subject has not been presented by any of the gen-
tleman who have spoken—is to be found in the
new condition of things that must necessarily
grow out of the formation of a new Constitution.
All the great departments—the executive, the le-
gislative and the judicial departments—are to be
broken up, and new systems substituted in their
places. The tenure of office connected with all
of them is proposed to be changed, and the mode
of appointment of many is to be very different
from what it is now. Is it not obvious then, that
as general principles can only be provided for in
the new Constitution, the details of the new system
must not only devolve on the legislature, but that
the Legislature must have frequent sessions, in
order to discharge that duty efficiently ? For, in
the working of all new systems, experience only
can test their value and suggest the necessary re-
quisites to accomplish the purposes designed. Ab-
solute changes in those details, will, therefore, be
found necessary to perfect some, partial altera-
tions may answer for others, but all, all, will
need the work of time in order to make them ef-
fectual in rendering "the greatest amount of good
to the greatest number."
The gentleman from Dorchester has argued
that in the election, which is to be proposed, of
the judges and clerks and registers, by the people,
for long terms, no apprehension exists that the
responsibility of these functionaries to the people,
will be weakened by the length of service; and 1
understand him to offer this argument as an an-
swer to the objection which has been made to
the system of biennial sessions .that it will have the
effect of lessening the responsibility of the repre-
sentative to his constituent. But the force of this
argument is not apparent to me. Few, I presume,
would desire that the judges should be elected
annually, since it is only by their election for
long terms that their independence, and that pu-
rity of official conduct which results from inde-
pendent action, can be secured. As to clerks
and registers, their election for long periods will
secure better incumbents and more efficient offi-
cers, because a proper knowledge of their duties
requires a sort of apprenticeship; and if they
were elected every year, you would never be
able to get one who was worthy of the station.
I conclude, then, that a return to annual ses-
sions, will be rendered necessary, as well to
make proper provision for those exigencies which
will be created by the adoption of a new Consti-
tution, as to secure the enjoyment by the people
in their proper sense, of all their rights, liberties
and privileges, the preservation of which consti-
tutes the foundation of all republican governments
and I must remark, that it is very singular, that
whilst so much has been said about the rights of
the people and the paramount duty of all here to
protect the rights that the very first attempt which
has been made to guard them in their most mate-
rial feature, by securing to the people the power
of annual supervision over their representatives
through the ballot-box, should be met by such
determined opposition as I have every reason to
believe will be found arrayed against' it.
Mr. MORGAN replied to the remarks of the
gentleman from Dorchester, on the subject of the |
course pursued by the Legislature in reference
to an extra session. As he was a member of the
House of Delegates at the time, and had, per-
haps, as great an agency in that movement, as
any member of that body now upon this floor, he
rose to disavow any purpose of connecting the
movement with the question of biennial sessions.
The proposition for an extra session was intro-
duced either by himself or an honorable friend of
his, then a member from Anne Arundel, (he did
not recollect which,) under a sense of high public
duty in view of the many important measures
which necessarily would be passed over in con-
sequence of the constitutional limits which
brought the session to a close. The Legislature
found itself within two days of a final adjourn-
ment with its tables loaded with bills unacted
upon—amongst which was one for the re-organi-
zation of the treasury department, which had
been urged upon successive Legislatures by the
then Governor and his predecessors, and without
which there was very little security for the public
funds, except in the honesty of the treasurer and
other bills, such as the organization of a Board
of Public Works, in which the State had an in-
terest of some sixteen millions of dollars, and
which interest demanded from the Legislature effi-
cient action .There also was the general assessment
law, nearly all the sections of which had been con-
sidered and passed upon—the provisions of which,
although it did not diminish the amount of reve-
nue to be received by the State in the aggregate,
relieved the burdensome taxation now imposed
upon slave property by a reduction of upwards
of one third of its assessed value—a property in
which his constituents were largely interested;
and their interest, in his opinion, demanded of
him the vote he then gave—the effect of which, if
that session had been called, would have been to
reduce their taxes upon that species of property
one-third. These bills were laying on the table,
whilst a multitude of local laws were passed
without reading—some members being afraid to
vote against a measure of another, lest one of his
own should be defeated. It was at this period,
he repeated, he felt himself called upon by a high
sense of public duty, to sustain the measure ad-
verted to, without his, or any human being of that
Legislature that he had heard of, connecting it in
its operations either in the present or the future,
with the question of biennial sessions; and he de-
clared that he believed that such an idea never
had place in the mind of any individual, unless
perhaps the very sensitive and fertile imaginings
of the gentleman from Dorchester might have
induced, upon his part, such an opinion.
The gentleman from Dorchester had said
that the members of that legislature, bad bycon-
cert and protracted speeches delayed the public
business, to bring biennial sessions into disrepute.
Justice demanded that be should confirm what
had been said by the gentleman from Carroll,
(Mr. Brown,) as to the untiring industry of the
House of Delegates—where from early in the
morning, until late at night, the members assid-
uously devoted themselves to the discharge of
their public duties.
The gentleman has been entirely misinformed |
