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274

[1825]

[Governors Message]

veyed to the State by the town of Portland, free of expense so long as it shall be occupied as the site for an Arsenal. An Agent was thereupon appointed to carry the Resolve into effect, under whose superintendance [superintendence] a building of brick has been erected, seventy five feet in length, and thirty two feet wide, and two stories on hieght [height]. The building is believed to be firm and substantial, and of sufficient size to hold all the military stores of the State, except the carriages for the heavy ordnance, and such of the ammunition as it is proper should be secured in the magazine. The expense of the building, finished according to the contract made with the agent, is nineteen hundred and fifty six dollars, which sum has been paid out of the appropriation for this purpose, leaving a small balance unexpended of the appropriation remaining in the hands of the agent, for which he will account in his settlement with the Legislature.

The subject of the Militia must ever be of high interest to this State. An institution which has rendered such important services, both before and since the establishment of our National Government, and upon which we shall ever rely as our greatest security against foreign invasion, should be encouraged rather than neglected. There has been an anxious expectation that Congress would exercise the power vested in that body, of providing for the organization of the Militia; but that expectation having been altogether disappointed, it remains for the State Legislatures to determine whether this important branch of our public defence is to be so improved as to be made capable of rendering adequate