I make no objection to this portion of the report.
I sincerely hope it may work well. I cannot,
however, concur with the committee in their
views as set forth in the first section of this
report. I would prefer continuing this office, and
letting the Governor, with the advice and con-
sent of the Senate, appoint the Attorney General,
whose term of office should be the same as that
of the Executive. By this arrangement I think
much expense may be saved to the State, and the
Governor relieved of much trouble and inconve-
nience. Having expressed my humble views, I
now offer the following as a substitute for the
first section:
"The Governor, with the advice and consent
of the Senate, shall have power to appoint an
Attorney General for the State, whose term of
office shall be years; and it shall be the duty
of said Attorney General to attend to all cases
in which the State may be concerned, and the
annual compensation to said officer shall lie two
thousand dollars, for services rendered within
the limits of the State; it shall also be his duty
to attend to any case beyond the limits of the
State, whenever required so to do by the Gover-
nor, and for services performed out of this State,
he shall receive such additional compensation as
may be allowed by the Legislature at its first ses-
sion after such services shall have been perform-
ed."
The question was then taken, and the substi-
tute of Mr. WEEMS was rejected,
The question recurred on the substitute of Mr.
McLANE.
Mr. CRISFIELD moved to amend said substitute
by adding at the end thereof, the following;
"But no law shall be passed to establish the
office of Attorney General."
Mr. C asked the yeas and nays on the amend-
ment, which were ordered, and being taken, re-
sulted as follows:
Affirmative—Messrs. Buchanan, President, pro
tem., Lee, Chambers of Kent, Donaldson, Dorsey,
Brent of Charles, Jenifer, Bell, Welch, Dickin-
son, Sherwood of Talbot, Dashiell, Eccleston,
Chambers of Cecil, McCullough, Miller, Mc-
Lane, Wright, Dirickson, McMaster, Fooks,
Shriver, Sappington, McHenry, Magraw, Nelson,
Carter, Gwinn, Stewart of Baltimore city,
Brent of Baltimore city, Sherwood of Baltimore
city, Ware, Schley, Fiery, Neill, John Newcom-
er, Harbine, Brewer, Weber, Hollyday, Slicer,
Fitzpatrick, Smith, Parke, and Cockey—45.
Negative—Messrs. Morgan, Wells, Sellman,
Weems, Howard, Chandler, Crisfield, Williams,
Hodson, Phelps, Bowie, Spencer, Kilgour and
Shower—14.
So the amendment of Mr. CRISFIELD was agreed
to.
The question then recurred on the adoption of
the substitute of Mr. MCLANE, as amended.
Mr. SHERWOOD, of Baltimore city. I have
listened with great attention to this debate, Mr.
President, and was in hopes that it would not be
necessary to inflict any remarks of mine upon the
patience of this Convention; but I find that I |
must ask your indulgence for five minutes. How-
ever anxious gentlemen here may be to bring the
labors of this body to a speedy close, allow me
to say, that no member of it feels a greater inte-
rest in the progress of the public business than
myself. The question now before us has been
literally " talked to death." It has been so re-
peatedly altered and realtered, amended and re-
amended, that, notwithstanding all the rich dis-
plays of legal lore—notwithstanding the elabo-
rate opinions expressed by gentlemen learned in
the law, I cannot but come to the same conclu-
sion that Benjamin Franklin came to when ait-
ting by the side of Thomas Jefferson at the time
of the adoption of the Declaration of Indepen-
dence. The anecdote is historical, and no doubt
familiar to all here—but, old and familiar as it
may be, I shall here repeat it, as most applica-
ble to the present condition of the business of the
Convention. It is this : When the Declaration
of Independence was under discussion, and Mr.
Jefferson was writhing under the criticisms that
were being made on some of its parts, Franklin,
by way of consoling him, told the story of John
Thomson, who was about to set up business for
himself as a batter, and who consulted his ac-
quaintances on the important subject of his sign.
The one he had proposed to himself was this :
"John Thompson, hatter, makes and sells bats
for ready money," with the sign of a hat. The
first friend whose advice he asked, suggested
that the word " hatter " was entirely superflu-
ous; to which he readily agreeing, was struck
out. The next remarked, that it was unneces-
sary to mention that he required " ready money "
for his hats —few persons wishing credit for an
article of no more cost than a hat, or if they did,
he might sometimes find it advisable to give it.
These words were accordingly struck out; and
the sign then stood, " John Thomson makes and
sells hats." A third friend who was consulted,
observed, that when a man looked to buy a hat,
he (lid not care who made it; on which two more
words were stricken out. On showing to another
the sign thus abridged to " John Thomson sells
hats," he exclaimed, " why, who the devil will
expect you to give them away ? " On which
cogent criticism, two more words were expung-
ed; and nothing of the original sign was left but
" John Thomson," with the sign of the hat.
Now, there has been a great consumption of
time on this subject, and it does seem tome that
it has already been decided by the vote just ta-
ken on the amendment of the gentleman from
Charles, [Mr. Merrick,] that we shall have no
Attorney General; and we seem to have done
much the same thing as was done in regard to
John Thompson's sign—struck out everything
that has been presented for oar consideration,
and left nothing but a name and a sign! And yet
my friend insists upon restoring that which has
been stricken out, and thus revive an office which
I think has been pronounced by the deliberate
votes and determined action of this Convention,
as useless and unnecessary—at least it has been
so determined to my entire satisfaction.
I would not have attempted on this occasion, |
