The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1853-01-29
GOVERNORS MESSAGE.

Fellow. citizens of the Council and House
Of Representatives.:
The organic act of Minnesota has wise
ly provided for the annual meeting Of the
Legislature. 1t is your good fortune to
assemble at moment Of general prosper
ity and progress.
The universal hope of our people has
been gratifed by the ratification by the
Senate of the United States, in July last,
of the two treaties negotiated in the sum-
mer of 1851, with the Sioux Indians in
this Territory. The amendments to the
treaties made by the Senate have been
approved by the Indians, and the title to
the fertile lands ceded is now completely
in the United States.
During the coming season, the Indians
will be removed to the reserve set apart
for them above Little Rock on the Min
nesota river. As they are peaceable,
well-inclined, and their villages but few,
their presence in the mean time upon the
ceded tract opposes no obstacle to its i'm
mediate settlement. Humanity to the
Indians induced the Government to pay
them their annuities last fall, in advance
of removal. Hereafter, however, they
will be paid in their proper country.
In this connection, / would urge upon
the Legislative Assembly the propriety
of mcmorializing the President and Con-
gress to se-ure to the Sioux Indians, for
long period of years, the identical reser-
vation temporarily designated for them.
Should their stay be limited to five years,
but poor encouragement will be held out
to them to engage in agricultural pursuits,
and the improvements and expenditures
which may in that time be made, will in
great measure be lost. The people of
Minnesota, am convinced, would gladly
have the right of occupancy secured to
the Indians for fifty years. the term dur
ing which by treaty they are entitled to
receive annuities.
In a former message, suggested the
policy Of cultivating friendly relations
with the Indian tribes within our borders;
and l cannot refrain from again in this
place alluding to the subject. Large
sums are annually disbursed among the
several Indian tribes in Minnesota, and
these sums, entering annually into circu-
lation, furnish an important medium for
trade. The Indians are well disposed to-
wards the whites, and the few offences
committed by them have generally given
as much dissatisfaction 10 their own as to
our people. In savage communities, as
in civilized, Majority of the wrongs
committed may be distinctly traced to the
influence of ardent spirits, which in spite
of the denunciations of law and the disap-
probation of public opinion, are still steal
thily sold to the Indian. am of opinion,
however, that this debasing traffic is at
present carried on to much less extent
than formerly.
The very just order of the Bureau Of
Indian Affairs, transferring from St. Lou
is to this point the future letting of con-
tracts for the supply Of provisions to the
Indian tribes in the Territory, will in
crease the value of our agricultural sur
plus, and favorably affect the whole COM
munity.
The system by which the public lands
shall in future be administered, is sub
ject which at the present time challenges
the fullest attention of American legisla-
tors, and affects more intimately than any
other the interests and convenience Of the
West. congratulate you, gentlemen
upon the improved prospect Of such al
terations in the land legislation Of the
country, as will secure liberal grants for
railroads and other improvements, and
give to each citizen one hundred and six
ty acres of land, upon condition Of occu-
pancy and cultivation of the same.
The general Government, from the
earliest days of its existence, has made
provision for the promotion and protec-
tion of the foreign commerce of the coun-
try by lighthouse systems, by pilot sys-
TENS, by consular systems, and by coast
survey systems. 1t has done this by
naval establishments, by the establish
ment of Notifications, break-waters, sea-
walls, beacons and buoys upon the bays
and harbors of our sea-coast, and by the
systematic encouragement of American
tonnage. In view of the infinitely great.
er value of the internal commerce of the
country, it seems strange that the care o
Government should SO long have beer
principally confined to external affairs, tc
the neglect of interior improvements, moi
within the scope or ability of voluntary
association or of any one State, yet calcu.
lated to unite different sections of the
country, to open better, shorter ane
cheaper way between the producer and
consumer, and TO be also of the highest
advantage to the Government itself.
Channels of transport should posses.
three qualities-certainty, celebrity ant
cheapness. The whole value of so mucl
human labor as is expended in carrying
commodities from one place to another
beyond what is absolutely necessary, is 1
total loss and he who devises and sup
plies cheap routes of transportation is /
public benefactor, standing in the sam'
relation to the commercial world, as d.
those who save property from destruc