it is designed to bring the fees into the treasury,
the result will be that you will pay the salary
out, and will get no fees in return. If the fees
are too large, lessen them. I would here re-
mark that, in my judgment, the proper way of
managing all these officers is not to attempt to
make them salaried officers, but if the fees are
too large, impose upon them a tax that will reduce
them. In this manner you could get a
profit into the treasury. I move to strike out
those words, so that the clerk shall receive his
fees as usual, and that the public treasury may
Hot be burdened with a salary.
Mr. SPENCER. I move to postpone the fur-
ther consideration of this report, I believe if
there be any thing on which the people of the
State have their mind fixed, it is to have all
their offices elective. Another object was that
there should be paid to the officers a fixed sal-
ary. Nothing was so odious to the people of
Maryland as these tariffs of charges, and it is a
"thing which has 'kept up these extravagant
charges. If you strike that down, and make
the clerk's compensation a certain salary, the
fee bills will be greatly reduced, and there will
be no difficulty in carrying them into the treas-
ury. I withdraw my motion.
The question then recurred on agreeing to the
amendment of Mr. Brent,
Mr. SPENCER asked the yeas and nays, which
were ordered.
Mr, BRENT. I suppose I have a right to
modify my own proposition.
The PRESIDENT. The chair thinks not, after
the question has been propounded and the yeas
and nays ordered, unless by general acqui-
escence.
Mr. BRENT. I merely wished to strike out
that part which relates to the salary, in order to
settle the question as to the mode of election.
The question was then taken on the amendment
of Mr. Brent, with the following result:
Affirmative—Messrs. Blakistone, Dent, Hope-
well, Ricaud, Lee, Chambers, of Kent, Mitchell,
Wells, Howard, Lloyd, Dickinson, James U.
Dennis, Crisfield, Dashiell, Williams, Hicks,
Hodson, Goldsborough, Eccleston, Miller, Bowie,
Tuck, Sprigg, McCubbin, Dirickson, Mc-
Master, Jacobs, Thomas, Gaither, Biser, Annan,
'Gwinn, Brent, of Balt. city, Schley, Fiery,
Neill, John Newcomer, Harbine, Michael New-
comer, Davis, Kilgour, Waters, Anderson,
Shower and Brown—45.
Negative—Messrs. Chapman, Pres't, Donald-
son, Randall, Sellman, Buchanan, Spencer,
George, Wright, Sappington, McHenry, Ma-
graw Thawley, Stewart, of Balt. city, Sher-
wood, of Balt, city, Ware, Brewer, Weber,
Fitzpatrick, Smith, Parke and Cockey—21.
So the amendment was adopted.
Mr. HOWARD moved to amend the amendment
of Mr. Brent, by inserting, after the word
"years," the words "and be removable by a
unanimous vote of the court of appeals, in which
case the governor shall appoint a time for the
election of a successor."
Mr. H. said: I suppose it is hardly necessary |
for me to explain my object in offering this
amendment. I do not think we ought to appoint
a clerk who is responsible to no one, and who
can neglect his duty without being called to account
by any one. I ask the yeas and nays on
the adoption of the amendment.
The yeas and nays were not ordered.
Mr. BRENT, of Baltimore city. I move to
postpone the further consideration of this subject,
and I do it simply for the purpose of el-
plaining why I shall vote against this amend-
ment. I would rather take the vote by a test
question upon my proposition in the form pre-
sented. If it should pass, it is a very easy
thing, by supplementary provisions, to carry
out this power of removal. If this amendment
be adopted as an isolated question, it will after-
wards affect the vote upon the whole proposi-
tion. I foresaw this thing, and did not propose
to specify how the removal of this officer should
take place, in case of death, resignation, or
otherwise.
The question was then taken on the amendment
of Mr. Howard, and it was agreed to.
The question then recurred on the substitute
as amended.
Mr. CHAMBERS, of Kent, gave notice that on
to-morrow morning, he should move to recon-
sider the vote upon the subject of representation.
Mr. BOWIE hoped the motion would not be
made to-morrow morning.
The question again recurred on agreeing to
the substitute as amended.
Mr. JOHNSON. I move to postpone this sub-
ject, for the purpose of saying a few words. I
have voted, and perhaps there may be many oth-
ers who have been more radical reformers than
myself in this Convention, to give the people the
election of all of their officers. I am willing to
repose with the people every office that their own
judgment, their own sense of duty, dictates to
them would promote their own entire interest.
But the clerk of the court is a person so nearly
allied with the administration of justice that no-
thing can more embarrass the proceedings of a
court than to have an inferior clerk, I mean of
a court of record, because I believe that all of
our courts are courts of record, except our magistrates'
courts, and I believe that even there there
is an appeal to the higher courts. If there is one
thing more than another which the people owe
to themselves, it is that there should be in effi-
cient officer, one who obeys the orders of the
court, one who records the decrees of the court,
one who is useful to the court, because, unless be
is useful to the court, he cannot be useful to the
people; and therefore, if there is any one office
above all others that I would place in the hands
of the judiciary, it is that they should select
their own clerk, because they have a responsibility
so high We have given them high, immense
duties; we have required them to discharge their
duties with rapidity and quickness, and I ask, in
the name of all that is serious, whether any court
with an inefficient clerk, can discharge all their
duties with promptitude and dispatch? I think |
