MESSAGE.

Fellow-citizens of the Senate

and House of Delegates :

It affords me unfeigned pleasure to welcome you again to
the Legislative Halls of your State, and to unite with you in

grateful acknowledgments to a beneficent Providence, for the
ounties which have so auspiciously crowned the events of the
past year.

For the merciful interposition which has saved us from
threatened pestilence; for the marked and healthy reaction
which has so promptly succeeded the ravages of a wasting
war; for the activity which has revived every department of
labor and industry; for the unprecedented success which has
attended our great works of internal improvement; for the
steady advance in all the avenues of progress and develop-
ment; for the extension of the means of education and moral
culture; in short for the general prosperity and happiness
which every where reigns within our borders, we have reason
to be thankful to the Great Disposer of events, in whose hands
are our hopes of the future, and our destinies as a people.

At no period in the history of our State, have you assem-
bled under circumstances of greater encouragement, or more
weighty responsibility. Let us indulge the hope, that a wise
statesmanship may guide you in the discharge of the onerous
duties upon which you are entering, and that your labors,
tempered always by justice and moderation, may redound to
the lasting benefit of our beloved Commonwealth.

THE FINANCES.

I have the satisfaction to announce to you the continued
prosperous condition of the Treasury. On the 30th of Sep-
tember last, the close of the fiscal year, as will appear by the
Comptroller's Exhibit, the total receipts into the Treasury
have been $3,325,507.94, which added to the balance in the
Treasury on September 30th, 1865, will make the aggregate
in the Treasury during the fiscal year $3,758,439.94.

The total disbursements during the same period have been
$3,390,617.58, leaving a balance of $367,816.36. To this is
to be added the balance to the credit of the School Fund,
$7,698.77, and Sinking Fund, $238,761.71