Page:Messages and Letters of William Henry Harrison Vol. 1.djvu/55

  it for me; and well I may sure believe that my whole conduct was meant to be guided by moral integrity. A law in addition to the act upon the subject of post offices and post roads has been passed and a post is ordered to go from Louisville to Vincennes and Kaskaskias; a post office is also established at Manchester in the county of Adams. It would have been very desirable to have extended the benefits of this establishment to Detroit, but the great number of additional post roads which were applied for at this session from every state in the Union, has drawn so large upon the post office funds, that I have found it impossible for the present to have it effected; indeed from the want of information upon the subject, I could not say whether the measure would be burthensome to the United States or not. I recommended it to my fellow citizens of that place if they supposed that the emoluments of a post office there would support the expense of conveying the mail, to make an offer to the post master general for taking upon themselves the risk of the establishment; this was done by the people of Vincennes and the Illinois country and as there was no reason to believe that it would not have been done if their loss had been very great; the committee of the House of Representatives adopted their road without hesitation.

A law for the purpose of designating a tract of land upon which the ancient inhabitants of the Illinois, who were entitled to donation, under the act of the 3rd of March, 1791, might locate the same, was passed.

A bill was also reported making a disposition of the salt springs on the public lands and was postponed until the next session.

Several other matters of great importance to our territory were also unavoidably postponed. I regret exceedingly that it was not in my power to procure the passage of a law authorizing the appointment of commissioners for the purpose of adjusting the land terrors in the county of Wayne [Detroit] and for enlarging and ascertaining the boundaries of that county and those of the Mississippi and Wabash; but the great press of business for the last three months of the session rendered it utterly impossible. I was also very desirous to have the territory formed into a separate revenue district and the secretary of the treasury promised to report in favor of it officially to congress; but the multiplicity of his duties