3 5;i.s III. Legis.) H. R. S Hth Assem. APPROPRIATIOIN TO COUNTIES, &c. January 2, 1839. Read, and laid on the table. Mr. Smith, of Wabash, from the Committee on Internal Improvements? made the following REPORT: The Committee on Internal Improvements^ to ivhich was referred n bill for '•''An act for the benefit of the counties therein named ^^'' report the same hack to the House, and recommend its rejection for the following reasons: 1st. That $200,000 appropriated by the fifteenth division of the eigh- teenth section of the internal improvement act, to be distributed to the several counties through which no railroad or canal was.authorized by that act to be constructed, is vested in the original counties intended bj said act to receive the same, and cannot justly be withdiawn from them, in whole or in part, for the purpose of being granted to other counties. 2d. That new counties, which have been formed, since the passage of said act, out of counties originally entitled to receive a distributive share of this appropriation, should claim their proportionate share of the amounts received or receivable by the original coimty out of which they have been formed. 3d. That counties, which have been sepa,rated from original counties through which railroads or canals were authorized to be constructed, have so separated in their own wrong, and cannot now claim the right of re- ceiving a distributive share of the original appropriation, and thereby lessen the amount intended by the act to be paid to other counties. The committee express no opinion as to the justice or expediency of the counties named in the bill being entitled to claim an appropriation similar to that granted in the above iccitcd act to other counties similarly situated las to the location of the public works, but confine their objec- tions to the features of the present bill, which require payments to be made to them out of moneys which the committee entertain the opinion arc now already appropriated and vested in otiier counties. \\ III. Legis. "i H. R. S ^^"^^ Assem. FUGITIVE SLAVES. January 5, 1839. Read, and the further consideration thereof postponed until the Hth January. Mr. FisK, from the Committee on the Judicary, made the following REPORT: The Committee on the Juiiciary, to which loas referred a communication from thi' Governor of Giorqin^ relative to n correspondence beliueen the Governor of Georgia and the Governor of M.iinr, upon the refusal of the Governor of Mxine to deliver up Daniel Philbrook and Edward Kclleram, citizensof the Stats of Miine, and figitives f om justice — being charged with the secret a" d fe/onious abduction, front the city of Savannah^ of a negro slave named Atlicus, the property of Jamr.s and Henry Sagurs^ report : That said committee have given the subject all the attention which might be expected from the nature of the circumstances attending the said cor- respondence, and wojld express a deep regret that any attempt should ever be made on the part of the citizens of the free State? to interfere, in any manner whatever, with the rights of the citiz3ns of the slavcaold- ing States. Said committee consider the holding of slaves as a coistitu- tional privilege, guarantied to the slaveholding States by the articles of confederation, and that any attempt by the free States to interfere wkth the rights of the slaveholder would be a violation of a right which ought to be held as sacred as any oL her portion of tlie Constitution. Said com- mittee look upon the cause of the abolitionist as one that is carried on through the intemperate zeal of misguided philanthropists; and, while their professed object is to ameliorate or better the condition of a portion of the human family, the means which they adopt are calculated to lcg,d to an entirely different result. It is not the intention or desire of this committee to say any thing that might wound the feelings of any of our fellow-citizsns, but only to express a deep regret that such questions should be aijitated to distract the peace and quiet of the nation. Said committee would not desire to condemn the State of Maine as u State willing and disp.)^ed to encourage a poUcj which ought to be viewed as a moral and political pestilence, (which, if encouraged and suH'ercd to go unchecked, would, in its tendency, spread devastation and ruin over the land,) until the Executive of that State should have an opportunity to explain the course which he has seen cause to pursue. To prevent any undue excitement of the people of the south, and to save their feelings from being wantonly outraged from any of the misguided fanatics of the north who might be determined, in defiance of sound policy and the dictates of honest patriotism, and of the principles of constitutional law, to keep up an excitement in relation to a certain species of property, with which no interference from the free States ought to be encouraged, this committee would respectfully recommend for adoption the following resolutions: 1. Resolved, That we consider the refusal of the Executive of any State to deliver up, or cause to be delivered up, upon the demand of the Exec- utive of any other State, any person who may be charged with the com- mission of a crime against the laws of the latter State, and shall hiixe fled therefrom, not only as dangerous to the rights of the people of the United States in general, but clearly and directly in violation of the plain letter of the Constitution of the United States, which is in the following words, to wit: "A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice and be found in another State, shall, on demand of the Executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime." 2. Resolved, That each State, as a member of this confederacy, by the adoption of the Federal Constitution, became a party thereto, no less, for the better protection of their own than the common rights and interests of all; and as such membeis of the confederacy, a free State or its citi- zens ought not to interfere with the property of slaveholding States; which property has been guarantied unto them by the Constitution of the United States; and without such guaranty, this Union, perhaps^ would never have been formed. LL. Legis. ) H. R. { Urn Assem ALBION AND GRAYVILLE RAILROAD. January 2, 1839. Read, and referred to a Committee of the Whole House. Mr. Smith of Wabash, from the Committee on Internal Improvements, made the following REPORT: The Committee on Internal Improvements, to which was referred a bill for ^'•An act to incorporate the Albion and Grayville Railroad Company,'''' report : That, in the opinion of the committee, it is inexpedient for the Legis- lature to authorize corporations or individutils to construct railroads or canals calculated to come into direct competition with similar works now in a course of construction under the State system of internal improve- ment. It is well known that there exists an honest difference of opinion in regard to the policy and probable revenue to be derived from the State works; and, therefore, the committee deem it unwise for the Legislature, in the infancy of the system, to abstract, from any portion of her own pub- lic works, the profits and receipts upon which the friends and advocates of the system have predicated their support of it, and thus impair the confidence of the people in its ultimate success. The committee are free to admit that there may be extreme cases in which, in the adoption of the State system, the wants of some porlions of the people have been unavoidably left unprovided for, which might justify a departure from this salutary rule of legislative action. In the case, how- ever, now under consideration, the country proposed to be accomnn dated by therailioad mentioned in the bill is already provided (or in tiicsjstem, and the State improvement is in a state of forwardness approximating to completion. The committee would take this occasion to draw a marked distinction between the construction, by companies, of lateral brai'ches of niihouds from the interior to intersect the State improvements, and thereby throw trade and travel upon the latter, and those works calculated to withdraw the business fiom the main lines, and thus reduce the revenue which the State would otherwise receive. It is true that there is a provision in the bill under consideration, reserv- ing to the State the privilege of purchasing the road under certain restric- tions. But as objections are urged against the State system on account of its magnitude and probable cost, it seems to the committee that the granting of charters at present, with the view of augmenting this objection, would be impolitic. The committee, entertaining these views of the subject, do, on general principles of State poUcj alone, and not with any hostility to this par- ticular bill, report the same back to the House, and recommend its rejec- tion. III. Legis. [ ' H. R. J UthAssem. RAILROAD— DES MOINES RAPIDS. January 12, 1839. Read, and concurred in. Mr. Smith of Wabash, from the Committee on Internal Improvements, made the following REPORT: The Committee on Internal Improvements, to zvhich was referred a resolution instructing them to inquire into the expediency of constructing a railroad from the head of the Des Moines rapids to the intersection of the Peoria and Warsaw railroad, report: That they have had the subject under their consideration; and upon the investigation of the probable amount of business which would be done upon the proposed improvement, and the public accommodation to result from its construction, its importance cannot be questioned. The Des Moines rapids, for several months in the year, present a very formi- dable barrier to the navigation, and render a portage round them, for the immense trade of the river, indispensably necessary. As the trade on the river must rapidly increase with the settlement of the country drained by this great river and its tributaries, it cannot be expected that this im- portant portage will continue long to be overcome in the expensive man- ner it now is, but that the public convenisnce will demand a railroad or canal either in Illinois or Iowa. The committee, however, are unwilling, notwithstanding the great importance of this work, to recommend its construction by the State at present; but they will express their belief that it is one of numerous cases, in which the concentration of individual capital may very properly be authorized by the Legislature to effect the object, reserving to the Sta'e the privilege of purchasing the improvement, whenever, in the opinion of the Legislature, the public good requires it to be done. The work does not, in any manner, conflict with the State works, but on the contrary is calculated to throw trade on the latter. They therefore ask to be discharged from the further consideration of the subject so far as it is proposed to construct the work by the State.