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nominations from holding any office within the appoint-
ing power of the Executive.
Mr. Tarr, of Worcester, presented the petition of H.
Humphreys, W. S. Parsons, and two hundred and eighty-
two others, in relation to the formation of a new county,
to be composed of parts of Somerset and Worcester
counties.
The President laid before the Convention a lengthy
letter from Mr. A. Watson, of Washington city, on the
crime of nepotism, or many of a family in office. He sets
forth at length its evils, citing the career of Napoleon
Bonaparte as an instance, in that he waged such terrible
wars and piled up the great debts of Europe in the in-
terest of members of his own family, to put them on
neighboring thrones, etc. He shows the evils of it also
in our national government, nepotism largely prevailing
in Washington, and finally suggests a new article for the
Maryland constitution, declaring that "no person elected
to office in this State shall appoint his own relatives to
office; nor shall two persons of one family hold office by
appointment in this State; nor shall the relative of any
person holding office in this State, or in any other State,
or under the United States, either civil or military, be ap-
pointed to office in this State; nor shall any bank, insur-
ance, railroad or other stock company appoint two persons
of one family to office, " etc. —the violation of the article
knowingly to be punished by impeachment and fine, and
removal from office. Mr. Watson says:
"It is common for noted nepotists to get one of their
family in a city government, one in the county, one in the
State, one in each of the departments of the general gov-
ernment, at the capital or elsewhere, and one in the army
and navy. In this way they get in a score or two, and
yet they are so scattered that they are hard to find. The
article is written to reach all such cases. I shall propose
this article in each State which may form a new consti-
tution during the year, and I shall then propose it to
Congress at its next session. "
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.
Mr. Stoddert, from the Committee on the Executive
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