The Litchfield County post. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1826-1829, 1826-12-12

I0c4, and the Girsl hall OF Ieg., had exceeded
It's expenditures,by sum Of more than forty.
| Eve thousand dollars. That Of tle sncceedinr
year has been sin more productive. The ia-
crease of the receipts, in the year preceding
The first Of July las, over that of the year be-
fore, exceeds one hundred and thi1y-six
thousand dOllars.and the excess Of the receipts
over the expenditures Of the year have syvOl-
len from forty-five thousand 10 nearly eighty
thousand dollars. During the same period,
contracts for additional transportation OF the
mail, in stages, for aboet two hundred and
sixty thousand miles, have been made, and
for seventy thousand miles. on horse
hack. Seven hundred and fourteen new Post
Offices have been established within the year;
and the increase of revenue within the last
three years, as we'll as the augmentation Of
the transportation by mail, is more than equal
to the Whole amount of receipts, and of mail
conveyance, at the commencement OF the
present century, when the seat Of General
| Government was removed to this place.
When we reflect that the objects effected by
| the transportation of the mail are among the
choicest comforts and enjoyments of social
life. it is pleasing to observe, that the discern
in .ton of them to everyscorner of our coun-
try has outstSipped in their increase even the
rapid march of our population
| BY the Treaties with France and Spain, re-
| spectively ceding Louisiana and the Floridas
to the United States, provision was made for
the security of land titles derived from the
government of those nations. Some progress
has been made, under the authority Of various
| Acts of Congress, in the ascectaimment and
establishment of those titles: but claims to a
very large amount remain unadjusted. The
\ Eos Al,ce a
uals, and the interest of the community it,
fself. appears to require further provision fol
the speedy settlement of these claims, which
| therefore recommend to the care and atten-
of the Legislature. 80 So
| Ia conformity with the provisions Of the act
of Goth May last, to provide for erecting q
| Penitentia.y in the District IF Columbia, and
for other proposes, three Commissioners were
appointed to select site for the erection of a
Penitentiary for the District, and also site
in the county of Alexandria for a county Jail;
both of.whch objects haye been effected
The building of the .Penitentiary has been
! commenced, and it is in such a degree of for
wardness as to promise that il WILDE compile
TIED before the meeting Of the next Congress
| This consideration points to the expediency
of maturing, at the present session, a system
| for the regulation and government of the pen
| itcntiary, and of defining the class of offences
which shall be punishable by confinement IN
| this edifcc. g. ~ ~. $50 IA
! In closing this communication, trust that
it vii; not be deemed inappropriate to the oc-
| casion and purposes upon which we are here
assembled,t to indulge,a monentary retrospect
combining, in a single glance, the period OF
our origin as a National Confederation with
that Of our present existence, at the precise
intervalo half q century from each other
Since your last meeting at this place, the Fiji.
,tisth Anniversary of the day when our hide
pendence was declared, has been celebrated
| throughout our land; and on that dag, when
every heart was bounding with Joy, and every
voice was tuned to graduation, amid the bles,
sings Of Freedom an Independence, which
the sires- OF former age had handed down tc
their children, two of the principal actors
in that solemn scene, the hand that penned
the ever-memorable Declaration, and tbs
Nvoice that sustained 1t in debate, were, by one
summons, at the distance Of seven hundred
miles from each other, called before The Judge
Of all, to account for their deeds done upon
earth. They departed cheered by the bene
dict;ons of@their country, to whom they lief
the inheritance of their. fame, and the memory
of. their bright example. IF we turn ou
thoughtsto the condition of their country, il
the contrast Of the first and last day Of tha
half century, how resplendent and sublim,
is the Transition from gloom TO glory, Then
CHANGING through the same lapse Of time,sir
the condition of individuals, we see the first
day marked with the fulness and vigor oil
youth, in the pledge of their lives, their for
tunes, and their sacred honor, the cause oil
freedom and Of mankind. And on the last
extended on the he'd ofdeath, but with sense
and sensibilty left to breathe last aspiration
to Heaven Of blessing upon their country
may we not humbly hope that to them. too
| it was pledge Of transition from gloom Il
glory; and that. while their mortal vestment
were sinking into the clod Of the valley, thei
| emancipafed spirits were ascending to the DO
som of their God - 1sy,. 80.
7''f JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. y
| WQslington December $, 1926. ,..s,s.,.
-
/