Slike strani
PDF
ePub

necessary to enable congress to construct and maintain a work so important to the union, and deeply interesting to this state.

Let Maryland do more; let her pledge the faith of the state, to extend such canal as may be made by the general government, to the Patapsco, in order that an internal communication may be continued from the Ohio river through Maryland, the states of Delaware and New Jersey to New York; relying upon her own superior advantages for the detention of a sufficient portion of the trade, to amply remunerate her for any expenses she may incur in its construction. The expense of extending the great western canal, from the Potomac to the Patapsco, a distance of forty or fifty miles, would be altogether inconsiderable, when compared with the profit which would result to the state from making her emporium the great depot for all the trade of the western country, between the Alleghany mountains and the falls of Ohio, if not even to the mouth of that river. Would not Maryland, under such circumstances, furnish the tonnage for the transportation of the produce of this vast region of country to foreign markets? And suppose that only five hundred thousand barrels of flour additional, independently of all other articles, were exported from her ports, at an average freight of one dollar per barrel, would not her citizens, from their labour, add to her wealth, half a million of dollars annually; to which may be added the wealth that would flow into her, from her ability, on cheaper terms than any other state, to supply the western country with her manufactures, her iron and the produce of her fisheries.

It has been shewn, that Maryland, at the rate of population contained for each square mile in England, Scotland and Wales, is capable of sustaining two millions seven hundred and twenty thousand, two hundred and fifty inhabitants. But admit that her population shall not exceed one hundred to each square mile of her territory, her population will then be one million three hundred and ninety-five thousand; a number which, with her peculiar advantages properly developed, it is not unreasonable to suppose, will at some period not very remote, be contained within her borders.

From such a population, engaged in all the pursuits of agriculture commerce and manufactures, no revenue that can ever be required for the support and maintenance of the laws; the establishment and extension of public works; or, what is of still more importance, a well organized system of education, which shall ensure to all her children the lights of knowledge, can ever be oppresive or burthen

some.

Having endeavored to show, that the interest of the United States, at large, will be greatly promoted by the prosecution of a liberal and extensive system of internal improvement, which shall extend its benefits to every portion of the union, and that no constitutional impediment now exists to their government immediately commencing such works; and also, that the state of Maryland is equally interested in the adoption and prosecution of a liberal system of internal improvement, within her own limits; and that her resources are amply sufficient to meet any expense she may incur in effecting a work, calculated in so great a degree to increase her population and augment her wealth, I commit the resolutions, which I have had the honour of submitting, to your candid consideration, with an assurance that if the principles they contain shall be found objectionable, that any others which may be proposed, and which shall present a reasonable prospect of accomplishing a work in which I feel that all my interests are united, shall have my most cordial approbation and support

ERRATA.

The reader will be pleased to correct the following errors in this appendix.

Page 3-1st paragraph, 4th line, dele the "same."

[blocks in formation]
[graphic]
[graphic][subsumed]
« PrejšnjaNaprej »