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State pride and State policy, involved in the principles pro
mulged in the communication of His Excellency, to permit
it to go forth to the world with the sanction which the si-
lence of this Legislature would give it. It has been, to
your committee, a matter of deep regret, that a time so un-
propitious as the present, when the condition of our finan-
ces renders the credit and resources of (he State unavaila-
ble, should have been selected by the chief executive offi-
cer of the State government, to anticipate her ways and
means, and to connect with a display of her embarrass-
ments, to the hopelessness of relief.
It is, therefore, with the intent mainly of proclaiming to
the people of this State, that their representatives in this
General Assembly are unwilling to concur with the execu-
tive, in the surrender of claims which our forefathers as-
serled and maintained in the darkest period of the struggle
by which that claim was established, and with the further
design of renewing the declaration of rights in relation to
the public domain, which the State of Maryland has here-
tofore published, and which her representatives can never
abandon, that your committee recommend for the adoption,
the following resolutions.
JOHN M. S. CAUSIN, Chairman.
WILLIAM H. TUCK,
I. D. JONES,
WM. LINGAN GAITHER,
EDWARD A. LYNCH.
BENJAMIN C. PRESSTMAN,
JAMES L. MARTIN, Dissenting.
Resolved by the General Assembly of Maryland, That the
Public Lands are the common property of the several States
of this Union, acquired by the common blood and common
treasure, and held by the Federal Government, in trust lor
the common use and benefit.
Resolved, That the uses for which the disposition of the
proceeds of sale of the Public Lands was originally entrus-
ted to the Federal Government, have been fulfilled; and
that they ought to be distributed among the several States.
Resolved, That the Public Lands were never conveyed
to, or acquired by the Federal Government, for the purpo-
ses of ordinary revenue, but in trust only for the use men-
tioned in the cessions for the several States, and the terms
of acceptance by the Federal Government.
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