VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS, NOVEMBER SESSION, 1805. 113

That the said Alexander Contee Hanson, while holding these important offices, rendered, at intervals, what
he intended as public services, by imparting, in various publications to his fellow-citizens, the result of his
reflections on points of governmental policy, and in particular by an able defence of the system of general go-
vernment, (then on its trial, ) under which the people of the United States now live.

That the said Alexander Contee Hanson, during the whole of his aforesaid service, received a salary barely
equal to the support and education of his rising family, and was debarred by the constitution and laws of the
state from engaging in any profitable pursuits, to which his course of life might otherwise have led him; that
he had in "consequence acquired no property beyond personal effects of inconsiderable value, although he at all
times observed and maintained a rigid economy in his expences; and that he has left his family absolutely de-
stitute of the means of subsistence, for the truth of which melancholy fact, your memorialist challenges any
investigation that your honours may think proper to direct. That to go beyond this general statement, your
disconsolate memorialist, the widow of a man of high station and character, accustomed to share with him those
comforts and decencies of life, which his merit and labours enabled him to procure, afflicted in a degree that
leaves her no power of exertion, even if any profitable exertion could be expected from a helpless woman, long
labouring under a severe indisposition, is at the present moment unprovided with the means of procuring the
most indispensable articles of subsistence, so as to get through the inclement season of the year, at which she
is thus left destitute of support and comfort.

That she throws herself therefore upon the justice and magnanimity of the state of Maryland, of which her
deceased husband has so long been the faithful and approved servant; trusting, that when a man of acknow-
ledged merit and usefulness has worn out his life in the public service, and has been taken from his family with-
out. a moment's warning, that family will not be suffered to fall immediately into a state of indecent indigence,
interrupting and violating the feelings due to the lost husband and father, exaggerating afflictions that are in-
capable of increase, except by the pressure of want, from which nature cannot in any circumstances but recoil
with additional horror, and stamping with contempt and ridicule those qualifications, and that public integrity,
which, notwithstanding the temporary respect they receive, cannot avert so deplorable an issue.

Your memorialist therefore prays, that your honours would take her truly distressed case into your most se-
rious consideration, and that you would assist her to bear her irreparable loss with that patience which is her
only resource, and to keep together her afflicted family, until a season more favourable for other arrangements,
by directing that the salary attached to the office held by her late husband be continued until the next annual
meeting of the general assembly, or by granting her such other relief as in your wisdom shall be deemed proper
and expedient; and your memorialist shall ever pray.

ORDERED, That Mr. Stephen, Mr. Shaaff and Mr. Lloyd, be a committee to consider and report thereon:

ORDERED, That the committee of claims allow to John Trueman, door-keeper to the house of delegates, the
sum of sixty dollars, for taking care of the chamber and furniture belonging to this house during the recess of
the legislature.

ORDERED, That the committee of claims allow to Edward Roberts, messenger of the senate, the sum of
fifty dollars for his trouble in taking care of the senate chamber and furniture thereof during the recess of the
general assembly, and that the same be placed on the journal of accounts.

ORDERED, That the committee of claims allow to the reverend Mr. Wyatt the sum of one hundred dollars,
for this services as chaplain during the present session, and that the same be placed on the journal of accounts.

The following resolution was read the first and second time by especial order and assented to.

RESOLVED, That the treasurer of the western shore pay to the examiner general of the western shore such
sum, in addition to his fees for the present year, as shall amount to the sum of three hundred pounds current
money, and the examiner general shall lay before the next general assembly the amount of fees by him re-
ceived in this year, on oath.

The report on the petition of Ariana French, and others, was read the second time; on motion, the questi-
on was put, That the following be added to the resolution therein contained, viz. " provided, that nothing in
the above resolution shall operate to pass or release the interest of the state of Maryland to any of the above
lands, or any part thereof, now held or claimed by any person, except the persons named in the said resolution. "
Resolved in the affirmative.

The question was then put,. that the house concur with the said report, and assent to the resolution therein?
The yeas and nays being required, appeared as follow:

AFFIRMATIVE.

Hebb, Merriken, Lemmon, Jackson, Hall, Shaaff, Turpin, Yates,
Hater, Mercer, Harryman, Cox, Contee, Kuhn, Ellicott, Carroll,
Scott, Dorsey, Lloyd, Porter, Callis, Montgomery, Stephen, Bruce,
Hanson, Ogden, Dickinson, Van-Horn, Muir, Bayard, Bowles, Tomlinson. 33.

Hurtt,

NEGATIVE.

Gale, R. Mackall, M'Pherson, Sturgis, Forwood, Smith, Watts, Linthicum. 14.
Holland, B. Mackall, Hyland, Bishop, Ayres, Selby,

So it was resolved in the affirmative.
Mr. Callis, from the committee, delivers to the speaker the following report: