470 



MARTIN, JOHN. 



forests and across prairies. Many are employed 

 by the Hudson Bay Company as boatmen, 

 guides, and sledge-drivers; others are farm- 

 ers; while a large proportion, especially of the 

 French, pay comparatively little attention to 

 agriculture, but pursue the buffalo in summer 

 and winter on the plains west and southwest 

 of the province. In general they are intelli- 

 gent and hospitable, but prodigal of their earn- 

 ings, fond of pleasure, inclined to drunkenness 

 and indolence, and restive of restraint. Those 

 engaged in farming, with a settled mode of 

 life, have acquired more stable and provident 

 traits of character than the hunters. A ma- 

 jority of the population are Roman Catholics ; 

 the other principal denominations are Epis- 

 copalians, Presbyterians, and Wesleyan Meth- 

 odists. The climate is healthy, but exhibits 

 great extremes of temperature, the thermome^ 

 ter falling in winter to 40 below zero and 

 even lower, and in summer rising as high as 

 100. Wheat is the staple crop, and yields 

 abundantly, forty bushels to the acre being 

 commonly raised. The executive power is 

 vested in a Lieutenant-Governor, appointed by 

 the Governor-General of the Dominion in coun- 

 cil, and an Executive Council of six members, 

 appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor, and re- 

 sponsible to the Assembly. The Legislature 

 consists of the Legislative Council of seven 

 members, appointed by the Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor for life, and the Legislative Assembly of 

 twenty-four members, elected by districts for 

 a term of four years. 



MARTIN, JOHN, an Irish agitator and poli- 

 tician, was born in Longhorne, county of 

 Down, on September 8, 1812, and died in Dub- 

 lin, March 29, 1875. At twelve years of age he 

 was sent to Dr. Henderson's school at Newry, 

 where he first became acquainted with John 

 Mitchel, with whom he remained on the closest 

 terms of intimacy throughout his lifetime. He 

 next studied at Trinity College as an extern 

 student, and in 1833 took up his residence in 

 Dublin, and devoted himself to the study of 

 medicine. When in 1848 the British Govern- 

 ment seized John Mitchel's newspaper, the 

 United Irishman, Martin, who up to that time 

 had taken no prominent part in politics, estab- 

 lished at his own expense the Irish Felon. His 

 paper was soon seized in turn, and he himself 

 arrested, tried, and sentenced to transporta- 

 tion. Having been pardoned and returned to 

 Ireland, his history was closely connected with 

 that of the national agitation. In 1868 he 

 married the youngest sister of John Mitchel, 

 and in the same year sailed for America. 

 During his absence the memorable Longford 

 election took place, which brought him out 

 prominently for a seat in the British Parlia- 

 ment. In December, 1869, he was elected to 

 Parliament from Meath, where, though he 

 never cast a vote, even his opponents acknowl- 

 edged that, on any question that concerned the 

 honor or welfare of his native land, he was 

 the " member for all Ireland." 



MARYLAND. 



MARYLAND. The public debt of Mary- 

 land was, on the 30th of September, $11,372,- 

 677.28 ; the productive assets of the State 

 were $6,068,509.35, besides which it had un- 

 productive assets amounting to $22,555,188.75. 

 Most of these latter consisted of bonds, stock, 

 and interest, in the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, 

 which for seven years has done little more 

 than pay its running expenses and cost of re- 

 pairs. It has debts amounting to $2,923,140, 

 which have priority over the claims of the 

 State. The State Treasury held at the begin- 

 ing of the last fiscal year, October 1, 1874, a 

 balance of $565,106.29 ; the receipts of the 

 year were $2,909,080.20, expenditures $2,436,- 

 075.46, leaving a balance at the end of the 

 y.earof $1,058,111.33.^ 



The number of pupils in the public schools 

 of the State showed an increase of 4,109 over 

 1874 ; the average daily attendance had in- 

 creased 2,535. Seventy-nine new schoolhouses 

 were built during the year, at a cost of $66,- 

 802.66. The total receipts from all sources for 

 school purposes amounted to $958,244.32, and 

 the expenses aggregated $924,758.19. This 

 showed an increase for the year of $52,130.58 

 in the receipts, and $41.317.50 in the expendi- 

 tures. The city of Baltimore is not included, 

 as its school system is independent of that of 

 the State. The Agricultural College has been 

 reorganized on a new basis. The preparatory 

 department has been abolished, and the num- 

 ber of students in attendance on the collegiate 

 courses is only forty-seven. The institution 

 has a debt of $12,109.40. The State is half 

 owner of the college, and the Board of Edu- 

 cation recommends the purchase of the in- 

 terest of individual stockholders. The State 

 Normal School building in Baltimore is nearly 

 completed, and is one of the finest structures 

 in the city. It has a front of 120 feet on Car- 

 rollton Avenue and 105 feet on Lafayette Ave- 

 nue, and at the intersection of the two fronts 

 a tower rises to the height of 170 feet. It will 

 accommodate 300 students. The site for a new 

 House of Correction has been secured about 

 fourteen miles from Baltimore, on the Balti- 

 more & Ohio Railroad, and a contract has been 

 entered into for the construction of the main 

 building, and one wing and one cross-wing, at 

 a cost of $187,000. The site consists of 93 

 acres, and cost $13,000. The time specified in 

 the contract for the completion of the build- 

 ing is September 1, 1876. 



The Maryland Hospital for the Insane, at 

 Spring Grove, which was placed under the 

 charge of the president and directors as a pri- 

 vate corporation by an act of 1870, is the 

 property of the State, and the title has been 

 formally declared by a proper instrument, con- 

 stituting the corporation a charitable agency 

 of the State. This institution is but half filled, 

 though there are 462 insane paupers in the 

 State, supported wholly at the public expense. 

 The Maryland Inebriate Asylum, situated about 

 five miles from Baltimore, has been compelled 



