178 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [June 6,

The undersigned made as thorough an examination of the
condition of things on the Maryland mountain opposite Har-
per's Ferry as the pressure of circumstances, and the almost
inaccessible nature of the mountain and its approaches would
admit of. The top of the mountain he found occupied by
four or five hundred Virginia troops, who had cut down
four or five acres of the small and indifferent timber
which clothes the summit of the mountain, for the apparent
purpose of constructing huts for their temporary shelter, and
about the same space of land had been burnt over by acciden-
tal contact of the dried leaves with the camp fires, as your
commissioner supposed. That as soon as he had investigated
all the complaints, he returned to Richmond and reached
there on Wednesday, the 29th ult., when the authorities
were engrossed with the pressing duties arising from the
reception of the President and Government of the Confederate
States of America; that on the evening of the 30th he had a
short interview with Governor Letcher, and brought to his
notice the object of his mission, and the specific acts of ag-
gression complained of in the entrance upon our soil by the
troops of Virginia.

The Governor was understood to say that he would apply
to the commanding officer at Harper's Ferry for information
on the subject, and would be prepared to reply more fully
when the report of that officer was received, but he begged
me to convey to your honorable body the distinct and earnest
assurance that if at any time the military forces of Virginia
should trespass upon and temporarily occupy the soil of
Maryland, it could only be justified by the pressing exigency
of a military necessity in defence and protection of her own
soil from threatened or actual invasion, and certainlv with no
hostile intent towards the citizens of the State of Maryland,
and that any and all damages to person or property conse-
quent upon such alleged trespass or occupation should be
fully and liberally compensated for. He left with the Gov-
ernor, at his request, a copy of the resolutions aforesaid, and
the letter of Mr. Biggs, and regrets that the distracted state
of the country and the uncertainty of communication com-
pelled him to leave Richmond on Saturday morning in order
to be present at the reassembling of your honorable body, and
before he bad received a definite reply from the Governor of
Virginia. That as soon as he receives any further communi-
cation from him he will make- a further report to your hon-
orable body. Your commissioner may be permitted to re-
mark that the people of the western counties of the State
adjacent to the canal are much interested in preserving from