ALABAMA. 



guide to tlio speculations on this topic in 



iriiltural papers indulged. It 



\v;n not diflituilt to approximate nearly to tho 



nuinli .T> of live stock in the Northern States 



f tlio Rocky Mountains, and this was at- 



;-orn year to year; but tho data in re- 



10 tlio Pacific States were small, and for 



of the numbers in the Southern 



s, entirely wanting. 



I luring the summer and autumn of 1866, 



ver, sufficient returns were obtained from 



^onthern States to enable us to make a 



very close estimate for the whole country. "We 



give in the foregoing table the numbers of live 



stock for each of the States and Territories this 



side the Kocky Mountains, and the estimates 



of tho Agricultural Department for the whole 

 country, premising that the latter may be too 

 largo in horses and mules. 



It is a matter of interest to compare these 

 returns with those of tho principal countries 

 of Europe at a recent date. "YVe have no very 

 recent statistics of the number of horses in the 

 European states, and the war of 1866 would 

 render them inaccurate, if we had. About 

 800,000 is to be deducted from the number of 

 cattle reported in the United Kingdom, and 

 75,000 from those in Holland for loss from cat- 

 tle plague. The following table gives the num- 

 ber of cattle, sheep, and swine, at the dates 

 mentioned, in the several nationalities of 

 Europe : 





ALABAMA. The recess taken by the Legis- 

 lature of Alabama, in December, 1865, closed on 

 January 15, 1866. Upon the reassembling of 

 this body, tho Governor laid before the mem- 

 bers a brief message congratulating them that, 

 during their recess, the Provisional Governor 

 had been relieved, and his authority was exer- 

 cised by the Governor elect. He recapitulated 

 the condition of the State debt, urged the im- 

 portance of a law staying judicial proceedings 

 in the collection of debts, the necessity of 

 making tho system of education uniform by 

 allowing tho proceeds of land-sales to be used 

 in any county without regard to the location 

 of the land sold, called their attention to the 

 great destitution of the people in the northern 

 part of the State, and the immediate necessity 

 of an efficient military organization. He also 

 returned, without his signature, a bill to regu- 

 late contracts with frecdmen, on tho ground 

 that the general laws on contracts were ade- 

 quate. The Legislature passed a large number 

 of bills chiefly devoted to local affairs ; also one 

 to provide for the payment of tho land-tax 

 levied by Congress in August, 1861 ; another, 

 requiring the State banks to resume payment 

 on April 1, 1868. In the Senate, on February 

 8th, tho following resolution was adopted : 



Whereas, There is reason to apprehend that un- 

 friendly representations at Washington and in the 



Northern States of the Union, of the disposition of 

 the people of Alabama toward the Government at 

 Washington, will operate injuriously upon the con- 

 dition of our people, and postpone a restoration of 

 the State, in consequence of a misapprehension, upon 

 the part of the Federal authorities, of the disposition 

 of the people for the full and complete establishment 

 of order : Therefore, 



Resolved (the House of Representatives concur- 

 ring), That a committee of five be appointed by the 

 presiding officers of each House to inquire, so far as 

 may be, into the dispositions of the people of the dif- 

 ferent counties in the matter referred to, and report 

 the result of their investigations by resolution or 

 otherwise. 



An act was passed authorizing tho issue of 

 twenty-year bonds for the payment of arrears 

 of interest on the State debt ; also another, to 

 provide, at the State expense, artificial limbs 

 for every maimed indigent person, a citizen or 

 resident of tb.3 State in 1861. 



The views of the Legislature on the relation 

 of the State to the Federal Union were ex- 

 pressed by the unanimous adoption, on Febru- 

 ary 22d, by both Houses, of the following report 

 and resolution, presented by a joint committee : 



When the cause, for which the people of Alabama 

 have endured sacrifices without parallel in history, 

 was lost by the surrender of her heroic armies, tho 

 result was accepted as final and conclusive. Al- 

 though compelled, by the verdict of the sword, to 

 abandon an institution which was so thoroughly in- 

 terwoven with every thread of hr social fabric, thaj 



