NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



607 



ever devoted to the purposes of exploration ; 

 and the necessity of keeping these works in ad- 

 vance of those of extraction seems never to have 

 entered the minds of those persons who were 

 called upon to fill the positions of trustees to 

 the various companies, until the receipts began 

 to be inferior to the expenses." 



Conscious that their existence depends upon 

 the* discovery of new deposits of ore at a lower 

 depth, most of the companies on the Comstock 

 ledge are now engaged in sinking their shafts 

 deeper. Their average depth is now about five 

 hundred feet only, while that of some of the 

 most celebrated silver mines of Mexico and 

 Europe is from fifteen to twenty-five hundred. 

 The Gould & Curry Company are tunnelling 

 the mountain on which their mine is situated, 

 some distance below their previous excavations, 

 and in connection with it propose to sink a 

 shaft of enormous depth, with a strong prob- 

 ability of finding valuable deposits of ore. 

 There is also a project for draining these mines 

 by means of an adit some three and a half miles 

 in length, known as the Sutro Tunnel, which 

 will strike the vein at a depth of nearly two 

 thousand feet below the outcrops. A careful 

 estimate shows that within the last five years 

 upward of thirty-five millions have been taken 

 from the Comstock ledge and put upon the 

 market, and that enough has been wasted in 

 the working of the ore to make the products 

 of the district reach sixty millions. 



NEW HAMPSHIEE. The political canvass 

 in this State commenced early in the year with 

 the nomination by the Republican and Demo- 

 cratic parties of candidates for Governor and 

 other State officers, and for members of Con- 

 gress. The former nominated for Governor 

 Frederic Smyth, and passed resolutions express- 

 ing confidence in the administration of President 

 Lincoln and in favor of a vigorous prosecution 

 of the war. The Democrats nominated Edward 

 W. Harrington, and adopted as a platform of 

 principles, " the Constitution and the Union." 

 Amendments sustaining the Kentucky and Vir- 

 ginia resolutions of 1798-'99, recommending a 

 convention of States, and denouncing the anti- 

 slavery amendment and the war, were rejected. 

 The election took place on March 14th, with 

 the following result : 



Governor. Number of Votes. 



Frederic Sm vth, Republican 84,145 



Ed ward W. flarrington, Democrat 28,017 



Majority for Smyth 6,071 



The Legislature elected at the same time stood 

 as follows : 



Sonata. 



Republicans 9 



Democrats 3 



House. 

 214 

 114 



100 



Joint ballot 

 223 

 117 



10G 



Republican majority. . 6 



Three Republicans were also elected members 

 of the Thirty-ninth Congress. 



The Legislature convened at Concord on June 

 Vth, and was organized by the election of E. A. 

 Straw as President of the Senate, and A. F. 



Pike as Speaker of the House of Representa- 

 tives. On the succeeding day Governor Smyth 

 was inaugurated, and a Secretary of State, 

 Treasurer, and other State officers were elected 

 by a convention of both houses. The Legisla- 

 ture adjourned on July 1st, having passed 153 

 acts and resolutions. One of the most important 

 acts in relation to the State finances authorized 

 the Treasurer, with advice of the Governor and 

 Council, to issue bonds, not exceeding one mill- 

 ion of dollars, in such sums and for such time, 

 not less than one nor more than five years, and 

 at such rate of interest, payable semi-annually, 

 as the Governor, with the advice of the Council, 

 should determine upon. It also provided for 

 the raising of seven hundred and fifty thousand 

 dollars by taxation, to be assessed, collected, 

 and paid into the State Treasury on or 

 before December, 18G6 ; also, that on the first 

 day of January, 1867, there shall be set apart 

 the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dol- 

 lars, and annually, for four years afterwards, 

 such sums as will be needed to pay up the one 

 million of bonds authorized above. An act in 

 relation to a temporary loan empowered the 

 Treasurer to borrow for the immediate use of 

 the State the sum of one million and five hun- 

 dred thousand dollars for a period not exceeding 

 one year. Another act levied a tax of twenty- 

 five per cent, upon the income of all bonds, 

 notes, or other securities not taxed by the State ; 

 the intent being to levy a duty upon the income 

 of Government bonds, and thus indirectly tax 

 the bonds themselves. This act was advocated 

 by the Democratic members of the Legislature, 

 and passed mainly through their votes, the 

 great body of the Republicans opposing it. 



By a vote of the people in the November 

 election of 1864, it devolved upon the Legislature 

 of 1865 to appoint a time for the meeting of a 

 Constitutional Convention, and to order the 

 election of delegates to the same. The action 

 of the convention was to be limited to the fol- 

 lowing questions : to enable our qualified voters 

 in the military or naval service to exercise the 

 right of suffrage while absent from the State ; 

 to abolish all religious tests as qualifications for 

 office ; to diminish the number of members of 

 the House of Representatives ; to increase the 

 number of members of the Senate ; and to make 

 provisions for future amendments of the Con- 

 stitution. A Legislative committee, to whom 

 the subject was referred, recommended that it 

 be referred to the Legislature of 1866, which 

 was done. Among the last proceedings of the 

 Legislature, were the passage of a resolution 

 ratifying the antislavery amendment to the 

 Constitution, and also of the following resolu- 

 tions on national affairs : 



1. Resolved, etc., That we welcome with profound 

 gratitude to the Almighty Giver, the return of peace 

 and the restoration ot the national authority. 



2. Resolved, That we give our hearty thanks to our 

 soldiers, who left the comforts and security of home 

 to suppress the rebellion and restore the Union; 

 that we will cherish, with perpetual honor, the mem- 

 ory of those who have given their lives a sacrifice fo 



