282 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [Feb. 24,

ing in a representative capacity, to regard the interests of
their constituency, who, in the exercise of a high confidence,
have reposed such trusts in their hands. The requirements
from the Treasury to meet this demand, would probably not
be less than a million of dollars, to which large sum the
Comptroller, in his report, has suggested that the Legisla-
ture should add, by an extension of the provisions of the Acts
of 1864 and 1865, to the volunteers and drafted men of 1861,
1862, and of a large part of 1863.

The object of these and kindred laws, was to secure enlist-
ments for the United States—to supply the quotas of Mary-
land, and by placing it in the power of our citizens to procure
substitutes, principally without the limits of the State, re-
tain their own services, so important at such time, to keep
up production, and to prevent the waste of her rich 'agricul-
tural resources, already so seriously impaired by the loss of
her slave labor. The policy was a wise one, and to it, in no
small degree, is due the result, that though Maryland met
every demand of the Federal Government for men, she hus-
banded the lives of her own citizens, and but few of those
who added to her productive labor have been lost. The
rolls of the Adjutant General's office show that the number
of those whom it is proposed thus to make provision for,
amount in the aggregate to 13,794, which would make a
demand on the Treasury for nearly four millions of dollars.
This large amount, added to the million of dollars that would
probably be required to meet the provisions of the Act of
1867, chapter 372, and the $1,151,000 which it is proposed
to provide for, would swell the addition to the permanent
debt incurred by the war, from $601,000 to $6,151,000, and
entail on our posterity a debt, which would neither com-
mend our wisdom, or secure their gratitude. The effect of
such a policy, too, in making it necessary to place upon our
people heavy additional taxation, will be to induce many of
those who have located within our borders, to seek other
homes, and act as a blight to the prospects of our State,
which have looked to the development of her resources by
the encouragement of immigration. It would make it neces-
sary for the State to deal out education with a stinting hand:
to her children—disappoint in this respect the cherished
expectations of her people, and paralize the hopes, which
regard the cultivation of her intellectual wealth, as the
surest and most solid basis of her growth and prosperity.
Your Committee venture the hope that such suggestions will
not meet the approbation of this General Assembly. Such
legislation is uncalled for, unwise and unnecessary. The
demands on the Treasury to pay the bounties already ordered
under the Acts of 1864 and 1865, and still outstanding, have
been estimated by the Comptroller, among the probable dig-