participated in its labors, of the embarrassment
thrown around the session of the last Legislature
from the effect of this very biennial policy; and
if he had rightly heard and understood, it had
been clearly intimated, that the proposition to
recommend the call of an extra session, had been
gravely, if not publicly argued by many of that
eminent and distinguished body.
Mr. BROWN remarked that he believed the
Governor was in favor of the call of an extra
session.
Mr. CHAMBERS, of Kent, was understood to
inquire whether the Governor was in favor of
getting the Legislature to recommend the call,
or of calling it himself.
Mr. BROWN said, he had understood that the
Governor was inclined to the call, if the Legis-
lature thought proper to recommend it.
Mr. GWINN desired to say, in behalf of a gen-
tleman who was not here to speak for himself,
that there were some matters pending before
the last Legislature which were believed to be
of serious importance. But he (Mr. G.) had
never understood that the Governor either desired,
or recommended to any set of individuals,
that an extra session should be called. The
Governor thought that there would be a moral
justification for the step in the Legislature, and
was prepared to act upon its recommendation;
but he had never in any manner interfered, or
counseled, or influenced the Legislature in re-
gard to it.
Mr. DIRICKSON resumed. He believed he had
properly understood and correctly stated the ex-
pressions to which he had alluded—and the moral
which the declarations and avowal taught him,
was that it might be dangerous to give this pow-
er to such a body as this amendment proposed.
Had this provision have existed in the present
Constitution an extra, session might, at this very
moment, be holding its sittings and fearfully in-
creasing the already enormous expenditure of
the State. Neither the necessities of the times,
nor the wants of the community, rendered essen-
tial such additional outlay of the common trea-
sure for such a purpose. The power is by the
existing Constitution already vested in the Exe-
cutive—why had it not been exercised. The
distinguished officer who then occupied the
gubernatorial chair was incapable of shrinking
from the discharge of any moral or legal duly
imposed by that exalted position, and the irre-
sistible inference is forced upon all that no such
extra session was in reality demanded. Sir, we
should be careful how we vest this extreme au-
thority in that department of the Government,
which from its very numbers cannot by possibili-
ty feel that direct responsibility necessarily re-
quisite to its wise and wholesome exercise. Let
it remain, as provided by a future section of this
report, in the bands where it had been placed by
our fathers, to be used only when some high and
unusual crisis justified its employment. From
the constant mutability and very uncertainty of
all things earthly, it must be lodged somewhere
to be wielded in the hour of emergency for the
security, the protection, and the prosperity of all

Great and unexpected financial embarrassments
might come suddenly upon us—war, with its hor-
rors, menace our liberties—pestilence and famine
invade ourBORDER=0s and insurrection with gory head
rear itself in our midst. If such a time should
ever come, then would the crisis have arrived
when the wisdom and patriotism of the land should
be summoned to these, our council chambers; then
might this power work the great and legitimate
object for which it was properly and wisely de-
signed. With such views and sentiments he could
not lend his sanction to the amendment to which
he had last alluded. He could not aid in tramp-
ling under foot a measure which bad been ordained
by the people themselves. He could not con-
sent to take a step backward in the great onward
march of reform now going on every where with-
in and around us. He wished to see Maryland
in the very van of those States that, upon the
ruins of old fabrics, were rearing better, purer,
and more economical governments. That was the
kind of reform desired by the people whom he
had the honor in part to represent. He believed
he knew their wishes and their interests, and in
accordance with his constant and earnest aim,
he should endeavor it all times, honestly, and
faithfully to cling to and sustain them.
Mr. TUCK said:
That he had stated, when advocating the pub-
lication of the debates, that he would trouble the
Convention as little as any of the speaking pro-
fession to which he belonged, and he believed he
had been true to his promise.
It would appear, from what his friend from
Worcester had said, that the State had been ac-
tually convulsed from the Allegany mountains to
the ocean, on the subject of biennial sessions.
Mr. T. rather suspected, that in this instance
his friend had taken Worcester county for the
State. If the excitement spoken of, had swept
over the State, it had not reached the lower
counties on the Western Shore as far as he was
informed. It is true that Prince George's coun-
ty gave a majority for biennial sessions. But
there was no excitement or agitation of the sub-
ject before the election, as far as he, [Mr. T„]
knew, or had heard. It so happened, that he
participated actively in the canvass of 1846,
though not a candidate; and he did not remem-
ber to have heard the subject mentioned, and he
knew that many persons had not considered the
matter at all before they were asked the question
at the polls. He knows this, because he heard
many say so at the time—and many declined vo-
ting on that question for this reason. His coun-
ty gave a majority for the biennial act; but not
more than one thousand, two hundred and fifty
voters passed on the question, out of about one
thousand five hundred or more, that were
polled.
If he, (Mr. T.,) thought that this question were
deemed of paramount importance by his consti-
tuents—that it was above all others affecting
their rights and interests, and had been recently
settled by the vote at the polls, he would not
now vote for annual sessions. He acknowledged
the right of instruction, and the duty of obedience.