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gested by the gentleman from Baltimore county. There
was no better way than to sit as a committee of the whole
on the great work which was before them.
Mr. Wickes argued in favor of the proposition of Mr.
Barry. He challenged the gentleman from Baltimore to
point to one single instance in which the organic law of
any community had been changed in the manner proposed
by him.
Mr. Archer spoke in favor of the substitute.
Mr. H. F. Garey was sorry to differ from the opinion
of his colleague, (Mr. Gill. ) If there were only certain
provisions to be struck from the constitution under which
we were now living, it could be done in one day. It was
seventeen years since the constitution of 1850, and there
were numberless exigencies now to be provided for which
had not and could not have been anticipated at that time.
Many of the States of the Union had changed their con-
stitutions to conform to the change in the times. The
State of New York was about to change her constitution.
This Convention was here to frame such a constitution
as would conform to the necessities and exigencies of the
occasion, and it was their duty to perform the work which
had been alloted to them thoroughly and carefully, wheth-
er it would take a day, a month or a year. The questions
which they were to pass upon would have to be sent to
committees at last, and it had better be done now.
Mr. Albert Ritchie was fully impressed with the neces-
sity of economy of time, but was unwilling for the sake of
time to hazard any lack of perfection on the momentous
work which was before them. It was a great duty to re-
vise the organic law of the State, and it should be done
with due circumspection and attention. For this reason
he was in favor of the plan submitted by the gentleman
from Baltimore county. The time to be occupied did not
depend on this or that mode of proceeding, but on the
spirit with which the members addressed themselves to
the work. In every instance in which the committee of
the whole had been adopted it had proved too unwieldly.
Pending discussion, the Convention adjourned at 3. 30
P. M. to 10 o'clock tomorrow.
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