356 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [Feb. 12,

AMENDMENT PROPOSED.

Strike out the first section and insert in lieu thereof the
following .

WHEREAS, In the summer of 1864, a raid was made into
Maryland by the Confederate Army under the command of
General McCausland, in which the city of Hagerstown, in
Washington county of said State was threatened to be burned
by said McCausland, unless a large sum of money and a large
amount of clothing should be advanced to the said McCaus-
land as indemnity for the security of the said city from
destruction.

AND WHEREAS, The Mayor and Council of said city and its
inhabitants did pay the money and furnish the clothing so
required by the said McCausland, to save the said city from
the threatened calamity, the entire amount of which has
since been assumed by the said Mayor and and Council, thus
making it a formidable debt to the said city.

AND WHEREAS, The said county of Washington owns val-
uable property in said city, viz: a Court House, a jail, and
an almshouse, which would inevitably have been destroyed
with the city had it been burned, and should consequently
and as a matter of sheer justice assume its proper and equit-
able share of the debt incurred for its safety from destruction;
therefore,

SECTION 1. Be, and it is hereby enacted by the General Assem-
bly of Maryland, That the Board of Commissioners of said
county be empowered, at their discretion, to assess the said
property owned by said county in said city, equitably, and in
a ratio with the value of other property within the corpora-
tion of said city, and to pay annually on the amount of said
assessment, a pro rata sum equivalent to that paid by other
property in said city, corresponding to its relative value, to-
wards the interest of the debt incurred by the causes above
recited; and also, if they deem proper, an equitable and pro-
rata sum, annually, to the Sinking Fund, established or
which may be established for the final extinguishment of the
debt by the said Mayor and City Council of Hagerstown ;
and further, that the said Commissioners of Washington
county be empowered to levy an annual tax for carrying out
the purposes of this bill, or pay the same out of any money
not otherwise appropriated.

The Senate amendment was adopted, and the bill, as amend-
ed, passed by yeas and nays as follow :

	AFFIRMATIVE.
Messrs. Miller, Speaker, Williams,	Steiner, Bamford, Appleman,	Whiteford, Wilson, Spicer,