in the recess, when appointments are to be made
according to the discretion of the Governor,
with or without limit as to number, and he [Mr.
B.] had instanced commissioners under the act
of 1837, to take acknowledgments of deeds out
of the State, &c,, and the case of auctioneers,
notaries public, &c. The 13th section was the
identical provision of the existing Constitution;
and he had never heard a complaint until now,
that the Governor could not make these appoint-
ments during the recess. He was not prepared
to admit the construction of the laws referred
to, given by the gentleman from Baltimore city,
and he believed a different construction had
always until now, prevailed in and out of the
Executive department. These offices were cre-
ated by law, not by the Constitution; and the
law could prescribe the manner in which ap-
pointments to them should be made, whether by
the Governor in the recess or not. It has al-
ways been conceded that the Governor could fill
them during the recess; but if that was an enor-
mous construction, the law could be changed at
the next session of the Legislature. And it
should be remarked too, that the people of Ma-
ryland, were little interested in this class of
offices; appointments to them were made mostly
for the benefit of the appointees, and as a privi-
lege or a license to carry on the business to
which they relate. The public interest would
not suffer if no appointments could be made in
the recess. But to obtain a mere ideal advantage,
which at most benefits individuals, and not the
public generally, to enable the Governor to
make appointments under laws which may be
changed next winter, appointments which in no
sense effect the public interest, and that too,
when every Executive which had preceded the
present, had acted on a different construction,
the gentleman from Baltimore city would give
to the Governor, what would be destructive of
the rights of the Senate, and practically would
be an unlimited power over all appointments.
The gentleman had said, that he (Mr. C.) apoke
as if the persons who might wield the executive
power, were not to be upright men. Mr. C.
must say, that he had no very exalted opinion
of the purity of public men. All government
was a satire on human nature, and was made ne-
cessary by the vices and ambition of men. He
was not disposed to trust to the mere goodness
of individuals. It was prudent to guard against
every danger. He would, if he could, by posi-
tive restraints, render it impossible for men to
do wrong He could not assent to the opinion
advanced by the gentleman, that the character
of the person who might happen to be Governor,
his purity and patriotism might safely be relied
on, as a sufficient guaranty against the dangers
apprehended. If this doctrine be true, there
was no necessity at all for constitutional re-
straints. And he must be permitted to say, he
was surprised to hear such sentiments promul-
gated. They were a remnant of the antiquated
idea of the infallibility of rulers. They do not
belong to this land, nor to this age; and espe- |
cially they do not suit gentlemen, who claim to
be par excellence, the friends of the people. He
could not subscribe to them. He was not wil-
ling to trust to the character of any individual,
however pure and exalted that character might
be, as the only defence against the aggressions
of power. He had always bees taught to be-
lieve, and his experience justified the lesson,
that the only security for popular liberty is to
be found in the express requirements of a writ-
ten Constitution. The gentleman has said some-
thing of impeachment; it is idle to talk of im-
peaching a Governor of one of the States of this
Union, It was scarcely worth while to insert
such an article in the Constitution. The power
of impeachment never had been, and never
would be successfully enforced against an indi-
vidual occupying such an elevated and influential
position But the danger feared would be the
legitimate result of the powers conferred upon
him; and how could he be impeached for what
the Constitution authorized him to do?
The power proposed to be given to the Gov-
ernor, was a dangerous one, it was liable to be
evaded, or perverted to a mischievous use, and
he hoped, therefore, no reconsideration would be
had for the purpose of adopting it; but if the section
should be reconsidered, he would then offer
an amendment, which in his opinion would ac-
complish every proper end, without encounter-
ing the dangers which threatened from the adop-
tion of the gentleman's proposition.
Mr. BRENT proposed to answer the extraordi-
nary position assumed by the gentleman from
Somerset. Because that gentleman did not con-
strue the Constitution as the Governors of Mary-
land had done, and because there was no neces-
sity, in his opinion, for putting this doubt to rest,
therefore, he thought that the vote ought not to
be reconsidered. He would Say, that this, was a
very extraordinary position. The gentleman had
said that the practice, in the State of Maryland,
had been for the Governor to make original ap-
pointments in the recess of the Senate. He,
(Mr. B.,) would say, that if there had been such
practice, it had been erroneous, with all due
deference to the better judgment of the gentle-
man from Somerset. Mr. B. asserted, that if
any Governor, under the act of 1837, had, in the
recess of the Senate, appointed commissioners of
deeds out of the State, it was done in violation of
plain law. What is the law? It was as follows:
" Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly
of Maryland, That the Governor, by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate, be and he
is hereby authorised to name, appoint and com-
mission one or more commissioners in each or
such of the other States or territories of the Uni-
ted States, or in the District of Columbia, as he
may deem expedient, which commissioners shall
continue in office during the pleasure of the Governor,
and shall have authority to take the ac-
knowledgments and proof of the execution of
any deed, mortgage, or other conveyance of any
lands, tenements or hereditaments lying or being
in this State; any contract, letter of attorney or
any other writing, under seal, to be used or re- |
