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ment of the ship channel already opened, to facilitate the
easy ingress and egress of Ocean steamers of the heaviest ton-
nage, trading with this market. I am satisfied, from similar
appropriations in other States, with not half the claim to
public utility, that persistent and persevering efforts on the
part of our Representatives in Congress must sooner or later
establish the great value of this improvement in a national
point of view, in connection with our Naval Marine, besides
contributing to the general prosperity of the State of Mary-
land.

IMMIGRATION.

The first Annual Report of the Commissioner of Immigra-
tion will shew the operations of that Department during the
past year.

Much important information has been collected and dis-
tributed by the officer in charge, both at home and abroad,
showing the prominent commercial advantages of the State of
Maryland.

The Commissioner has availed, himself of the Report pre-
pared by order of the House of Delegates, in 1865, on the re-
sources of Maryland; the Report of the Comptroller, showing
our financial condition, and the Report of the State Board of
Public Instruction, all of which he has distributed through-
out the Northern and Eastern States, from whence immigra-
tion chiefly flows. This has been attended with good results,
but not to the extent that he could have anticipated from-the
multiplicity of letters addressed to him, attributable, it is be-
lieved, to the unsettled condition of our national affairs. He
has also made a vigorous effort towards securing a direct im-
migration from foreign countries, and particularly the Ger-
man States, of the agricultural classes. In this he has had to
contend with settled prejudices, and a general preference for
the Western States, owing to the efforts for a number of years
of agents from these States, aided by a free command of capi-
tal. A great amount of valuable information has been Col-
lected and distributed in the German language, with promise
of a good return. He has already had the promise of hearty
co-operation from abroad, and in one of the letters received
from his German correspondents, he has been notified that a
number of families with a capital of from $600 to $1,500
each, are preparing to leave in the spring for a permanent set-
tlement in Maryland.

The arivals in Baltimore since March last have been 9,299
immigrants, mostly destined for the West. These have all
been visited on their arrival in port.

Through the agency of this Department exclusively, 178
were induced to change their destination and remain in Ma-