FRIDAY, February 14,1851.
The Convention met at eleven o'clock.
Prayer was made by the Rev. Mr. GRAUFF.
The Roll was called, but no quorum was pre-
sent.
Mr. JOHN NEWCOMER moved that there be a
call of the Convention—which was ordered.
And the roll of the members having been again
called—and a quorum being present,
On motion of Mr. JOHN NEWCOMER, all further
proceedings on the call were dispensed with.
The Journal of yesterday was then read and
approved,
The PRESIDENT, pro tem., laid before the Con-
vention a communication from the clerk of Kent
county court, in obedience to the order of the
Convention of the 15th of November, which was
read, and, on motion of
Mr. RICAUD, was referred to the committee on
the Judiciary.
MOTIONS TO RE-CONSIDER.
There being no morning business before the
Convention,
Mr. THOMAS called up the motion, of which he
had yesterday given notice, so to amend the
twenty-first rule of the Convention as to provide
that motions to re-consider might be made by any
member of the Convention, and not, as at present
provided, by members alone who had voted with
the majority.
The amendment having been read,
An explanation of its object was made by Mr.
THOMAS.
The proposition was opposed by Mr. DORSEY,
and sustained by Messrs. PHELPS and THOMAS.
After which the question was taken, and the
amendment, by ayes 38, noes 30, was agreed to.
THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.
The PRESIDENT, pro tem, announced the special
order of the day, being the report heretofore made
by Mr. JOHNSON, Chairman of the Committee on
the Legislative Department.
BIENNIAL SESSIONS.
The section under consideration at the hour of
adjournment yesterday, was the second section
of the report as amended.
And the question immediately pending was on
the amendment proposed by Mr. SPENCER, to add
at the end of the said second section the follow-
ing:
"But the Legislature shall have the right to
provide by law for annual sessions."
Upon this question Mr. SPENCER was entitled
to the floor.
Mr. HOWARD called for the reading of the
section and of the amendment—which were read.
Mr. SPENCER said his object in moving an
adjournment on the day previous, was to give
time to consider the amendment which he had
offered. It was then late in the day, after three
o'clock, and, notwithstanding lie considered the
question an important one, be was unwilling then
to detain the Convention by an argument on the
question.

He was in favor of biennial sessions, because
the people of the State had so determined, and
we had no evidence that a change in public sen-
timent had taken place.
He was of opinion, that for a few years, there
would exist a necessity for annual sessions. If
the Constitution, which we are now modeling,
shall be accepted by the people, then it will ne-
cessarily follow, that we shall require the best
wisdom of the State to legislate on the subject,
and frequent sessions of the Legislature for a few
years. The Constitution will embrace principles;
the Legislature which is to follow, must carry
out the details. Under such circumstances, he
was in favor of leaving a discretion over the sub-
ject in the Legislature. Hence, it was, that on
yesterday he advocated, for the present, annual,
leaving it to the Legislature to provide for bien-
nial sessions. He thought that this discretion
might be safely reposed in the Legislature, the
peculiar tribunal of the people. If we provide
in the Constitution for biennial sessions only, and
leave no discretion over it any where, then the
people of the State might be put to great incon-
venience, growing out of the operations of the
new government; to remedy this, he offered his
amendment to provide for biennial sessions, but
as the Convention indicated, by its vote, a prefer-
ence for biennial sessions, he had offered the one
now under consideration He offered it under
the most solemn conviction, that it would prove
ashield of defence in case of an emergency, when
delay in legislation would be attended with great
public inconvenience. If it is opposed, it can
only be because we are afraid to trust the repre-
sentatives of the people. We shall abridge their
power, so as to prevent them from altering the
Constitution, and it is not likely that the people
will exercise the power, for some years to come.
In. the meantime, great exigencies may arise
which may require prompt legislation. Some
discretion must be reposed in the Legislature, on
a question so important.
It is said that it will be used as a political hob-
by. There need be no such fear. There is
much better ground to apprehend that the Legis-
lature will be afraid to provide for annual ses-
sions even in case of anecessity, than they would
recklessly resort to them. Men are more apt to
support popular than unpopular measures.
Mr. RANDALL suggested to the gentleman from
Queen Anne, (Mr. Spencer,) to add to his amend-
ment, the words "and shall have the power to
change the times of the meeting of the Legisla-
ture."
Mr. R. said, it was his intention to vote in
favor of the amendment of the gentleman from
Queen Anne, though he, (Mr.R.,) should prefer it
with the addition he had suggested. He should
vote for it, because he thought that neither an-
nual nor biennial meetings of the Legislature,
ought to be a matter of permanent constitutional
law. He thought that the suggestion made yes-
terday, that a clause should be inserted in the
Constitution, providing exclusively for annual
sessions, might be productive of injurious conse-
quences. Such, also, he, (Mr. R,) believed
would be the case, by providing in the Constitu-