The pilot and transcript. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1840-1841, 1841-01-01
Gentlemen otthe Senate,
and Of the House of Delegates.

| Gentlemen Of the Senate,
ana o. the House Of Delegates.
Since your last session, no material change
has taken place IN the financial affairs of the
as additional details will be found in the annual
report OF the Treasurer, it is only necessary for
| me 70 give general statement Of their present
condition F-'
The debt of the State is now fifteen millions.
one hundred and nire thousand dollars; but
when the stock, authorised by existing laws,
shall have been all issued, it will amount IN &c.
teen millions, three hundred and forty-six thou
sand. 90
The sinking fund, which, last year, was one
million, thirteen thousand, three hundred and Sc =
venty-two dollars, has been increased to one mil
lion seventy-six thousand, five hundred and thirty
three dollars
For the year, ending the first day of the pre-
sent month, the revenue, exclusive of sums re-
| ceived from internal Improvement companies.
| and OF those drawn from the special deDosits
amounted to S255, SIG ;and the disbursements, ex-
elusive of payments to these companies, and
ofthe interest on the public debt, to $3.50, 46S;
ana TINS statement shows the amount of the or
binary revenue and expenditures
The whole receipts Of that year Amounted To
sS42, 237; and all the expenditures to ss45,2Ss.
which sum includes the payment of $685., Si9 on
account of interest of the public debt.
According to the estimate of the Treasurer
tne demands on the treasury, for the present
year, will amount to 1927 900, and the receipts
to S3O6, 905; which leave deficiency of rather
more than 100000. The surplus revenue, now
remaining on deposite, is Sl49,000, which being
deducted from the estimated deficiency, will
leave balance, to be provided fer, of S470, 900;
and after the present year, the annual deficiency
will be six hundred thousand, dollars.
This being the condition of the treasury, it is
easier to perceive the necessity of making some
provision to support the credit of the State, than
to suggest such measures as will accomplish
that object without being oppressive to the peo-
pie.
In some of the states, deposition has been
manifested to rely upon the general government
tor the payment of their debts; AID TO claim for
that purpose, the proceeds of the public lands
1t is csntended that these lands were ceded to
the general government, to be applied to the
payment OF the national debt; and that the debt
having been paid, the states are new entitled to
the revenue arising from that source.
a statement of the principal facts connected
with this question, will show that the States
have no Just claim to the revenue arising from
the sale of the public land, and that they would
derive but little benefit from it, if they had
AT the commencement of the revolutionary
war, Virginia, New York, Massachusetts,, South
and North Carolina, Georgia and Connecticut,
severally claimed such portions of the Western
country as were included within their respective
LIMITS, and subsequently ceded them to the U
States Tor the common benefit of the Union.-
Previous to the cession, Congress had given a
pledge, "that the unappropriated lands which
might be ceded or relinquished to the U. States,
BY any particular state, should be disposed of
for the common benefit of the United States
and be settled and formed into distinct republic
can states"
The cessions were accordingly made, and it
was stipulated in the Virginia deed, that the land
coded, sFshould he considered a common fund for
the use and benefit of such of the United States
as have become, or shall become, members of
the confederation, according to their usual res
pective proportions in the general charge and
expenditure, and shall be faithfully and bona
tde disposed Of for that purpose, for and no
other use or purpose whatsoever"
The deeds from North Carolina and Georgia
contain the same conditions as that of Virgini !;
while the other states relnquished their titles in
more general terms, for the common benefit of
the Union. When the cession was made by Vir-
ginia, Congress had no power seto Law and col
lect taxes, duties and imposts," but was obliged
todepend upon the state governm, nts, for sst6eir
respective proportions OF the general charge and
expenditure" The public lands, in yielding
revenue to the general Cover nment, relieved the
States to the SAM extent, from their respective
proportions OF the general charge; and formed a
common fund FOR the benefit of all the members
| OF the confederation, according to the obvious
meaning of the Virginia deed.
| 10 consider the United States as having no
other right to the Western territory besides that
which was derived from the deeds of cession is
to place the subject in point of view the most
favorable to the claims recently set up in behalf
OF the states, But to understand the question
properly, 1t is necessary to consider the prior
claims of the United States and also the circum-
stances under which Virginia and other states
relinguished their titles
From the earliest settlement of the colonies,
controversies existed among them, respecting
their territorial limits; which interfered with
each other on the Atlantic coast, and with the
| pretenslons OF France and Spain, in running
westwardly to the Mississippi river and the
South sea. BY the treaty of 1863, the Western
claims OF Great Britain were limited to the Mis-
slsslppl; and the extensive territory, claimed by
France, to the eastward of that river, was ceded
to the British crown After the declaration of
Independence, it was contended by some of the
States, particularly Rhode Island, New Jersey,
Delaware, and Maryland, that the Crown lands,
| sif wrested from the common enemy by the
blood and treasure Of the thirteen States, ought
| to be deemed common property, subject to the
! disposition of Congress, for the general good"
Maryland protested against the exclusive
CLAIMS OF the large States, and insisted that the
| country, unsettled at the commencement of the
war, claimed by the British crown, ana ceded to
1t by the treaty of Paris, should be considered a
| common property, subject to be parcelled out by
Congress into free, convenient and independent
| States.o
The large States differed among themselves,
as to their respective limits, and each claimed a
largerporton of territory than the rest were will
ling to allow. The claims of the Union were
derived from the conquest of the disputed terrific
ry by means of the common force, and frem the
treaty of peace, under which all the rights of G.
Britain, both in the soil and jurisdiction, passed
to the U. States.
This subject was source of constant irrita-
ton, and threatened dissolution of the Federal
alliance. At length Virginia, New York, and
the other States, which claimed the Western
lands, successlvely relinquished their titles fol
the common benefit of the Union.
Il Whatever might have been the uncertainty
Of these conflicting claims, there can be ne doubt
that, after the REIMBURSEMENT of the State titles