REPORT AND RESOLUTIONS.

STATE OF MAINE.

The joint select committee, to whom was referred the message of the Governor, communicating the report and resolutions of the Legislatures of North-Carolina, South-Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Virginia, on the incendiary proceedings of the abolition ists in the non-slave-holding States, report, That they have given to the subject the consideration which it demands from its importance, as interrupting the harmony, and thereby endangering the union of these States.

The federal compact owed its origin to the spirit of deference, conciliation and mutual forbearance, which pervaded the then independent States; and was formed for the purpose briefly set forth in the preamble to the Constitution, to insure domestic tranquillity and provide for the common defence.

To insure these two great and all important purposes, definite powers were conceded by the States, the Constitution of the United States was formed, and the federal government created.

The powers then conceded are ample to effect the great objects of the Union; and though for defined purposes the several States form one great nation, yet in other respects, they are to each other as sovereign and independent nations; each State having a Consti tution of its own, and yielding obedience only to the enactments of its own Legislature.

Any interference therefore, of a State, or the inhabitants of a State, with the domestic concerns of another State, is dangerous, as having a direct tendency to create jealousies between the States, and thereby weakening the attachment to the Union which is our only security against domestic dissensions and foreign aggressions.

Slavery is a question in which we as a State have no interest. It is unknown in Maine, and those States who recognize its existence, have the exclusive control of the subject within their borders. As one of these United States, it is not for Maine, or the citizens of Maine, to interfere with the internal regulations of any other independent State; no possible good can result from such an interference with affairs over which they can exercise no control.

That these are the sentiments of the great mass of the people of Maine, is evinced by the numerous public meetings which were held in every part of the State the past season, in proof of which your committee adduce the following resolution, passed unanimously at the meeting in Portland, the largest city in Maine, on the 15th of August last.

Resolved, That it is the bounden and sacred duty of good citizens of every State, carefully and scrupulously to avoid all interference and attempts to interfere, and all manifestations of any intention or wish to interfere, with the peculiar interests, concerns, laws and domestic policy of every other State in the Union; and that all such acts of interference, where they tend to disturb the quiet, to alienate the feelings, to provoke the jealousies, or to jeopardize the safety of citizens of States, made unwilling subjects of such officious intermeddling, deserve, and ought to receive the reprobation of every friend to his country.

Similar resolutions have been passed at public meetings, by the inhabitants of Augusta, Bangor, Hallowell, Brunswick, Bath, Waterville, and by many other towns, too numerous to be mentioned; and we may with confidence assert, that however divided on other great political questions, on this subject but one feeling pervades the State, and that the discussion of the question of slavery has been arrested in Maine by public sentiment, more effectual in its operation than any law which could be enacted.

Under these circumstances, and in consideration of the fact that no abolition paper is printed in Maine, your committee would deem any legislation on the subject as uncalled for, unwise and inexpedient, as tending to excite a discussion which has subsided. They therefore report the following resolutions, which are herewith submitted.

CHARLES JARVIS,
LEVI JOHNSON,
FREDERIC GREENE,
RUFUS MCINTIRE,
ELIAKIM SCAMMON,

OBED WILSON,

SEWALL LAKE,

STEPHEN C. FOSTER,

ALFORD RICHARDSON,

NATHAN C. FLETCHER,

CHARLES GORDON.

Resolve relating to the discussion of Slavery in the State of Maine.

Resolved, That the United States government is a government of enumerated, limited and defined powers, all which are set forth in the Constitution; and that all powers not granted in that instrument are reserved to the States or to the people.

Resolved, That the power of regulating slavery within the confines of a State was not granted, and therefore does not exist in the general government.

Resolved, That excepting so far as they are united for certain and defined purposes, the States forming the confederacy of the United States, are, with respect to each other, distinct and sovereign States, each having a separate and independent government, the action of which, under the limitations of the Constitution of the

United States, and within the confines of the State, is not to be questioned by any power save the people of that State; and that any interference by a State, or by the inhabitants of a State, with the domestic concerns of another State, tends to break up the compromises, and disturb the harmony of the Union, and should be discountenanced by every good citizen.

Resolved, That in Maine the discussion of the question of the abolition of slavery having been arrested by the decided expresssion of public disapprobation, and no abolition paper being printed within the borders of the State, legislation on the subject is inexpedient.

Resolved, That the Governor be requested to forward a copy of this report and these resolutions to the Executive of North-Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Virginia, and to the Executive of each of the other States, with a request that they be communicated to their respective Legislatures.

In the House of Representatives, March 21, 1836. passed.

In Senate, March 21, 1836.

March 22, 1836. Approved.

Read and

JONA. CILLEY, Speaker.
Read and passed.
JOSIAH PIERCE, President.

ROBERT P. DUNLAP.

Of the Commissioners of the Land-Office, in obedience to the resolution of the Senate relative to lands escheated to the State on the death of John G. Leake.

The Commissioners of the Land-Office, in obedience to a resolution of the Senate, dated the 25th of March, which is in the following words, viz:

"Resolved, That the Commissioners of the Land-Office be requested to report to the Senate whether any of the real estate of the late John G. Leake, which escheated to the people of this State, remains unsold, and if any, where it is situated, and its estimated value. That they also report the amount that has been received in the treasury from real estate so escheated, and the time when received, and what amount is due to the State on bonds, mortgages, land contracts, or otherwise, by reason of the sale of said escheated lands, or any part thereof:"

Respectfully submit the following

REPORT:

That portion of the real estate of the late John G. Leake which escheated to the people of this State, and which has been recovered by the Attorney-General, and remains unsold, is fully described in the report of the Attorney-General to the Commissioners of the Land-Office, a copy of which is annexed and marked A. These lands are situated in the counties of Saratoga, Warren and [Senate, No. 86.]

A