Mr. MITCHELL wished to give a reason for his
vote. He came here with a view to the retrench-
ment of unnecessary expenditures. He was a
reformer. He had heard it said that the first
gentleman in the United States is Millard Fill-
more Now he wished to make the Governor
of Maryland a gentleman of the first class. He
would therefore give him a high salary that he
may be so.
Mr. DIRICKSON withdrew the second branch of
his amendment, and moved to amend the twenty-
first section by striking out the words " four
thousand," and inserting in lieu of them, the
words " two thousand."
Mr. CRISFIELD asked for a division of the ques-
tion and that it be first taken on striking out.
Mr. DORSEY moved to amend the twenty-first
section by inserting after the word "government,"
in the first line, the following words, " during
the sessions of the General Assembly, and in the
recess thereof, shall be in the city of Annapolis
during the first week of every other month of his
term."
Mr. JENIFER said it would be necessary, he
presumed, in order to comply with this provision,
that the Governor should carry a reporter about
with him to make a record ana report of all his
movements.
Mr. DORSEY replied that the amendment gives
public notice of the times at which it is the duty
of the Governor to be at the seat of government.
It did not appear to him to be necessary that the
Governor should always reside at the seat of
government. From the foundation of our State
government in 1776 until 1836, he was not com-
pelled to have his residence here. But in the
year 1836, this new duty was unnecessarily im-
posed on him. The Governor needs not to be always
at Annapolis. He did not wish, in the least
degree to detract from the manner in which the
gentleman from Queen Anne's, (Mr. Grason.)
had performed his duty while he was Governor.
But the executive chamber was a warm. com-
fortable room, well supplied with the newspa-
pers, books and documents, and had always a
good fire in it, and he thought that the walk to it
every morning was but necessary exercise, and
to sit there a few hours daily, was no great sacri-
fice, and that the daily visits to it by the Co-
ver nor, would have been paid if business did
not require them. As to what was said by
the gentleman from Baltimore about the mur-
der in Kent county, he, (Mr. D.,) thought the
delay and trouble of getting a proclamation is-
sued might be as great, in cases of this kind, if
the Governor, though required to reside here
constantly, but is occasionally absent, or if he is
only here at stated intervals. He knew it was
the opinion of some that the Governor should be
always on the spot. But what would he the
great inconvenience if the business was sent, or
persons had to go, to Frederick, where the home
of the present Governor is, or to Easton, where
the ex-Governor lived. The only object is, that
the people might know where he is to be found,
then no inconvenience can result,
It is said there are many accounts which re-
quire to be examined daily. This statement, he |
apprehended, must be received with many grains
of allowance, nor are they so numerous as to
make it necessary to give an increased salary,
and to require a constant residence here, in older
that the Governor may be enabled to perform this
duty. He could not understand what great num-
ber of accounts there could be. There can be
no money drawn from the treasury, unless it has
been previously appropriated by law, and if the
Governor has other accounts to pay, which are
not the subjects of specific appropriation, but are
paid out of the contingent fund—the fewer they
are the better. But if there are these accounts
to settle, it is better that they should not be paid
too hastily; but that they should be subjected to
as much delay as is necessary for their full and
deliberate examination. Applications, in the
absence of the Governor, may be always sent to
the Secretary of State, or may be forwarded to
the Governor himself, and he can direct the Se-
cretary of State to pay attention to them. And
as to the individual who traveled from Allegany
bare-footed to see the Governor, there would be
no new difficulty thown, in the way of such per-
sons, by the adoption of this amendment, which
would only require of the person a change in the
time, or direction of his journey.
In relation to the public debt, he desired to
say, that from information which had come to his
knowledge since that subject was discussed here,
he had reason to believe that the debt will not be
paid off so soon as some gentlemen seem to have
imagined Their calculations were based on the
assumption, that the debt could be all bought up
at par. But the gentleman from Carroll, told us
that the debt could only be purchased at a pre-
mium, and such was unquestionably the fact. In
that case the money in the Treasury will not be
sufficient to pay the debt at the time anticipated.
And if we, with this fact before our eyes, sitting
here as a Convention to form a Constitution, in-
crease the salaries of our public officers, we shall
still further protect the payment of the debt. He
had about as much southern feeling as he desired
to have, but he had no wish to expend the public
money, for the mere purpose of showing our
ostentatious hospitality. If the Governor thinks
it proper to give entertainments, he can pay for
them out of his salary. But it would be wrong
for this Convention, by sanctioning this practice,
to hold out encouragement to extravagance. He
liked to see the Governor hospitable; and he had
no doubt that his friends from Baltimore, where
money was plentiful, and he supposed easily ac-
quired, as a thousand dollars was no more thought
of than as many cents are in the country,
would be ready enough to vote him the largest
salary, as the means of keeping up expensive hos-
pitalities. But it ought to be remembered, that
throughout the country, at present, there is a
great amount of poverty and distress. He did
not know, if salaries were to be increased, why
the increase should be confined to the Governor.
The judges have as good a claim to share in the
benefit of the operation. The judges of the
courts of appeals have far more incessant labor
to endure—more responsible duties to perform.
For every thing that could elevate the value of |
