amount of debt, and knowing that the motion to
reconsider would be made, he was disposed to
accede to the wishes of gentlemen who desired
greater restrictions, rather than risk the whole
provision. To his mind, the most important ob-
ject to be accomplished by the call of this Con-
vention was to place restrictions upon the legis-
lature—to prevent them hereafter from involving
the State in pecuniary difficulty. But he did not
wish to treat the legislature, as a captured enemy
—refusing to them, even the honors of war.
The proposition of his friend from Cecil, (Mr.
Constable,) actually treated the legislature as if
they were a foreign enemy; the gentleman was
afraid to trust them with any expenditure of the
public money. And it was his, (Mr. G's,) opin-
ion that the propositions of the gentleman from
Cecil, [Mr. Constable,] even in their original
shape, were much more likely to involve the
State in difficulty than the proposition of his,
[Mr. G's.,] colleague.
With all the interest which he felt in this mat-
ter of legislative reform, he did not wish to em-
barrass and tie down the legislature by Constitu-
tional provisions in such a manner as to stop the
wheels of the government. He was disposed to
believe that the objection to the proposition of
his colleague, if any could be raised against it,
was that it was too stringent,
He, [Mr. G.,] would himself have been willing
to go to the extent of one hundred thousand, in-
stead of fifty thousand dollars, to meet deficien-
cies in the treasury, not fearing that any prejudi-
cial results would have followed from the adop-
tion of this more extended limit.
The question which the Convention had now to
decide, was whether they would take the propo-
sition of his colleague, [Mr. George,] as modi-
fied, or would take the various propositions of
the gentleman from Cecil, [Mr. Constable.] and
with them, the amendment of the gentleman
from Harford, [Mr. McHenry.]
He, [Mr. G ,] understood that the true mean-
ing of the amendment of the gentlemen from
Harford, was, that the legislature might impose
taxes, for the purpose of redeeming the public
debt, hitherto contracted. The gentleman seem-
ed to act under the supposition that no provision
had been made for the payment of that debt.
Yet we had heard from various quarters of the
Convention, and amongst others, from the gen-
tleman from Anne Arundel, (Mr. Donaldson,)
whose intimate knowledge of the financial condi-
tion of the State was well known, that, in the
course of twelve or fifteen years, the payment of
this debt would be accomplished under the provi-
sion now made for the purpose. There was,
therefore, no necessity for making any provision
to pay off the debt hitherto contracted.
Mr. MCHENRY interposed, and turning to Mr.
Grason, made a remark apparently in explana-
tion, of which nothing was heard by the Re-
porter.
Mr. GRASON then proceeded to examine seriatim,
the propositions of Mr. CONSTABLE—re-
marking at the outset, that he, [Mr. G.,] object-
ed generally to them, because, notwithstanding
the ability of the gentleman by whom they were |
drawn, they were complicated—aid it would be
impossible for any man but a lawyer to compre-
hend their full extent and operation.
Reading the first, second, and third branches
of the substitute of Mr. CONSTABLE, Mr. G. ex-
pressed the opinion that all these details were
provided for, and the whole ground covered by
the proposition of his colleague.
The fourth proposition of the gentleman from
Cecil was, that the Legislature shall have no
power to appropriate money for any purpose, or
to any object for which they are not authorised to
raise the sum so assessed by a general State tax.
It seemed to him, (Mr. G.,) that this section was
somewhat obscure. He took it for granted that
the Legislature at present had no power to ap-
propriate the public money for any purpose for
which they might not raise a tax. But, accord-
ing to the language of the gentleman from Cecil,
it might happen that an appropriation was need-
ed of one thousand or fifteen hundred dollars for
the payment of some particular services. The
question would then come up before the Legisla-
ture, whether they had the right to levy a tax
upon the people to pay this sum. He thought
that this was rather obscure—too minute—and
that it was better provided for in the amendment
of his colleague.
The next branch, as to the imposition of State
taxes for the defence of the State, and the pay-
ment of the principal and interest of the public
debt, was provided for in the amendment of his
colleague.
"To defray the necessary expenses of the Gov-
ernment," was another object provided for in the
same section. This was a branch under which,
he thought, more abuses might creep in, than
could under the amendment of his colleague.
The sixth and last article related to the ex-
emption of property from taxation. He thought
that the Legislature should have the power to
exempt from the operation of any system of tax-
ation property simply enough for the purposes of
public worship, &c.; he meant churches and
burial grounds. Yet, as he construed the propo-
sition of the gentleman from Cecil, (Mr. Consta-
ble,) it did not exempt churches.
The fifth section gave the Legislature a gener-
al power to establish a system of public schools,
adequately endowed, throughout the State. There
was a general feeling throughout the State, by
men who were zealous upon the subject, that
private resources were not sufficient to keep up
these schools, but that it was necessary for the
Legislature to resort to the public Treasury, and
take from it money raised by taxation for the es-
tablishment of a more general system. There
was nothing in his colleague's proposition which
prohibited the Legislature from making appro-
priations for public schools. But at the same
time it contained no invitation or incitement to
that end. The Legislature would be prompt
enough to apply the public funds to purposes of
education without any suggestion in the Constitu-
tion. The danger rather was that they would
run into the contrary extreme, and that there
would be as great a rage for schools now as there
was for internal improvements twenty years ago. |
