for the support of any religious sect or denomi-
nate."
THE PUBLIC CREDIT, ETC.
The twenty-first section was then read as fol-
lows :
"Section 21, (of the Report.) No loans shall
be made upon the credit of this State, which are
not redeemable at the pleasure of the State; ex-
cept such as may be authorized by an act of As-
sembly passed at one session and ratified and con-
firmed at the next succeeding regular session of
the General Assembly."
Mr. RIDGELY, in pursuance of the notice he
had yesterday given, moved the following as a
substitute for the said section !
"The credit of the State shall never be given
or loaned in aid of any person, association, muni-
cipality or corporation, nor shall the Legislature
contract any debt, which shall singly, or in the
aggregate exceed a half million of dollars, for
which purpose a vote of three-fourths of all the
members elected to both branches of the General
Assembly shall be necessary, provided that the
Slate may contract debts, not exceeding that
amount, to repel invasion, suppress insurrection
and if threatened, to provide for the public de-
fence."
Mr George, in pursuance of the notice he had
yesterday given, offered the following articles as
ft substitute for the said twenty-first section, and
for the substitute of Mr. RIDGELY:
"Article 1. The amount of debts, hereafter con-
tracted by the Legislature, shall never exceed
one hundred thousand dollars, except for the de-
fence of the State, unless such debt shall be
authorized by a law providing for the collection
of an annual tax or taxes sufficient to pay the interest
on such as it falls due, and also to dis-
charge the principal of such debt within fifteen
years from the time of contracting the same.
And the taxes laid for this purpose shall never
be repealed, or applied to any other object, until
the said debt and the interest thereon shall be
fully discharged.
"Art. 2. The assent of two-thirds of the mem-
bers elected to each branch of the Legislature,
shall be requisite to every hill appropriating the
public money, or pledging the public faith, for
local or private purposes; and the Legislature
shall not have the power to make appropriations,
loans or subscriptions, to any work of internal
improvement."
And the question was first on the amendment
of Mr GEORGE.
Mr. DORSEY moved to amend .the original section
of the bill, by striking out the following
words::
"Which are not redeemable at the pleasure of
the State."
Mr. D. said, he was not pertinacious about
the adoption of this amendment; but it seemed to
him that if he we ever contemplated borrowing
money, it ought to be borrowed upon the best
possible terms; and if we made the loans redeemable
at the pleasure of the State we should have

to pay more than if we made them payable after
a certain time.
The PRESIDENT stated that the proposition or
the gentleman from Anne Arundel, (Mr. Dorsey,)
being a proposition to perfect the original sec-
tion, would have precedence over the substitutes-
proposed.
The question was then taken and the amend-
ment of Mr. DORSEY was agreed to.
The question then recurred on the substitute of
Mr. GEORGE.
Mr. McHENRY called for a division, so that
the question should first be taken on the motion
to strike out.
Mr. RIDGELY accepted the substitute of Mr.
GEORGE as a modification of his own proposi-
tion.
Mr. JOHN DENNIS moved to amend said amend-
ment by striking out these words, "the amount of
debts, hereafter contracted by the Legislature,
shall never exceed one hundred thousand dol-
lars," and insert in lieu thereof, "the Legislature
hereafter shall contract no debt."
Mr. GEORGE accepted this amendment.
Mr. RIDGELY asked the yeas and nays on the
substitute.
Mr. SPENCER remarked that a suggestion had
been made to him, that the words of the substi-
tute "for the defence of the State," were too
latitudinous. To obviate this objection he would
move an amendment. He did so to meet the
wishes of other gentlemen who desired to sup-
port the proposition, if the amendment he offered
was agreed to.
Mr. SPENCER the moved further to amend said
amendment, by striving out these words, in se-
cond line, "except for the defence of the State,"
and inserting in lieu thereof "except in cage of
war, to repel invasion, and to suppress insurrec-
tion."
Mr. SCHLEY said, he should vote against the
amendment of the gentleman from Queen Anne,
(Mr. Spencer,) not because he, (Mr. Schley,) dif-
fered as to the object to be attained by it, but
because he thought it was already attained by
the words "defence of the State." He was Op-
posed to the multiplication of words in the Con-
stitution. He desired that they should be as
pithy, concise, and brief as possible.
The question was then put on the amendment
of Mr. SPENCER,
But no quorum voted.
Mr. MITCHELL stated that he could not vote,
because he had paired off with Mr. HOLLYDAY.
The question was then again taken, and, hav-
ing been decided in the negative,
The amendment of Mr. SPENCER was rejected.
Mr. DONALDSON offered the following as a
substitute for the substitute !
"The aggregate amount of debt or liability
hereafter contracted by the Legislature shall
never exceed the sum of one hundred thousand
dollars, except in case of war, to repel invasions,
or suppress insurrections, unless the same shall
be authorised by a law for some single object.
distinctly specified therein, passed by a vote of
two-thirds of all the members elected to each