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Mr. Kilbourn then proceeded to discuss the present
school system.
The fifteen minutes allowed having expired before Mr.
K. concluded,
Mr. Mitchell moved to suspend the rules in order to
allow the gentleman from Anne Arundel to finish his
argument.
Objection was made, and after some discussion Mr. Kil-
bourn moved to postpone the further consideration of the
subject until tomorrow.
Mr. Ringgold opposed any postponement. There was
no subject which was better understood than this subject
of education, and the universal desire of the people was
that the miserable system which had been foisted upon us
should be abolished. They wanted no statistics on the
matter; they all knew about the Rev. Mr. Van Bokkelen,
and that his system was rotten to the core. Too much
time had been consumed already in discussing questions
which were already thoroughly understood, and sixty
days was ample time enough to complete the work of this
Convention.
Mr. Brent said this subject was one which deeply con-
cerned the people of his county (Charles) and the whole
people, and he thought it very necessary that the matter
should be discussed at length, and therefore moved to go
into committee of the whole.
The motion was agreed to, and the Convention resolved
itself into committee of the whole, with Mr. Jones, of
Somerset, in the chair.
Mr. Kilbourn then resumed the floor, and read from the
reports of the State Superintendent (Rev. Mr. Van Bok-
kelen) that universal freedom demands universal educa-
tion. It had been charged that there was a disposition to
drag this system into the political arena. This was not
so—they found it there. He had a duty to perform to his
constituents, and it was the opinion of nineteen-twentieths
of the people of his county (Anne Arundel) that this sys-
tem should be abolished as soon as possible, so as not to
interfere with existing contracts.
The same ideas had been infused into the subordinate
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