The Litchfield County post., 1828-12-11


 mendable.
 The attention of Congress is partirnlarlv invited tO that part ofthe Report of Ih' Sec reiary of War which concerns the existing system of our relations with the Indian lIihes. At the establishment of the Federal Govern msnt. under the present Constitution of the United States, the principle was adopted of considering them as foreign and independent powers; and also as propTietOrs of .lands.- They were moreover. considered as savages, whom it was our policy and duty to use our in6uepce in converting to christianity, and in bringing within the pale of civilization.
 As independent powers, we negociated with them by treates-as prOpriet0rs.we purcha- srd of them all the lands which we could pre- vail upon them to seIl--Rs brethren Ofthe hu- man race, rude and ignorant, we endeavoured to bring them to the knowledge of religion B. letters. The ultimate design was to incorpo- rate in our institutions that portion of them which could be converted to the state of civ lization. In the practice of European states before our Revolution, they had been cOnsid- cred as children to be governed-as remnants at discretion, to be dispOssed as occasion might require-as hunters to be indernnfied by trifing concessions for removal from the grounds upon which their game was extirra- ted. In changing the system. is would seem as if full contemplation Ofthe consequences of the change had not been taken. We have been far more successful in the acquisition of their lands than in imparting to them the principles, or inspiring them with spirit of civilization. But in appropriating to ourselves their hunting grounds, we have brought upon ourselves the obligation of providing them with subsistence-anG when we have had the arts of civilization, and the doctrines of ristianity, we have. unsxpectedly found them forming in the midst of ourselves. con- munities claiming 10 be independent of ours, and rivals of so, ereignty within the territories ofthe members of our Union. This state of things requires that a remedy should he pro- videh. remedy which, while it shall do justice tO these unfortunate children of na- ture, may secure to the members of our con federation their rights of sovereignty and of soil. As the outline of project to that effec, the views presented in the report of the Sec retary of War are recommended to the con- sideration of Congress.
 The Report from the Engineer department 1 presents comprehensive view of the proU- ress which has been made in the great sys stem promotive of the public interest, commenced | and organised under the authority of con- 1 gress and the effects of which have already 1 contributed to the security, as they will here after largely contribute to the honor aud dig nity of the nation.
 | The first of these great systems is that of l fortifcatIons. commenced immediately after 1 the close of the last war, under the salutarv experience which the events of that war had impressed upon our countrymen of its npces- sity. Introduced under the auspices of my immediate predecessor it has been continued with the perseverns and liberal encourage mrnt of the Legislature-and combined wi ith | corresponding -xrrtionssfur the gradual in 1 crease and improvement of the Navy, pre- l parps for our country condition of defence a. dapted tO any emergency W hich the varying | course Ofevents may bring forth. Our ad- vancrs in theseconcrrted systems have for the last ten years been steady and progress ive-and in few years more will be so conn pleted as to leave DO cause for apprehension that our coast will ever again offer theatre of invasion.
 The next of these cardinal measures of pn- Hey, is the preliminary tO great and lasting works of public improvement. in the surveys of roads, examination for theco of canals and labo,,rs for the removal of the obstruc- tions of rivers and harbours. first commenced by the Act OfCOngress of 30th April. I824. The report exhibits in one table the funds appropriated at the last and preceding Ses- sions of Congress. for aii these f,rtiRcations, surveys, and works of puhlick Improvements; the manner ln which these funds have been applied. the amount expended upon the sev- eral works under construction. and the further sums which may he necessary to complete them. In a second. the works projected by the Board "f Engineers, which have not been commenced, and the estimate of their ex- prnsr.
 In a third, the report of the annual Board of Visiters at the Military Academy at West Point For thirteen Notifications erecting on various points of our Atlantic coast from R. Island to Louisiana, the aggregate expendi- ture of the year has fallen little short of one million of dollars.
 For the preparation of five additional Re- ports of reconnoissances and surveys since the last Session of Congress- for the civil con- structons upon thirty seven different publicls works sconmenced, eight others for which spe- cifc appropriations have been made by Acts of Congress, and twenty other incipient sur veys under the authority given by the Act of goth April, 1924, about 1 1000, ,OO0 more of dollars have been furnished from the Treasu- ry.
 To these two millions of dollars are to be added the appropriation of S95O. .OOO to com, mence the erection Ofa Breakwater near the mouth of the Delaware the subscriptions to- the Delaware and Chesapeak-the Louisville