Preamble.

steamers under the command of the said military,
and carried away from the service of said owners
by said military, so that their service was totally
lost to said owners, and very few of the said loyal
owners have ever received any compensation for
slave volunteers so enlisted or for service so lost ;
and whereas, by the twenty-fourth Article of the
Declaration of Rights of the Constitution of this
State, which went into full operation on the first
day of November, in the year eighteen hundred
and sixty-four, all persons held to service or labor
as slaves in tins State were thereby declared to be
free; and whereas, no compensation for the incon-
veniences, public and private, produced by such
changes of system has been made by giving to
this State pecuniary aid according to the faith of
the Federal Government solemnly pledged by the
joint resolutions aforesaid; and whereas, the Gen-
eral Assembly of Maryland by joint resolutions
passed at this present session has resolved that the
State of Maryland has a good, valid and just claim
upon the Government of the United States for rea-
sonable and adequate compensation for the said
property, and that it ought not to be doubted that
the Federal Government, when the passions excit-
ed by the late unhappy civil war shall have sub-
sided, will recognize the justice of the said claims
and faithfully perform her manifest duty in regard
to it, and further, that the General Assembly
ought to provide by law for the taking and perpet-
uating the evidence of the number and value of
the persons held to labor and service as aforesaid,
by the loyal citizens of Maryland, and so as afore-
said, discharged from such service (and labor:
therefore

Governor to
appoint Com-
missioners of
Slave Statis-
tics.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly
of Maryland, That the Governor, by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate and previous to
the adjournment of the present session, shall ap-
point one person of suitable character and ability,
resident in each county of the State, and one in
Baltimore city, who shall be styled a Commission-
er of slave statistics, and who before entering upon
the discharge of his duties hereinafter described,
shall give bond in the sum of five thousand dol-
lars to be approved by the Clerk of the Circuit