out their wishes thus expressed; and he, for one,
must obey their voice.
He understood that it had been stated here yes-
terday, (when he was not present, for he had
been called away by circumstances beyond his
control,) that annual sessions were required, be-
cause it was necessary that the elections should
befrequent—this being a fundamental princi-
ples of our government. To sustain this argu-
ment, the fifth clause of the bill of rights had
been referred to, which declared, "that the right
in the people to participate in the legislature, is
the best security of liberty, and the foundation of
all free government; for this purpose, elections
ought to be free and frequent," &c.
Now, what was the meaning of this declara-
tion ? Did it mean that elections for the Legis-
lature should be held annually? Surely, that
was not the construction to be put upon it. Its
import and true meaning evidently was that
there should not be a long continuance of the
delegated power of the people in the hands of
the same Legislators; that there should be no
series of sessions of the legislature without new
elections and a fresh infusion, into the Halls of
Legislation, of the spirit and temper of the people
themselves; it was to secure to this extent, at
least, the participation of the people themselves
in their legislation; and would not the people
participate as freely and fully in their legislation,
and have their feelings and wishes as fully re-
flected in a Legislature, meeting only. once in
two years (and that early after their election) as
they would if that body assembled every year?
Most certainly they would, and such was mani-
festly the only fair and liberal construction which
could be given to the article which had been quo-
ted from the Bill of Rights. It meant not to re-
quire that convocations of Legislatures should be-
so very frequent, but that accountability to the
constituency should follow speedily upon the exercise
of all delegated powers, and each Legisla-
ture when it assembled, should come free and
fresh from the people, and reflect truly in the
lower House, at least, their will and wishes.
Another reason which had been assigned for
annual meetings of the Legislature, was that the
state of the finances might require it. It was
true that the State of Maryland, having been em-
barrassed from causes to which he need not now
particularly allude, had found it necessary to
raise from her citizens a large amount of reve-
nue. That revenue went into the Treasury, and
it was important that there should be a. supervi-
sion over the proceedings of the accounting offi-
cers—it was proper that the finances should be
sufficiently guarded. But what had been the
action of the Legislature on this subject? Would
the finances of the State be injured or endanger-
ed by reason of biennial sessions of the Legisla-
ture ? The very amendment of the Constitution
which had been proposed in 1845-'6, and pas-
sed in 1846-'7, required the Treasurer to make
to the Governor of the State the very identical
Report which lie would have made to the Legis-
lature if it were in session. Nor was this Re-
port confined exclusively to the Governor. In
the year 1847, the House of Delegates passed a

resolution requiring the Treasurer to have twelve
hundred copies of this report printed—ten copies
to be sent, for circulation, to each member of
the Legislature. What was the character of that
Report? The Treasurer showed the amounts
of money received and the sources from which
they were received; explaining what these sources
were. The Report referred to each item, and the
different tables accompanying the Report showed
the persons from whom the amounts were re-
ceived, and the amounts themselves.
He (Mr. B.) was in favor of imposing the same
obligation under the new Constitution. He would
even go further, and authorise the Legislature to
appoint a committee to come to Annapolis and
examine the accounts and vouchers of the report
made by the Treasurer during the recess of the
Legislature. It was not necessary that the Le-
gislature should meet for the purpose of supervi-
sing the Treasurer's accounts. Gentlemen might
be assured that if ever it should be the ill-fate of
Maryland to have at the head of her financial de-
partment a man who was not honest, she would
still be defrauded whatever guards she might
throw around her Treasury. The finances could
be as well guarded and protected by biennial
meetings of the Legislature.
Were the liberties of the State to be endan-
gered by biennial sessions ? Truly had it been
said, that "the world was governed too much."
The history of the past—all experience taught us,
that there was no danger to be apprehended un-
der a republican government, by the want of be-
ing governed. If evil was to fall upon our insti-
tutions, it would come not from the few laws
which might be passed, but from the many. He
might well refer to our own statute book, to sus-
tain this position.. He did not know that any
law stood upon it, which directly endangered the
liberties of the people. But where was the man
to be found, within the confines of Maryland,
who was so learned in the law, that he could,
without long and laborious examination, tell what
the laws of the State were, upon every subject
which they embraced? It seemed to him that
there was a kind of ambition in every man who
came to the Legislature, to do something in the
way of law-making. The brains of men were
constantly upon the rack to discover what they
could do—what more they could make—what
changes they could effect upon the statute book
—so that when they returned to their constitu-
ents, they might be able to answer the enquiry
which met them, "what have you done?" by
pointing to some act of legislation, the passage
of which they had been mainly instrumental in
securing. They were not satisfied with telling
the people that they had discharged their duty
generally—that they had prevented the passage
of this or that law, the operation of which might
be injurious. Their constituents would tell them
that is not what we want. Tell us what you
have done for us—what law or measure you
have caused to be adopted. Every country bad
its peculiar mania; and this was the mania of
the State of Maryland. This was a state of af-
fairs which he desired to avoid. He desired
that the laws should be free and few, and easily