996 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [Mar. 25,

REPORT.

The Committee of Ways and Means, to whom was referred

the special message of His Excellency, Governor Bowie, of
the 15th of March instant, relating to the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal, pray leave to report to the House of Delegates

that they have given to the questions treated of by the Gov-
ernor, careful consideration. They agree fully with the
Governor that the interests of the Company and of the State
have been seriously prejudiced by the mode of administering
the affairs of the Canal through a long series of years; its
control having been swayed by the fluctuating schemes of po-
litical partizans, instead of having been guided by an en-
lightened and zealous regard for the development of trade
and the advancement of the pecuniary interests of the stock-

holders and creditors of the work. The State of Maryland,
by the force of circumstances, has insensibly been drawn into
the position of a large private proprietor. Her proper atti-
tude, at all times, should have been that of patron and pro-
moter of works of internal improvement. It is eminently
desirable that at the earliest moment she wtuld resume her
proper attitude, and ceasing1 to be a private owner of gainful
property, act as the guardian of the interests of her citizens
and a leader among her sister States in the development of

commercial and industrial enterprise.

It had been fondly hoped by these entrusted to frame the
organic law of the State, that the structure of the Board of
Public Works was such that its members would be so far
removed by the diversities in the manner of their appoint-
ment, from the casualties of partizan politics, that consis-
tency of policy and permanence of administration in respect
to the internal improvements of the State would/be insured.
But it being conceded by the message of the Governor, in
effect, that such a result cannot be anticipated, and he having
recommended that means be devised to remedy the evils in

the management of the Canal, arising, first, from partizan
control, and, second, from constant change of administration,

and agreeing with him in the general proposition, that those
who have a property interest, rather than those who have a
rtizan or local interest in the work, may most safely be en-
trusted with its management, the Committee have {endeav-
ored to form a plan of administration which will accomplish
that end, while it avoids the legal and constitutional difficul-
ties which prevent the adoption of the particular plan sug-
gested in the special message.

The primary charter of the Canal Company was granted

by the State of Virginia on the 27th of January, 1824, and
to the terms of that charter we must look for the law regu-
lating the management of the work. By that charter the