1656.]           OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES.           651

The Susquehanna and Tide Wa- ter Canal pays on the sum of	1,000,000 00
State Tobacco Inspections pay the interest on the sum of	163,689 67
The Baltimore and Ohio Rail- road pays the interest on the sum of (see ch. 104, of 1827; ch. 46, of 1836, and ch. 105, of 1833,)	497,000 00
The Baltimore and Washington Branch Road pays interest from receipts on	500,000 00
The Susquehanna and Tide Wa- ter Canal pay interest on the sum of—the unfunded arrears of interest due by the said . Company,	61,870 00

	3,722,559 67 $7 998,916 02
Leaving the sum of $7,998,916 02 for which the State must provide the interest from her present system of taxation. The Constitution, Art. 3, Sec. 22, directs the pro- ceeds or receips of Internal improvement Companies shall be applied to the pay- ment of the principal and interest of the public debt. To meet the interest falling due in the current year, it is estimated that it will require the sum of $668,000 to be appropriated; this in- cludes the cost of exchange, &c, on Lon- don, and commissions. The amount of the Sinking Fund, as of 30th
September, 1855,	3,426,749 96 $4,572,166 07

In view of this prosperous condition of our finances, and im-
pelled by a sense of justice to a large class of our fellow citizens,
the Committee have adopted the suggestion of the Executive,
and introduced a bill for the repeal of the Stamp Act, which he
has characterized as "odious, and based upon principles at vari-
ance with the generally received theories of taxation; that it is
a tax upon the credit of the citizen, and not upon his worth in
real and personal property, and that it is open to the still further
objection that it operates to a great extent as a restraint upon
trade and commerce." This tax was levied in the dark hour of
public reverses, and at a time when the embarrassments of our