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Is a motion to adjourn in order until that vote
is taken? The house has decided that the
main question shall be put, and that it will
do no other business until that is done. Un-en-37.
til the main question is put, I suggest that a
motion to adjourn is not in order.

The PRESIDENT. The main question being ordered, brings the convention to a vote upon the main proposition and the amendments pending thereto. But it does not preclude a motion to adjourn.

The question was then taken upon the motion to adjourn, and it was rejected.

The question recurred upon the following, offered by Mr. ABBOTT as a substitute for the proposed section :

McComas, Miller, Mullikin, Murray, Negley, Nyman, Pugh, Purnell, Russell, Sands, Sneary, Stirling, Swope, Sykes, Valliant, WoodThe section was accordingly rejected. Mr. THOMAS, when his name was called, said:

I desire to say that in order to be consistent with the vote which I gave yesterday in favor of the proposition of my colleague (Mr. Stirling,) I shall vote as I voted this morning upon this proposition I vote "a ye."

On motion of Mr. SwOPE

The convention then took a recess until 8 o'clock, P. M.

EVENING SESSION.

The Convention reassembled at 8 o'clock, P. M.

"Sec.- The legislature at its first session after the adoption of this constitution shall provide a mode by which those colored persons who have been liberated from slavery by The roll was called, and the following memits adoption shall be registered for the pur-bers answered to their names: pose of receiving pro rata any money or other appropriation made by the general government or otherwise for their benefit.''

The question being taken, the substitute was rejected.

The question recurred upon adopting the section, as follows: "Sec. -. The legislature at its first session after the adoption of this constitution, shall provide a mode by which those persons who were owners of slaves under the laws of this State on the first day of January, 1861, or at the time of the adoption of this constitution, or during the intervening period, may perpetuate the evidence of the number, names, ages and sex of the slaves so owned by them respectively."

Upon this question, Mr. JONES, of Somerset, called for the yeas and nays, which were ordered.

Mr. CLARKE moved a call of the convention. Mr. HEBB. I rise to a point of order.Rule 54 provides

«**** On a motion for the previous question, and prior to the seconding of the same, a call of the convention shall be in order; but after a majority shall have seconded such motion, no call shall be in order prior to a vote on the main question," &c.

The PRESIDENT. The gentleman is correct. A call of the convention is not now in order. The question was then taken upon the proposed section, by yeas and nays, and resulted -yeas 23, nays 37-as follows:

Yeas-Messrs. Blackiston, Brown, Dail, Davis, of Charles, Duvall, Edelen, Harwood, Hollyday, Horsey, Jones, of Somerset, King, Lansdale, Larsh, Lee, Marbury, Mitchell, Parker, Parran, Ridgely, Smith, of Carroll, Stockbridge, Thomas, Todd-23.

Nays-Messrs. Goldsborough, President; Abbott, Annan, Audoun, Barron, Belt, Clarke, Cunningham, Cushing, Dellinger, Earle, Ecker, Farrow, Galloway, Hatch, Hebb, Hopkins, Hopper, Jones, of Cecil, Kennard, Markey,

Messrs. Goldsborough, President; Abbott, Annan, Audoun, Baker, Belt, Berry, of Prince George's, Blackiston, Brown, Clarke, Cunningham, Cushing, Dellinger, Duvall, Earle, Ecker, Edelen, Farrow, Galloway, Greene, Harwood, Hebb, Hollyday, Hopkins, Hopper, Horsey, Kennard, King, Lansdale, Lee, Marbury, Markey, McComas, Mitchell, Miller, Mullikin, Murray, Negley, Nyman, Parker, Parran, Peter, Pugh, Purnell, Robinette, Sands, Schley, Smith, of Carroll, Sneary, Stirling, Stockbridge, Swope, Todd, Wooden-54.

The PRESIDENT laid before the convention the following communication from the treasurer of the State, which was read and ordered to be printed in the Journal.

TREASURER'S OFFICE,

Annapolis, July 27th, 1864. To the Honorable the President of the Convention:

In obedience to an order passed by your ting the enclosed answers. honorable body, I have the honor of submit

It will be observed that the 2nd and 6th

inquiry being so nearly the same are answered in one. The 7th is omitted for the present, as it requires a great deal of labor and time to answer it correctly. I would most respectfully suggest to the convention, that if it be desirable to have the information asked for in the 7th inquiry very soon, that it might be advisable to direct one of the clerks to the convention to furnish it, and thereby relieve my clerk from the duty.

The 10th inquiry I can give no better answer than to call the attention of your honorable body to page 13, statement I, of the comptroller's report, 1863, of the State's capi tal and credits, all of which is most respectfully submitted,

I have the honor to be,
Very truly yours,

R. FOWLER,
Treasurer of Maryland.

STATEMENT.

No. 1......... Balance in the Treasury 1st December, 1862..

Balance in the Treasury 1st December, 1863...
Balance in the Treasury 1st June, 1864.....

FUNDED DEBT UNREDeemed.

No. 2 & 6....Six per cent. Stock, ch. 241, 1834, due 1870.......$1,878,893 00

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20, 1839, 1890.......

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$515,596 47 1,096,629 93 136,138 99

429,587 81

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386, 1838,

1890.......

95,420 25

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STERLING FIVE PER CENT. BONDS.

£1,047,875 Ch. 386 and 396, 1838, due 1889......$4,655,555 55

343,875

Converted,

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No. 3.........The amount of Stock standing to the credit of the
Sinking Fund, 1st June, 1864, was of State
Five per cent. Stock, ch. 41, 1847, due 1889...$1,000,554 04
And of Baltimore City Six per cent. Stock, due

1890...

Together amounting to.

No. 4.........The amount of the Sinking Fund cancelled 1st

April, 1864, under the Act of January Session,
1864, chapter 285, was $4,509,074 51, of the

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No. 5....................... The amount of the Funded Debt unredeemed 1st January, 1862,

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$4,509,074 51

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No. 8.........The amount of money paid out of the Treasury under the Acts of January Session, 1864, chapters 15, and 373, to the 30th June, was.....

STATEMENT-CONTINUED.

No. 9......... Of the Loan created by chapter 15 of 1864, authorizing the issue

of $4,000,000 of State Six per cent. Stock, the Treasurer has
issued....

$501,000 00

No. 10........The Interest which the State has in Works of Internal Improvements, &c., I refer you to the Comptroller's Report, 1863, (Statement I,) pages 13 and 14, showing the capital and credits of the State, productive and unproductive.

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

The convention then resumed the consideration of the order of the day, being the report of the committee on the legislative department, which was on its second reading.

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS, &C.

Mr. CUSHING. I move to take up the thirty-ninth section of the report on the legislative department. This report was taken up for consideration on the 7th of July, just twenty days ago, and we have not yet finished it. The judiciary report is not yet in, and when made it will probably consume some three or four weeks of our time, for scarcely a lawyer in the convention will not find something in that report which does not accord with his views.

Now, after a very long and elaborate discussion of the subject of the sale of the State's interest in the public works, there seems to be no intention upon the part of this house to change this section as reported by the committee. We have had amendment after amendment offered and argued upon hour after hour; vote after vote taken and then reconsidered, and no conclusion finally reached. And I think it simply wasting the time of the convention to indulge in further speculations about the matter. The legislative committee have considered it, I presume, with a great deal of deliberation and care. The last proposition on the subject before the convention was to submit it to an entirely new committee of nine members, who would make a report on which we would be detained just as long probably as we have been upon the report made by the committee on the legislative department.

Now, if there are any members who would like so stay here until the day of judgment, there are others who do not desire to do so, but who wish to complete our work at the earliest practicable moment. I hope the house will take up this section and consider it, and dispose of it to-night as it came from the committee, with perhaps one amendment, striking out the word "lease." And I think we might also dispose of the report of the committee on apportionment to-night.

Mr. MILLER. I understood this thirty-ninth section was not to be taken up until every additional section that might be proposed should be disposed of.

The PRESIDENT. There is no. other section not acted upon.

Mr. CLARKE. I have one or two additional sections which I would like to offer.

Mr. KING My colleague (Mr. Ridgely) has taken an active part in this matter. But not calculating that this subject would be taken up to-night, he is absent; he will be here tomorrow.

Mr. CLARKE. I presume the taking up this section now, will not prevent the offering additional sections by way of amendment to the article.

The PRESIDENT. It will not.

Mr. BELT. I would suggest to my friend from Baltimore city (Mr. Stirling,) that it would be much more orderly to allow one or two additional sections to be offered now, and let them be voted upon. Nobody desires particularly to debate them, or call the yeas and nays on them, or in any way to delay action. Let those be offered and disposed of, and then we can take up the section which has been laid over. I think when we once go back, we should finish the report entirely, without having any additional sections proposed to the article. Let us dispose of all the new propositions now, and then we can take up this section and make an end of the report.

Mr. CUSHING. I must insist upon my motion.

The question was upon proceeding to the consideration of the thirty-ninth section. Upon this question, Mr. CUSHING called for the yeas and nays, which were ordered. The question was then taken, by yeas and nays, and resulted-yeas 32, nays 24-as follows:

Yeus-Messrs. Goldsborough, President; Abbott, Annan, Baker, Cunningham, Cushing, Dellinger, Earle, Ecker, Farrow, Galloway, Greene, Hebb, Hopkins, Hopper, Kennard, Markey, McComas, Mullikin, Murray, Nyman, Pugh, Purnell, Robinette, Sands, Schley, Smith, of Carroll, Sneary, Stirling, Swope, Todd, Wooden-32.

Nays-Messrs. Audoun, Belt, Berry, of Prince George's, Blackiston, Brown, Chambers, Clarke, Duvall, Edelen, Harwood, Hollyday, Horsey, Jones, of Somerset, King, Lansdale, Lee, Marbury, Mitchell, Miller, Negley, Parker, Parran, Peter, Stockbridge-24.

The motion to take up the thirty-ninth se tion was accordingly agreed to.

Mr. NEGLEY, when his name was called, said:

When this section was informally passed over, I understood it was to be passed over until we had gotten through the balance of the report; not only what then remained unacted upon, but all such amendments as should be proposed. Then we were to return to this section and complete the report. That was done under an understanding with the gentleman from Baltimore county (Mr. Ridgely,) who had an amendment pending. He is not here to-night, and with the understanding I bad of this matter, I shall be compelled to vote against taking up this section. I therefore vote "no."

The section as reported by the committee on the legislative department, was as follows: "Section 39. The general assembly shall pass laws to sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of the State's interest in the works of internal improvement, in which the State is either stockholder or creditor; and to appropriate the proceeds arising therefrom towards the payment of the public debt of the State; and atter the public debt shall have been fully paid off, or the sinking fund shall be equal to its liquidation, to create out of such proceeds a permanent fund for the support of public education."

The following substitute for the section had been offered by Mr. RIDGELY:

"Section 39.

|

"And of the main stem of the Baltimore
and Ohio Canal."
and Ohio Railroad, and of the Chesapeake

been given in great number, and they have
Mr. CUSHING. Notices of amendment have
been argued at great length. I should like
for the previous question.
to dispose of this matter, and therefore I call

seconded.
The call for the previous question was

The question was upon ordering the main question.

session; the house is not full; it was not ex-
Mr. JONES, of Somerset. This is an evening
pected that this subject would come up to-
upon ordering the previous question.
night. I therefore call the yeas and nays

The yeas and nays were ordered.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE.
offered by the gentleman from Montgomery
An amendment was
(Mr. Duvall.) At my suggestion, he with-
drew it, with the understanding, however,
that he should have an opportunity to offer it
at some subsequent time. I consider it due
to him that he should have an opportunity
to present that amendment again. I wish to
know whether if the main question is now
ordered, that amendment will be in a position
to be acted upon.

considered that has not been actually offered The PRESIDENT. No amendment will be and entered upon the journal.

am ready to vote upon this question at any Mr. AUDOUN. So far as I am concerned, I time. But I think there is a certain amount of courtesy due to my friend from Baltimore county (Mr. Ridgely.)

Mr. CUSHING. Is the gentleman in order? question is not debatable. The PRESIDENT. The call for the previous

information. If the previous question is reMr. PETER. I desire to ask a question for fused, will it then be in order to offer amendments?

The governor, comptroller, and treasurer of the State, are hereby authorized conjointly, or any two of them, to sell from time to time according their best judgment, the States interest in the works of internal improvement, whether as stockholder or creditor; also the State's interest in any banking corporation, and to apply the proceeds arising therefrom towards the payment of the public debt of the State; and after the public debt shall have been fully paid off, or the sinking fuad shall be equal to its liquidation, the excess of such sales shall be set apart as a The PRESIDENT. It will be in order. permanent fund for the support of public Mr. HEBB. education; provided, however, that the power vious question be sustained, its effect will be Should the call for the prehereby conferred, shall only be exercised to bring the house to a vote upon the pendwhen the proceeds of such sales can be con- ing amendments, and then upon the origiverted into a like amount of the public debt;ual section, while the different propositions and provided further, that the State's interest in the Washington Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, shall be and is hereby reserved and excepted from the sale hereby authorized; and provided further, that the State's interest in or claim against other works of internal improvement in the for the previous question does not restrict the The PRESIDENT. The sustaining the call State, may be sold upon the best terms which convention merely to the pending amendmay be obtained for the same. The pending question was upon the follow-ments to the second degree only can be enterments. Under parliamentary practice amending amendment submitted by Mr. THOMAS to the substitute:

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Insert after the words "and provided further, that the State's interest in the Washington Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad," the words:

and substitutes which various members have given notice they will offer if they have an opportunity, will be cut off. That I understand to be the operation of ordering the maiu question.

tained. But notices of amendments which disposed of in some way. Therefore if the have been recorded upon the journal must be previous question is ordered the question will be taken upon all pending propositions.

Mr. HEBB. The only difficulty is, that ac

cording to the decision of the chair, the house can entertain five or six amendments at the same time.

The PRESIDENT. The house can entertain a thousand amendments.

or three little verbal amendments which I desire to offer, and therefore I vote "no."

Mr. NEGLEY. This subject was left in such inextricable confusion the other day, that I think it would be folly to shut down on all

Mr. HEBB. It seems to me that that is opportunities of amendment, especially as against all parliamentary rule.

The PRESIDENT. There is no limitation to amendments except that they must be in the first or second degree. Every proposition submitted to and entertained by the house by recording it on the journal must be disposed of in some way.

this is one of the most important matters to which the attention of this convention can be called. I feel compelled, therefore, to vote against this call of the previous question, because I do not think that it is proper that this matter should be hurried through in an empty house by a species of legislative trickery. I vote "no."

Mr. STIRLING. I shall vote for the pre

Mr. HEBB. When the call for the previous question is sustained, I do not see how the convention can act upon other than pend-vious question because I believe it is time there ing amendments.

The PRESIDENT. The interpretation of the gentleman of the operation of the previous question would place the convention in the anomalous position of having various propositions upon its records which it cannot dispose of. When any proposition is entered upon the journal it must be disposed of in some way.

The question was then taken, by yeas and nays, upon sustaining the call for the previous question, and resulted-yeas 28, nays 28-as follows:

Yeas-Messrs. Goldsborough, President; Abbott, Annan, Baker, Cunningham, Cushing, Dellinger, Ecker, Farrow, Galloway, Greene, Hebb, Hopkins, Markey, McComas, Mullikin, Murray, Nyman, Purnell, Robinette, Sands, Schley, Smith, of Carroll, Sneary, Stirling, Swope, Todd, Wooden-28. Nays-Messrs. Audoun, Belt, Berry, of Prince George's, Blackiston, Brown, Chambers, Clark, Duvall, Earle, Edelen, Harwood, Hollyday, Hopper, Horsey, Jones, of Somerset, Kennard, King, Lansdale, Lee, Marbury, Mitchell, Miller, Negley, Parker, Parran, Peter, Pugh, Stockbridge-28.

The call for the previous question was not sustained.

Pending the call for the yeas and nays, the following explanations were made by members as their names were called:

Mr. ECKER. I shall vote in favor of ordering the previous question. I do not think we are under obligations to gentlemen who come here, make propositions of amendment and alterations, and then go away unceremoniously and leave us in the lurch. I think it is the duty of members to be here at all times. I therefore vote "aye."

Mr. MILLER. I desire to say in explanation of my vote, that the gentleman from Baltimore county (Mr. Ridgley,) in connection with myself, has in view several amendments in order to perfect the substitute he has offered. If the previous question is sustained, it will utterly prevent any such amendments being offered, and bring the house to a vote upon the amendment in its present imperfect condition. There are two

should be some ascertainment of the sense of the house upon the general question. I believe it is useless going on arguing particular propositions before we decide the general question whether we want to sell the State's interest in our public works. I therefore vote "aye."

The question recurred upon the amendment to the substitute.

Mr. MILLER. I suppose notices of amendment to the original proposition are now in order?

The PRESIDENT. Yes, sir.

Mr. NEGLEY. I submit the following order: "Ordered, That that 39th section of the report of the committee on the legislative department, together with all the proposed amendments thereto, be referred to a special committee of nine, with instructions to report on or before 12 o'clock noon on Friday next; and that the president of this convention be the chairman of said committee."

The PRESIDENT. That can only be received at this time by general consent.

Mr. HEBB. Does not the adoption of that order take the whole report of the legislative committee along with the thirty-ninth section, to the select committee?

The PRESIDENT. It does.

Mr. STIRLING. I object to the order.

Mr. CLARKE. I presume that in the case of the formation of the constitution of this sort, we might take out a particular section and commit it to a select committee.

The PRESIDENT. The chair does not understand how the convention can commit a section without committing the entire report.

Mr. CLARKE. As the chair decides it is beyond the power of the convention to do that, I would move that this legislative report be committed to a special committee of nine, with instructions to report the same back to this convention by 12 o'clock on Friday next with a substitute for the thirty-ninth section.

Mr. CHAMBERS. Is it not perfectly proper to commit a report to a select committee?

The PRESIDENT. It is; or to re-commit it to the standing committee from which it emanated.

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