538           JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS.              [Feb. 29,

rise the construction of a Branch to the Liberty and Franklin
Plank or Turnpike Road.               

Mr. Frazier, Chairman of the Committee on Claims, reported
that said committee have examined the accounts of the Comp-
troller from the 1st of October 1853, to the 24th February 1854,
inclusive, and find them correct.

Also a bill entitled, a further supplement to the act passed at
December session 1825, chapter 62, entitled, an act to provide
for the public instruction of youth in Primary Schools throughout
this State, so far as the same relates to Dorchester county;

Which was read the first time.                          

And a bill entitled, an act for the benefit of Moor N. Falls,
President of the Company owning the Steamboat Herald, for ser-
vices rendered the State;                                             

Which was read the first time,                    

The order of the evening being,

The Resolution on the subject of slavery, offered by Mr.
Wickes, February 14th, 1856;                                       

Which were read the second time.             

Mr. Hall offered the following as a substitute:

Rooked by the General Assembly of Maryland, That we con-
sider the Constitution of the United States as the palladium of
our rights, clearly defining and properly guarding the peculiar
and varied interests of every section of the Confederacy, and
wisely adapting its policy to a combination of those interests for
the general welfare; and that we regard any infringement upon
that policy, direct or implied, as a blow struck at the peace and
harmony of the Union, to be deplored and resisted by all good
citizens, and as the harbinger of evil, to be deprecated by the
friends of freedom throughout the world.

Resolved, That asserting the principles and policy of the Fa-
thers of the Revolution, the sovereignty of the Stales, patriotic
devotion to the Union, and an abiding confidence in the integrity
and virtue of the people, we are opposed to the systematic or any
further agitation of the subject of slavery, as elevating sectional
hostility into political power, and thereby endangering the peace
of the country, and the perpetuity of the Union.

Resolved, That in the days of the Revolution, Maryland freely
contributed her treasure and the blood of her sons for the achieve-
ment of national independence, and, since the adoption of the
Federal Constitution, she has ever advocated a faithful observance
of all its provisions, and earnestly resisted every assault made