the country north of the Wisconsin River difficulties will ensue between them and the whites that will end in war. The Winnebago Indians own a country west of the Mississippi that affords game in abundance, and where they could remain in peace for years. A just regard for the rights of the people of Wisconsin requires that the Winnebagoes should be removed; the safety of the lives and property of our citizens demand it. Should troubles with our Indian neighbors commence, it is difficult to tell where they will stop. Our recent Indian wars have been at the price of much blood and treasure, and have we not a right to expect that the representatives of a great and intelligent nation will prevent a state of things that would be ruinous to the growth and prosperity of this Territory?

The purchase of country from the Chippewa Indians, east of the Mississippi, was made for the advantage of its extensive pine forests, bordering on the Chippewa and St. Croix rivers, and which is considered of the first importance to the people residing on the borders of the Mississippi, by affording them cheap and abundant supplies of pine lumber. Mills have already been erected in the Chippewa country, and several hundred individuals are now employed in preparing rafts of pine lumber; and should the treaty made with the Chippewas not be ratified, and the whites be immediately removed from the occupation of their country, we may expect that the Chippewa Indians will attack those whom they will consider as intruders on their rights.

Should the bill, now depending before the Congress of the United States, for the establishment of two land offices west of the Mississippi river, become a law; and should the

public lands be offered at sale under the proclamation of the President of the United States during the present year, many of our citizens who might be entitled to purchase the public lands, (should the right of pre-emption be extended to them,) would not be prepared to pay for their homes. I respectfully and earnestly recommend to the Legislative Assembly the justice and propriety of memorializing the President of the United States on this subject, asking him to defer the sale of the public lands within this Territory, for one year. The present state of the currency, and the difficulty of procuring land-office money, would justify the indulgence proposed for the benefit of this meritorious class of our citizens, who have a right to expect that justice and the patronage of the Government will be extended to them.

I recommend to you, gentlemen, dispatch in the discharge of your legislative duties; and you may expect my co-operation in all measures which have for their object the public good.

BURLINGTON, W. T., JUNE 11, 1838.

HENRY DODGE.

VETO MESSAGES

TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

DECEMBER 20, 1837

From the Journal of the House of Representatives, p. 199

TERRITORY OF WISCONSIN, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
December 20, 1837.

To the hon. the speaker of the House of Representatives:

Sir, I return herewith "An act to establish the boundaries of the counties of Lee, Van Buren, Des Moines, Henry, Louisa, Wayne, and Slaughter, to locate the seats of justice for said counties, and for other purposes," presented for my approval on Saturday the 16th inst. and submit the following reasons for withholding my signature from the same.

By an act of the legislative assembly, of the last session, the counties of Lee, Van Buren, Des Moines, Henry, Louisa, Muscatine, and Cook were formed out of the territory embraced in the original county of Des Moines; and the county seats thereof (with the exception of Cook) were established in said act, which expires by its own limitation at the close of the present session.

The bill herewith returned, intends to supply the deficiency that would exist at the expiration of that law, fixes the boundaries by the course of streams and the United States' surveys; proposes no change in the location of the seats of justice of the counties of Lee, Des Moines, and

Henry, but removes the county seat of Van Buren from Farmington to Rochester, and the county seat of Muscatine (called Wayne in the bill) from Bloomington to Geneva. It is to these two changes of county seats that I particularly object. In a territory like ours great care and caution should be exercised in the location of the seats of justice in the first place; and where settlements are formed on the faith of our acts, changes should not, in my opinion, be made without the prospect of some substantial benefit to the people, and upon their wish unequivocally expressed to that effect. In the county of Van Buren, from the fact that Farmington (the present seat of justice) is by no means in the centre of the county, or its population, petitions have been presented from a large number of its citizens, in all of which some change is requested; and from the great increase of population in that county during the past season, it is necessary that some provision should be made by law for the establishment of the seat of justice of that county, at some point, to suit the wishes of a majority of its present inhabitants. There is not, however, any thing in our possession which could authorize us in singling out Rochester as that place; and I think in this, as in all cases of the kind where there is any doubt, it would be better and safer for the legislature not to take upon themselves the decision of so interesting a question, but to submit it to a vote of the people themselves. With regard to locating the county seat of Van Buren county, it would meet with my approbation if provision should be made for a direct vote of the people upon the question, or if the duty of locating the seat of justice should be given to some body

to be chosen by a vote of the qualified electors of the county.

In the county of Wayne, (formerly called Muscatine) the change from Bloomington to Geneva is unaccountable to me. I say this with all due deference and respect to the legislative assembly. There does not occur to me a single good reason for the proposed removal. The majority of the people of the county have not asked for it; on the contrary, a large majority of them have remonstrated in the strongest terms against it. It is not pretended that Geneva is a more eligible point on the Mississippi than Bloomington. They are about three miles distant from each other, and it cannot even be urged that Geneva is nearer the centre of the county than Bloomington, especially when the three townships lying immediately west of Wayne are included within its boundaries, as I shall hereafter suggest. The change cannot, therefore, meet with my sanction or approbation; and I am as yet informed of nothing which would authorize us in interfering at this time, with the present location of the seat of justice at Bloomington.

With respect to the boundaries of Wayne county, I would respectfully suggest that the western lines of the county should be extended so as to embrace townships 76, 77, and 78, north of range 4 west, the former of which by the present bill is placed in the unorganized county of Slaughter, and makes a bad offset; and the other two are not included in the limits of any county.

In entering thus minutely into the details and merits of the present bill, I feel myself fully justified by the powers vested in me by the organic law of this territory, which