semble once a year, for the sale purpose of ex-
amining the accounts of the treasurer, would in-
flict on the people an expense altogether dispro-
portionate to the object. We have now a guard
in the executive, whose duty it is to supervise the
departments. Another remedy proposed, was
the appointment of a comptroller. He should
vote against such appointment. He was in favor
of few officers and sufficiently liberal salaries.
But there was a better remedy than either of these.
Let the assembly appoint ajoint committee, three
members from one House and two from the other,
to meet here in the alternate years on the first of
January, and examine the treasurer's accounts,
and then, if the Governor should deem it neces-
sary, he can call an extra session of the Legisla-
ture. But if we were to provide that there
shall be annual sessions of the Legislature in op-
position to the expressed will of the people, for
no other purpose than to examine the accounts of
the treasurer, it would perhaps peril the Consti-
tution. And we all know that the Legislature
acts by committee. The Legislature itself, sel-
dom looks beyond the report of the Committee of
Ways and Means. He had said thus much be-
cause it is perilous to engraft a provision against
which the people have already decided. If we
are to go on, inserting provision after provision
offensive to some one portion of the State or
another, we may find, at last, that all our time
here, and the public money expended on this
body, have been wasted. If, through the argu-
ments and objections urged by gentlemen on the
other side, any evils shall be discovered in the
biennial system, proper remedies may be applied.
When the bill to make the sessions of the Le-
gislature biennial, was referred to the people of
his county, he was disposed to vote against it ;
and believes that he did so vote. He then de-
sired to have the Legislature in session every
year, that the agitation then in progress, with a
view to this Convention, might not be suspended.
He did not now distinctly remember what opin-
ion he at that time entertained on this question, in-
dependent of its connexion with his inclination to
expedite the session of this Convention. The
Convention was now in session, and he could
judge of the measure upon its intrinsic merits.
And if he even had, but he had not, doubts as to
the policy of this measure, they would be yielded
to the judgment of the whole State, which had
been distinctly pronounced in its favor.
Mr. BROWN briefly expressed his dissent from
some of the positions of the gentleman from
Frederick. Many of his people are of the opin-
ion, that annual sessions are the safest. His
argument has been misunderstood. He said that
the people were taxed heavily, and while they
were so taxed, there ought to be annual sessions.
The gentleman from Dorchester, had talked
something about the dark cloud of repudiation
having passed away, and that we are now enjoying
the sunshine of prosperity. We have, it is
true, paid off a good deal of our debt, but we have
still much to pay. Should the crops be good, he
believed that the time was not distant, when the
public debt will be entirely liquidated. But, he |
( thought, the people should have an annual super-
vision over their affairs, through the Legislature.
He had voted against biennial sessions, and he
would do so know. Elections should be frequent
—the Constitution says "annual." The gentle-
man from Frederick, says there is too much
legislation. He asked if we can stop that by bien-
nial sessions? No—for at a biennial session,
there will be twice as many bills passed as at an
annual one. He should go for annual sessions as
the safest and best.
Mr. BISER rose to say a single word, regretting
that after the overpowering eloquence of his col-
league, (Mr. Thomas,) he would still be compel-
led to vote against him. He had listened to the
argument with delight, so far as he enlarged on
general principles, but when he came to the ques-
tion of the expediency of biennial sessions, he
differed from him. After mixing with the peo-
ple, as freely and as recently as his honorable
colleague, he could not come to the same conclu-
sion. He did, it was true, vote for biennial ses-
sions, when he thought that the embarrassed con-
dition of the State made it his duty to advocate
every measure of retrenchment. But it did not
then go to the people, as a naked proposition, for it
contained a provision making all the annual ap-
pointments biennial, so that whether the vote
of the people was fairly given in favor of the
biennial system, was subject to some doubt. He
did not intend to waste the time of the Conven-
tion, at this late hour, but as an humble member
of the last Legislature, he thought it right to
make this statement. He would say that while
his distinguished colleague travelled the county
once, last fall previous to the September election
for delegates to this Convention, he, (Mr. B„) had
travelled it again previous to the gubernatorial
election; and he had found none who had even refer-
red to this subject; none at all. The people were
everywhere conscious, that they lived under a Constitution
framed amidst the din of battle and the
clash of arms. They also knew that out of the sixty
articles of which the Constitution consisted, twen-
ty-five had been abrogated, and twenty had been so
amended, as to have retained little of their origi-
nal form; so that only fifteen remained as they
came from our fathers; therefore, the Convention
question was in favor with the people.
They desired a change in the judiciary system;
the election of clerks and registers by the people
—a change in the basis of representation, and
other important changes. He differed also
from his colleague, on the subject of fre-
quent elections, to which he, (Mr. B,,) was
friendly; and, he thought, the people of his sec-
tion of the State would not thank him if he voted
against them.
He, (Mr. B.,) was in favor of annual sessions,
but desired that they be limited to a much shor-
ter time, than they are under the present Consti-
tution. He was in favor of this as a measure of
retrenchment. He regretted that the state of his
health would not permit him to say more.
Mr. BUCHANAN expressed himself exceedingly
gratified by the views of the gentleman from Fre-
derick, (Mr. Biser,) which had rendered it unne-
cessary for any one to say more on that side. He |
