its action on the reserved rights of the States, has been of a conservative, rather than of an aggressive character. More than twice has it been inter-ciations, and impotent exhibitions of resistance, to provoke posed to rescue the people from the domination and abuse of a National Bank. It was in defence of our rights and our institutions, that the determination of a late Executive to refuse his constitutional sanction to the abolition of slavery in any of its forms, was so fearlessly avowed; and this State, I presume, can have no interest or motive to remove the few salutary checks and embarrassments to the so often unjust and inconsiderate legislation of a majority in Congress, as to induce it to war against the dignity and prerogatives of a department, the weakest and most conservative, perhaps, in the government. The position which it may become this State to assume, on any of the important questions presented, would seem to suggest the importance and necessity of cultivating and improving her means of safety and defence. It would be a mere mockery to vaunt of rights, liberty, or sovereignty, without the spirit, ability or resources to defend them. It would be better at once to endure threatened or impending ills, unaggravated by opposition, than by unmeaning denunand increase their bitterness. Prohibited, both by the character of our institutions, and the restrictions of the Constitution, from resorting to any other means of cultivating our military resources than through that of a well-trained and organized militia, it should be cherished to the highest state of perfection, and with a pride and assiduity to make it the most efficient, as it is the only means of defending the rights, the honor, and sovereignty of the State. The improvement in which it so rapidly progressed, under the influence of the late Brigade Encampments, offers the highest encouragement to the continuance of your patronage as well as the happiest illustration of the beneficial effects of the mode in which it has hitherto been conferred. Assembled in these Normal Schools of drill and tuition, where a patriotic cmulation was excited-where knowledge was imparted and received, under the criticism of the most improved and accomplished officers-where such favorable opportunities were afforded for discriminating the qualifications, both of the sol ing was acquired, which is the best, perhaps the only foundation of an elevated patriotism, combining so many motives, stimulant advantages and incentives-it is not surprising that from its results I should be enabled to give you the gratifying assurances that our militia now comprises in its organization, a class of officers whose knowledge and accom. plishments, would do credit to any age, or service, or country. With such inducements before us, it is deeply to be regretted, that an experiment productive of so many advantages and improvements, without any detracting consequences whatever, should have been prematurely abandoned. I also submit for the serious consideration of the Legislature, a copy of the communication of the Governor of Virginia, on the proceedings of the General Assembly of that State on the subject of her late controversy with New York; and reports and resolutions from the State of Alabama, re-dier and the citizen-and where that martial pride and feelsponding to the views and declarations so solemnly announced by this State, on questions deeply involving the right of property, and the security of the domestic institutions of the South. Bound by every consideration of duty, of interest, of honor, and of equity, to repel so flagrant a disregard of the rights of a sister State, we should always be ready and prompt to redeem the pledge of our alliance to a cause with which our interests are so intimately identified. Relations of amity cannot be preserved even between separate nations; in which the rights of property are not regarded as they exist, under the respective laws of each; much less can sovereign States be permanently allied in a bond of Union, under the same laws, government and constitution, where fugitives from the justice, plunderers of the property, and violators of the laws, of one, find refuge and impunity under the sanction of the constituted authorities of the other. No wrong is more readily resented by nations-no injustice can more deeply stain the faith or more essentially impair the friendly and intimate, relations of confederated States. It would be a reproach to the character of our institutions if claims which are recognized and reciprocated by the comity and justice of all civilized nations, should be scornfully refused and contemned by States federated under the same laws and Constitution. If the obligations of the Constitution which require one State to deliver, on demand, fugitives from the justice of another, are to be disregarded-our institutions assailed-the plunderers of our property encouraged and protected-then must we regard the perpetrator of these aggressions," no matter by whom committed," as a foe to our rights, and an enemy to our peace. Whether the wrong in this case has been done to Virginia or South Carolina, the principle is the same, the interest involved common to both, and the responsibility of protecting them should equally devolve on every State in the Union, in which justice exercises dominion, or similar institutions exist. Persisting in such a course of unprovoked hostility to the interests and institutions of the South, New York can only be regarded in the light of any other aggressing power-in peace friends, but enemies in war. The adoption in all such instances, of a similar course of vigilance to that which the State of Virginia has instituted, would perhaps be a wise and necessary precaution, to prevent the recurrence of similar aggressions upon the property and rights of our own citizens and institutions. We ought, upon every principle Already are the effects of that abandonment visible, in the wanting enthusiasm of the service, and the resignation of some of our ablest officers, from a conscientious regret and despondency, for the future usefulness and efficiency of their exertions. Such indications as these should be regarded as a solemn invocation to restore a system from which the State has derived such important benefits. Confined perhaps as those encampments should be, to commissioned officers, it is not to be presumed that any officer would be so insensible to the honorable pride of his vocation, or to the confidence which the State "reposes in his courage and fidelity," as to regret the privations and inconveniences of five days camp service, to learn the art of defending his country and its institutions. With some slight and salutary modifications of the law by which they were regulated, it is confidently hoped that they may be made the schools of correct morals, as well as of patriotism and military discipline. With the alteration or addition of such provisions as may promote this desirable object, the bill under the consideration of the Legislature, at the last session, in December, and revised by the Adjutant General, with the accompanying report, is respectfully referred to your consideration. Amid all the portents of the time-the peril that everywhere surrounds our domestic institutions-the emergency that may call upon us to vindicate our rights and principles I cannot but again and most seriously invoke your attention, to that organization of our military resources and de. fences, without a due regard to which, no State action can be efficient, and the assertion of sovereignty itself be but a by-word and a reproach, without dignity, and without effect. The contingency of a National War, (remote and distant as I trust it still is,) cannot be overlooked, among the numerous other inducements to improve our military resources. |