per to annihilate one of its committees in this
way, well and good. He had no objection to it.
Mr. MCHENRY then moved to amend the thirty-fourth
section in the report, by inserting af-
ter the words "General Assembly," the words
"shall pass no special or local act, but," and till-
ing the blank in the first line, with the words "lo-
cal authorities." Also insert before the word
"powers" in the second line, the word "addition-
al."
After a few words by
Mr. DORSEY, in reply to the remarks of Mr.
PHELPS—and by
Mr. BELL—in favor of the general ticket sys-
tem, of the evils of which, as here spoken of, no
knowledge had (he said) come to his possession.
The question was taken on the first branch of
the amendment of Mr. MCHENRY:
And it was rejected.
And the question was taken on the second
branch of the amendment of Mr. MCHENRY ;
And it was rejected.
And the third branch of the amendment of Mr.
MCHENRY, inserting the word "additional," was
rejected.
The question then recurred on the motion of
Mr. MCMASTER, to strike out the words "by gen-
eral ticket and not."
Mr. MCMASTER asked the yeas and nays, which
were refused.
The question was then taken, and the amend-
ment was rejected.
The question then recurred on the amendment
of Mr, MERRICK,
Mr. DAVIS moved to amend said amendment
by adding at the end thereof the following pro-
viso :
"Provided, This article shall be so construed
as not to prevent the Legislature from passing
any law or laws to open the public roads when
two or more counties are interested"
The amendment was rejected.
The question recurred on the amendment of
Mr, MERRICK as amended.
Mr. WEEMS called for a division, which was
ordered.
The question was taken on the first branch of
the amendment, in these words :
"That the county authorities now known as
Levy Courts or County Commissioners, shall
hereafter be styled "Commissioners."
The first branch of the amendment was agreed
to.
The question recurred on the second branch of
the amendment, as follows :
"And shall be elected by general ticket, and
not by districts, by the voters of the respective
counties "
Mr. DORSEY asked the yeas and nays. which
were ordered, and, being taken, resalted as fol-
lows :
Affirmative—Messrs. Chapman, President, Blakistone.
Dent, Hopewell, Ricaud, Lee, Chambers
of Kent. Mitchell, Sellman, Weems, Bond, Mer-
rick, Buchanan, Bell, Welch, Ridgely, Lloyd,
Colston, Crisfield, Dashiell, Phelps, Constable, |
Chambers of Cecil, Miller, McLane, Grason,
George. Wright, Hearn, Thomas, Shriver, Gai-
ther, Biser, Sappington, Stephenson, Thawley,
Stewart of Caroline, Hardcastle, Gwinn, Sher-
wood of Baltimore city. Ware, Fiery, Neill, Jno.
Newcomer, Harbine, Michael Newcomer, Davis,
Kilgour, Weber, Hollyday and Shower—52.
Negative—Messrs. Donaldson, Dorsey, Wells,
Randall, Kent, James U. Dennis, Bowie, Mc-
Master, Fooks, McHenry and Slicer—11.
So the second branch of the amendment was
adopted.
The third and last branch of the amendment
was then adopted as follows :
"And said commissioners shall exercise such
powers and duties only as the Legislature may
prescribe, hut such powers and duties shall be
uniform throughout the State; and the General
Assembly may provide for the election or appoint-
ment of such other county officers as may be re-
quired, and are not provided for by this constitu-
tion, and prescribe their powers and duties, hut
their tenure of office, their powers and duties and
mode of appointment shall be uniform through-
out the State."
The second amendment was then adopted as a
substitute for the thirty-fourth section of the re-
port.
The thirty-fifth section of the report of the
committee was then read as follows:
Sec. 35th. Every bill passed by the General
Assembly, when engrossed, shall be presented by
the Speaker of the House of Delegates, in the
Senate Chamber, to the Governor for the time
being, who shall sign the same, and thereto affix
the great seal in the presence of the members of
both Houses; every law shall be recorded in the
office of the Court of Appeals of the Western
Shore, and in due time be printed, published and
certified under the great seal to the several county
courts in the same manner as has been hereto-
fore usual in this State.
Mr. GRASON moved to amend the section by
striking out all of said section to the word
"Houses," inclusive, in the fifth line, and insert-
ing in lieu thereof, the following:
"Every bill when passed by the General As-
sembly, and sealed with the great seal, shall be
presented to the Governor, who shall sign the
same in the presence of the presiding officers and
chief clerks of the Senate and House of Dele-
gates."
Mr. G, explained the inconveniences attend-
ant upon the obligation that the Governor should
sign bills in the presence of the two Houses, &c.
It was the object of the amendment to obviate
those inconveniencies.
Mr. PHELPS expressed his concurrence in the
views of the gentleman from Queen Anne, (Gra-
son,) and thought that the proposition would be
an improvement on the section as it stood in the
bill.
The amendment was agreed to.
The second branch of the section was then
adopted.
And the section, us amended, was adopted. |
