83 



ment from taxation, thereby leaving it to be inferred that Congress 

 did not intend that it should be exempted, but that it should be 

 equally subject to those burdens necessary for the common benefit 

 of the whole ; the corporate authorities, with prudence and pro- 

 priety, abstained from levying taxes upon it, and laid the whole 

 weight upon that part of the property which belonged to individ- 

 uals. That the only appropriation which appears to have been 

 made exclusively for the city, was that of $100,000 for the canal 

 which unites the Potomac and Eastern Branch ; and yet even this 

 was a concern originally belonging to the Government, which it 

 directed, and over which its commissioners had control both as to 

 its location and execution. The committee united in a recommenda- 

 tion that Congress should transfer their private building lots to the 

 city, making thus all taxable alike. 



The report concludes with this impressive language : " In the in- 

 ' vestigation of the subject committed to them, and of the relief 



* proposed, the committee have been unable to separate the inter- 



* ests of the District from the interests of the United States. They 



* regard it as the child of the Union as the creation of the Union 



* for its own purposes. The design of the Constitution and its foun- 

 ' ders was, to create a residence for the Government where they 



* should have absolute and unlimited control. In accomplishing 

 ' their object, the Union undertook the guardianship of the District, 

 1 deprived its inhabitants of the right of self-government, and of 

 the elective franchise, and made them dependent upon the will 



* of the Representatives of the States, to whom alone they can look 

 1 for relief. But the committee do not propose, in the present in- 

 < stance, to offer to the Senate a project for the relief of the embar- 

 ' rassments by which this city is now afflicted, which will call upon 

 1 the Union foi the expenditure of any of the treasure which has 

 < been drawn from the p'ockets of its citizens, but only for a part of 



* the funds which were obtained by the agreement to locate the sea^ 

 1 of Government here, and which are not necessary to replenish the 



* Treasury of a nation, rich, free from debt, and competent to the 



* most abundant provision for the accommodation of its public au- 

 1 thorities." 



If the facts and conclusions, thus succinctly stated, do not clear- 

 ly establish the positions that the people of this District have a 

 peculiar and strong claim upon the protection and liberality of the 



