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quorum of the Council have assembled, and are ready to
receive any communication he may think proper to make.
Messrs. Stockton, and M'Donell, being appointed the
committee contemplated by the foregoing resolution.
On motion of Mr. Schoolcraft,

The Council adjourned to meet to-morrow at 2 o'clock,
P. M.

Wednesday, January 5, 1831. Messrs. Lawrence and Durocher, from the District composed of the counties of Monroe and Lenawe, and Mr. Kingsley from the county of Washtenaw, appeared and took their seats.

Mr. Stockton from the committee to whom it was yesterday assigned to inform the Governor that the Council had assembled, and were ready to receive any communication from him, reported that the committee had discharged that duty, and that the Governor informed them, he would make a communication to the Council this day.

The following Message and accompanying papers were received from the Governor by the hands of Mr. Rowland:

MESSAGE:

FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL:

THE short interval of time, which has elapsed since the termination of your last session, has furnished few topics of sufficient importance, to be made the subjects of Executive communication. Such however, as the public interest seems to me to require, I shail submit for your consideration.

The progress of the Territory in population and improvement continues to be rapid and uninterrupted; and the immigration, during the past season, has far exceeded that of any preceding year. By the census, which has been recently completed, the number of our inhabitants, was on the first Monday of June last, 31,698; of which the peninsula and the counties of Michilimackinac and Chippewa, which in their interests and geographical position are intimately connected, and should be so in all their future political relations, contain 28,010. The counties of Brown, Crawford, and Iowa, comprehending that part of the Territory west of Lake Michigan, have a population of 3688 persons. Application has heretofore been made to Congress, and measures have been taken for its renewal at the present session, by the inhabitants of that country, for the establishment of a

new Territorial Government, and to such a proceeding no just objections can be urged by this portion of the Territory. Separated as they are from us, by distance, and by inland seas, which, if they facilitate the communication during one part of the year, interrupt it during another, it would be neither for their interest nor ours, that the whole of this extensive region should be permanently united under the same local government; and their convenience would no doubt be promoted by a dissolution of the connexion, and the formation of a new Territory. The first step in the political history of the western settlements, not only provides for all the purposes of temporary government, but prepares the way for the admission of new members into the confederacy; thus admirably extending the operation of the General and State Governments, as the sphere of civilization and improvement is enlarged by the exertions and enterprize of our citizens.

Although the result of the census may not fully equal our expectations, yet the rate of increase, during the last ten years, may well compare with that of any portion of the Union. This rate has exceeded two hundred and fifty per cent., and if to this be added the increase by immigration, since the first Monday of June last, we shall have full cause to be satisfied with our progress and prospects. We are rapidly approaching the period, when our present temporary government will be dissolved, and succeeded by an independent state government, instituted by the people, and for the people-when we shall enter, as an equal and constituent member, that confederacy of republics, under whose care and protection we have attained our present state of improvement.

A new apportionment of the representation is required by the changes which have taken place in the relative population of the various sections of the Territory. And you have now sufficient data to make this apportionment, satisfactorily and equitably.

An effort has been made to detach the counties of Michilimackinac and Chippewa from the Peninsular Territory, and to annex them to the new government, which is asked for west of Lake Michigan. Such a measure would be equally injurious to our rights, and subversive of our interests. The act of Congress of January 11th, 1805, establishing this Territory, defined its boundaries, and guaranteed to the inhabitants, then living, or who might thereafter live,

within them, many political rights, dear to the American people, and without the enjoyment of which, our cizens would never encounter the difficulties and hardships, incident to the settlement of a new country. Among these, not the least important is the right of admission into the Union, when our population shall equal the number prescribed in the Ordinance of Congress of July 13, 1787, which laid the foundation of the governments of the States and Territories, north-west of the Ohio river. If we have any security for the political privileges we enjoy, or expect to enjoy, we have the same security, and that is the faith of the United States, for the integrity of the territorial boundaries, established by that act. A line drawn through the middle of Lake Michigan to its northern extreme, and thence due north to Lake Superior, which is our western boundary, leaves the inhabited portions of the counties of Michilimackinac and Chippewa in the original Territory of Michigan. To the country west of that line we have no claim. It was not annexed to the Territory until 1818, when Illinois was admitted into the Union, and in the act of annexation, the right is expressly reserved of making such future disposition of it, as Congress might deem expedient. It was intended as a temporary measure, to be followed by the establishment of a local government, when circumstances should require it. If these two counties can be separated from us, so may either of the Peninsular counties, and our whole country may be thus subdivided, and our admission into the Union indefinitely postponed. I submit for your consideration, whether a renewed expression of your own views and of the expectations of your constituents, upon this subject, would not be expedient; and whether in the event of an immediate decision adverse to our interest and expectations, such a measure would not be an important proceeding hereafter to refer to, when a change in our political relations may enable us again to bring forward this question under more favorable circumstances. For it is impossible this community should acquiesce in such a dismemberment of their territory, without using all the means in their power, now and hereafter, to present the facts and considerations upon which we rely, to the general government, and to urge the recognition of our rights.

While an effort is making or contemplated to sever from us that part of our North-western frontier, which commands the communication between the three upper lakes, the

States, which adjoin us upon our Southern boundary, have preferred claims to portions of the Territory, which, if finally established, will still farther reduce our extent and future importance. Indiana asserts and exercises jurisdiction over a tract of country, ten miles north of our southern boundary, as defined in that irrepealable law, which gave and guarantees to us our political existence, and extending from Lake Michigan east, along the whole northern frontier of that state. That this claim will eventually be contested on the part of this Territory, or of the State, which must soon be established here, there is no doubt. And as we have every confidence in the justice of our cause, we may reasonably look forward to a favorable decision. As however the rights of the parties rest upon conflicting acts of Congress, and as Indiana has possession of the tract in question, a prudent regard to circumstances will probably dictate a postponement of the subject, until we shall be admitted to a participation in the councils of the tribunal, by which it must be determined.

But the claim of Ohio to that part of this Territory, lying between a line drawn'due east from the southerly bend of Lake Michigan, and a line drawn from the same point to the north cape of the Maumee Bay, presents considerations of a different nature. The possession of this tract of country, and the jurisdiction over it are in this Territory, and all the acts of the general government, in relation to the subject, from the ordinance of Congress of July 13, 1787, are uniformly favorable to the establishment of the existing boundary. Ohio seeks a change upon principles which may be as well met now as hereafter; and as the matter has been recently submitted by the Governor of that State to the consideration of the Legislature, it is probable that some legislative measures may be adopted, having in view an examination of the question, and a decision favorable to the claim they have advanced. In this state of things, I suggest the propriety of a memorial being presented to Congress, which shall state distinctly the rights of this Territory, and the sentiments and feelings of its inhabitants upon the, subject. Unless I am greatly deceived in my views, a succinct statement of our claim is all that is necessary to insure its confirmation.

I lay before you copies of two letters, written in 1820, by Mr. Woodbridge, then acting Governor and Secretary of this Territory, one addressed to the Governor of Ohio,

and the other to the Secretary of State of the United States. These letters contain a very able exposition of our case, and appear to me, as well in the course of the discussion, as in the conclusions they draw, to be unanswerable. As the subject, however, is very important to the future interests of the Territory, I may be excused for presenting a brief summary of the view, which I have taken of it.

It is not necessary, at present, to enter into a consideration of the question, whether under the original Ordinance, Congress could change the fundamental line, running east and west from the southern extreme of Lake Michigan. It will be time for us to contest this point, when that change is made. We may yet safely rely upon the legislative acts of the government, which originally establislice' the boundary line between this Territory and the State of Ohio, and have since recognized and confirmed it.

By the act of Congress of April 30, 1802, authorising the people of the eastern division of the North-Western Territory to form a constitution and state government, it was provided, that the northern boundary of the proposed state should be a line, running due east from the southern extreme of Lake Michigan, after intersecting a line running north from the mouth of the Great Miami. And all the country north of that line was, for the purpose of temporary government, attached to the territory of Indiana. The convention of Ohio, in defining the boundaries of the state, followed the words of the act of Congress; and then added the following proviso" Provided, always, and it is hereby fully understood and declared by this convention, that if the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan should extend so far south, that a line drawn due east from it should not intersect Lake Erie, or if it should intersect the said Lake Erie, east of the mouth of the Miami river, then in that case, with the assent of the Congress of the United States, the northern boundary of this state shall be established by and extend to a direct line, running from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan to the most northerly cape of the Miami Bay, after intersecting the due north line from the mouth of the Great Miami, as aforesaid, thence north-east to the territorial line, and by the said territorial line to the Pennsylvania line." The constitution, proposing this modification, was submitted to Congress, and referred on the 23d of December, 1802, in the House of Representatives, to a committee of which Mr. Randolph was chairman. This committee

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