Litchfield enquirer., 1875-05-13

Nr. Preside,f end Gessftenaen of the
 General AssembIy:-
 In assuming for another term the duties ] of the afiee:f0s azielsI lAzs& kkAn nehesepd desire, in this presence, to express my grat- itHde to the people of Connecticut, and to 1 invoke the Divine favor upon their gov ernment now formally inangurated. The year that las elapsed since I last addressed the General Assembly has not brought to the business of the country that revival from the effects of the reyul- | sion of the previous year, which was at that time hoped for. Nevertheless, we have reason to be grateful that so many branches of the diversified industry of our | own state have been successfully main tained, and that employment, during a ! winter of unusual severity. has not been so seriously interfered with as was, at the | beginning of that season, apprehended. The lapse of time, however, hasoperated advantageously in this: 1t has done much to dlspel the dangerous illusion that the country needs, as a stimulant, an addi- tlonal issue of an already discredited cur rency, and to bring into clearer view the more unwelcome truth, that patient in dustry can alone satisfy the penalty past excesses are now exacting of our people.
 Confidence is needed. But there is no surer way to restore confidence than by truly approaching the causes which have led to its failure. And to this, 1t seems to me, the public mind is surely tending. We already look back upon the period of our civil war and the years which have been under the influence of its passions as however, historically brilliant. still, as af- fecting our industrial habits and social life, exceptionally and abnormally ;and with new century of national existence, we are turning with hope to the future of a peaceful Uniu.,, VI iUi. eoIf-s s5U nl1I.S alone secure, as the true source Of healthy prosperity to every part and real power to the common nation.
 Noticeably IS this tendency of public opinion manifested in it's sensitiveness to official conduct. Never was official life more closely scrutinized or judgment up on 1t more independently formed-not for mere purposes of partizan advantage, 1t seems to ne, but rather, in conscious ness of the grave problems of civil admin istration before us, for the encouragement of those qualities which the popular in stinct perceiyes are absolutely necessary in our changed condition, and for the re- probation of those abuses which naturally thrive in periods of disturbance when ex- penditure Is lavish, public confidence generous, and popular scrutiny diverted by the fascination of personal adventure
 The tendency Is manifested also in the public impatience of any administrative policy looking to the government of any portion of the country by military force, or in any other way than that to which the American people have always been accus- toned in time of peace. The presence of armed soldiers in the legislative hall of the state of Louisiana, for the avowed pur- pose of determining who should sit there as members of the law-making body, shocked the whole country, not only by it's bold violation of those intuitive notions of constitutional liberty common to the American people and of every cherished political sentiment traditional in their his tory, but by the uncertainty and alarm to which 1t exposed the future. destroying that confidence which had begun to grow in the re-development of the industrial re- sources of the old slaveholding states and the prospect of reviying out of 1t the com mercial intercourse so advantageous in former times. Popular estimation, even now, probably underrates the losses of those states by the waste of war and the spoliations of political adventurers since, but the stronger becomes the reason why, when their interests are so entwined with the interests of the other states as they are now, their efforts to repair those losses should be encouraged by the common sympathy, generously, if not t'induIgently. And unless our system of government is a failure, l know of no surer means of such to the guidance of their own self interest, nndnP fhn constitution of fhn TTnI$a1 States, with intelligence and ignorance. morality and vice, to take the same chances that have to be taken in all the other states of our Union.
 Governmental action can do little, by and of itself, to create commercial conf dence. But 1t can do much to aId or retard it as it grows in a community. And 1t can do much now in aiding the public mind to turn from the dead controversies of the past to the living necessities confronting us. Regarding, as have heretofore had occasion to say, the provision of a sound currency as the very first step to be taken in the direction of permanent prosperity, l hope for beneficial influence from tie Congressional legislation of the last ses- sion, so far as 1t commits the govermn- ment to the policy of resuming specie pay ments by fixed day, however remote.
 THE STATE GOVERNMENT.
 During the few months that have elaps- ed since the adj journment of the last Gen. eral Assembly, but little has occurred af- fecting peculiarly the affairs of our state government.
 r,..s FINANcTs-
 The present fiscal year commences with seven hundred and seventy-one thousand five hundred and forty-four dollars and forty-one cents (S771. .5A. .42) in the Trea- sury.
 The reveune of the state during the last year has amounted to one million six hun dred and fifty-four thousand two hundred and eighty-seyen dollarsa nd sixty cents ($1, ,654. 2S7.60), derived from the following sources: fs<@H+- @5
 State taxes from towns. ... S423.IA OT Taxes from Savings Banks. -. 434, ,326 43
 '' Mutual Ins. Compauies S72, STA 84
 '' '' Railroad Companies.. 2S6, ,57O 19
 a |. Foreign Ins. Companies 23,214 10
 .. ss Express & Telegraph Co.'S. 2,767 66
 '' non resident stockholders. 3e, ,6o2 S9 Receipts from Ins. Comr. 19.722 O9
 forfeited bonds. &e...- 24, ,357 52