of 1836. If so, it still left the question now to be
considered, whether it was proper. But it was
never practically so considered. The power to
remove had never been exercised, but in the case
of inferior officers, on complaint, and fur mis-
conduct, or incompetency. An attempt to exercise
it, would have been visited by an indignant
public sentiment. A deliberate introduction now
of such a clause might possibly be regarded as
an invitation, or at least an inducement, to exer-
cise such an odious power, and lead to gross
abuse.
He was not aware that any other portion of the
bill had provided any adequate restraint upon the
mischievous indulgence of this prerogation; of
this, however, the chairman could inform the
House. Some guard ought to he introduced.
Mr GRASON said, that the gentleman from
Kent, had commented on the power of the Pre-
sident of the United States, to make removal
from office. That subject was discussed in the
first Congress under the Constitution, and it was
then decided, Mr. Madison concurring, that the
power of removal, if not expressly limited, was
incidental to the power of appointment. The
gentleman from Kent, contended that it was now
proposed to confer a new and dangerous power
on the Executive, but if he had examined our
present Constitution, he would have seen that
this power had been conferred by the origi-
nal provisions of 1776, and had never been sub-
sequently modified. The power of removal pro-
perly belonged to the Executive, in relation to
annual or biennial appointments, and if it did
not exist in some branch of the government, pub-
lic officers might retain their commissions, after
they had notoriously betrayed their trust, or
proved themselves incompetent to the discharge
of their duties. He had, however, prepared an
amendment for the purpose of obviating some of
the objections of the gentleman from Kent.
The amendment was then agreed to.
Mr. GRASON then offered the following amend-
ment, (suggested to him, he said, by the explana-
tion of the gentleman from Kent, (Mr. Cham-
bers,)
Amend the section by striking out all after the
word "remove," in the fourth line, to the end of
said section, and insert in lieu thereof the fol-
lowing: "all civil officers who are appointed
biennially by the Governor and Senate."
Mr. PRESSTMAN expressed his conviction that
after the forcible views presented by the honor-
able Chairman of the Committee, the Convention
would see the propriety of letting the sec-
tion stand without further amendment, than the
modification which the Chairman had prepared.
On the subject of the doctrine of removal from
office he dissented entirely from the view of the
gentleman from Kent. The power of removal,
he (Mr. P.) insisted had always been in the
hands of the Governor. It was a power which
every President of the United States exercised
when he came into office. And if the power
was not in the hands of the Executive, the effect
would be that any subordinate must remain in
office, whether be was able to perform the duties
or not. Each of the political parties removed |
persons of opposite sentiments from office, and
the common excuse set up, when enquiry was
made, was that it was for cause. He had seen
men of the most respectable standing, of the
highest class of business men, skilful and indus-
trious, struck down, and removed, as it was al-
leged, for cause, He would say it was not for
cause. The Councils of the city of Baltimore
have been in the practice of removing their offi-
cers. They are all removable by the will and
power of the Executive, and so it is throughout
the country generally. And there was as much
money too in the hands of the city officers, who
have been removed, as can be found any where.
He liked to see a strong Executive. It was not
asking too much, to ask that either party should
possess the power.
He objected to the principle of the gentleman
from Kent. The power is not only sustained by
the Constitution of 1836, but by the Constitution
of the State of IT'76, and he believed that when
the gentleman from Kent looked back to that
instrument, and saw what had been done by our
ancestors, who are so much revered by that gen-
tleman, that he would be induced to withdraw
his objection. He (Mr. P.) was of opinion that
the Governor ought to have the power to remove
any incompetent persons. The abuse of the
power is one thing, and the existence of it fur
wise purposes another. Those who to-day may
be disposed to deny its very existence, will ap-
prove perhaps to-morrow of its exercise, under
a flimsy pretence of cause to justify a political
end.
Mr. CHAMBERS said, he had not discovered the
precise point of his remarks, to which the gentle-
man from Baltimore city was opposed. He did
not understand the gentleman to deny any one of
his propositions. He did not know of any in-
stance, in which the Governor of Maryland had
removed a person from office,
Does the gentleman know of any case?
Mr. PRESSTMAN replied that he did not at the
moment call any case to his recollection. But
every one knew that the existing government of
the United Staffs had removed many persons
from office. He did know cases in Maryland
where parties had been removed on account of
incompetence in the performance of their duties.
But removals of this kind did not grow out of the
Constitution. The question we are discussing is
as to the power, not its application.
Mr. CHAMBERS, it the Governor has ever re-
moved an officer before the expiration of his
term, on the ground of a difference in political
sentiments, he was yet to learn the fact. With
some acquaintance with the history of the State
for the last forty years, he had no recollection of
such a case. The power of removal, in the case
of inferior officers, as a conservative power, was
defensible. An officer might be found utterly
incompetent, might become demented, or guilty
of gross crime, and in such cases his removal
might be very proper. The original Constitution
gave the power of removal in cases where a civil
officer was not appointed during good behaviour,
but in the very next section, it provided that all
such officers should be appointed annually. The |
