NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



535 



taken out and reduced, that has produced four 

 hundred and sixteen thousand two hundred 

 and fifteen dollars ($416,215) in silver bul- 

 lion. They had on hand, stored at their ore- 

 house, at the mill, four hundred tons of ore, 

 and at their ore-house on the mine, one hun- 

 dred tons more, estimated to yield a half mil- 

 lion dollars in bullion. 



The ore is mostly a chloride of silver, and 

 consists largely of that class known as horn sil- 

 ver, and produces bullion of the highest grade, 

 ranging from nine hundred to nine hundred 

 and eighty-five fine. No trace of gold has been 

 found in the bullion. As the ore is already a 

 chloride, it requires no roasting, and can be 

 reduced at one-half the cost that is usually in- 

 curred in reducing the ores. The first thirty 

 days' run of the company's mill, which has but 

 ten stamps, produced one hundred and forty- 

 eight thousand two hundred and seventy-eight 

 dollars in bullion ($148,278). 



NEW HAMPSHIRE. The public affairs of 

 this State during the year 1868 have continued 

 to flow in their regular course, yet showing 

 a marked tendency to general prosperity. This 

 seems deducible from the reports of the State 

 officers on the matters belonging to their several 

 departments, and chiefly from the message de- 

 livered by Governor Harriman to both Houses 

 of the Legislature, at the opening of the session 

 on June 4, 1868. 



The sound financial condition of the State 

 appears from the fact that her bonds are easily 

 disposed of at par, and even above it. Of her 

 whole debt, amounting on June 1, 1867, to 

 $3,747,776.98, the sum of $260,364.98 was paid 

 in the following year, so that it now remains 

 at $3,487,411.97. This includes the floating 

 debt, which has been reduced to less than 

 $400,000. Other bills to the amount of some 

 $15,000 were also paid during the same period, 

 which had accrued before June, 1867, but were 

 presented for adjustment afterward, and there 

 are at present no matured bills outstanding. 

 The Governor anticipates that the State debt 

 will be lessened this year at least $300,000 

 more. And, as the above-mentioned $260,- 

 364.98 had been paid on it in 1868, notwith- 

 standing the State tax was $125,000 less than 

 the year before, he suggests for 1869 " a further 

 reductionin the tax to be assessed of $100,000." 

 The State, county, and town debts amount 

 in the aggregate to $11,000,000, paying interest 

 at the rate of six per cent, per annum. 



On account of bounties advanced by the cit- 

 ies and towns of New Hampshire during the 

 late civil war, the General Government had paid 

 last year to the State $58,245. Efforts are now 

 made to obtain the small balance which re- 

 mains due. The sum of $14,000 was also re- 

 ceived from the Federal Government, in part 

 payment for uniforms purchased by the State 

 for her militia, and the rest will be allowed on 

 the presentation of the required evidence which 

 is now being collected. The Governor avers : 

 " We have received a larger per cent, on our 



whole war claim than has been allowed to any 

 other State." 



Concerning the present organization of tho 

 volunteer militia, its number, equipment, and 

 discipline, the distribution of its companies in- 

 to^different localities within the State, and tho 

 utility derived from its service to the whole 

 community, the Governor refers wjth satisfac- 

 tion to the report of the Adjutant-General. 

 " The report gives a clear and practical view of 

 the volunteer militia. It is many years since 

 we have had so efficient and reliable a force in 

 our State. The military force comprises thirty 

 companies, which will be formed into three re- 

 giments before the next annual encampment. 

 The uniforms and equipments for the whole 

 force are new and in good condition, and are 

 all paid for. By a change made in the military 

 law last year, it is made the duty of the Quar- 

 termaster-General to furnish transportation for 

 the troops when they go into encampments, 

 instead of allowing each person five cents a 

 mile each way for travelling-fees. Under this 

 arrangement there will be a great saving of 

 expense under the head of mileage. The cost 

 of maintaining the State militia will now be 

 very small as compared with last year. 



u The beauty of our military system is in its 

 efficiency and its small expense. With us, one 

 person performs the duties of adjutant, quarter- 

 master, inspector, commissary, and surgeon- 

 general. There is no other State where more 

 than two of these five positions are filled by 

 one individual. The only compensation of our 

 officers and privates is one dollar and fifty 

 cents a day while on duty." 



Besides military matters of present practical 

 interest, the greatest part of the Adjutant- 

 General's report some four hundred pages is 

 devoted to a military history of New Hamp- 

 shire from 1812 to 1861, a former report having 

 treated the same subject from her first settle- 

 ment as an English colony in 1623 to 1812. 

 This last-named period is referred to by the 

 Governor in his present message, stating that 

 the first volume, containing the provincial rec- 

 ords from 1623 to 1686, was published and dis- 

 tributed last year in obedience to the order of 

 the Legislature ; that the second volume, a con- 

 tinuation of the history of the Province from 

 1686 to 1710, is now in press; and that "ma- 

 terials for the third volume are in course of 

 preparation." The military history of New- 

 Hampshire, from its beginning in the seven- 

 teenth century to the present time, will be thus 

 complete. By an act of the Legislature, ap- 

 proved July 4th, 2,500 copies of the Adjutant- 

 General's report were ordered " to be procured 

 for the use of the State." 



A work of eminent public utility to New- 

 Hampshire, namely, the revision, amendment, 

 and codification of the general statutes, ordered 

 by the Legislature in 1865, was finished last year 

 by those to whom its execution had been in- 

 trusted. The Governor expresses his gratifi- 

 cation that "the great body of the public laws has. 



