and treasurer would to charged with all the du-
ties formerly vested in that officer. Where
would the creditors go who had an express stip-
ulation that they were to be paid at the office of
the commissioner of loans in the city of Balti-
more ?
They would be obliged to inquire all over the
city of Baltimore, than come here to the city of
Annapolis, find out a law of this kind, examine
the books at the treasury, and go through certain
forms and ceremonies, none of which were ever
intimated to the parties at the time they consent-
ed to receive bonds from the State.
If they should abolish the office of commission-
er of loans, then he would say that the State had
violated its contract. If they had the right to
say that the creditors should not be paid at the
office of the commissioner of loans in Baltimore,
but in Annapolis, they would have the right to
say that they should be paid in China or
Persia.
He understood the gentleman from Cecil to
state, in an inquiry made by the gentleman from
Queen Anne's, that if they appointed this comp-
troller, they would save the great expense in-
curred by the Barrings in London. He took
issue with the gentleman from Cecil, on such a
statement; the appointment of a comptroller as
now proposed, could in no possible way produce
such a result.
The ingenuity of even the gentleman from
Cecil, great as it is, would be taxed beyond its
capacity, if required to state a reason, that
would satisfy any body, how the appointment of
a comptroller could produce the result which he
had informed the gentleman from Queen Anne's
that it could do. Mr. McCubbin, the then trea-
surer, accompanied by the commissioner of loans,
before he contracted with an agent to pay the in-
terest on the Slate's sterling bonds went to Bal-
timore, Philadelphia and New York, and tried
every where to get the most advantageous con-
tract for the State, and the best that could be
effected was that which had been made with
the Barrings, by which they charged one per
cent. for their services; with the condition that
if they should receive the money before the
time, they should pay the State four per cent.
until the day of payment should arrive.
Mr. MCLANE said:
That he would not ask the Convention to lis-
ten to him at all, but fur the position occupied by
the gentleman who had stated this objection
which entitled his opinions to very great respect
with him, and no doubt with all here. The
gentleman had referred to the act of 1847, pro-
viding for the mode and place of paying the in-
terest, and had said, that that law interposed an
insuperable objection to any other arrangement
for the payment of the interest on the debt. Was
it possible that such an idea could for one moment
be entertained?
Mr. DORSEY said:
That this bill provided for the substitution of
other certificates in the place of those formerly
issued, so that the certificates last stipulated,
could not be changed. |
Mr. McLane said:
That the sterling bonds in this State were issued
anterior to the year 1844. This contract of
the public debt, so far as regarded these sterling
bonds, originated anterior to 1847, and they
were securities which had passed from their
hands. This act of 1847 provided an arrange-
ment for the convenience of the State, to faring
her bonds from sterling to currency, and appoint-
ed a place where the exchange could be made
and the interest paid. This was not intended for
the benefit of the creditors, but for the conve-
nience of the State, and might at any time be dis-
pensed with.
Was it not perfectly known that when the leg-
islature, for its own convenience, or fur the con-
venience of the State, chose to devolve a partic-
ular duly upon any one of its officers, and might
find it expedient lo abolish that officer, they
could do so by substituting some other person in
his place to discharge the duty which originally
devolved upon him? It became necessary for the
State to pursue that course. When the bonds
were issued, there might have been a commis-
sioner of loans situated in the upper part of the
city of Baltimore, and the argument would be
just as conclusive that they could not make him
live in old town, because the creditors would be
forced to go to that part of the city. They could
put all this matter into a mere contract of pro-
missory notes.
Besides, the learned gentleman seemed to sop-
pose that this interest would be paid in Annapo-
lis. There was no such idea in the bill. He
had stated yesterday that the contemplation was
to pay the interest in the city of Baltimore, but
that it might be paid under certain regulations,
more convenient and less expensive to the State
here.
If the proposition of the gentleman from Prince
George's should prevail, the Governor would
have to take the same course. He did not expect
the parties to come here to receive their
money from the Governor. There was no such
obligation. It was intended that all the laws in
force should operate, as had been said by the gen-
tleman from Prince George's.
He asked the Convention to bring their minds
to the simple aspect, that all these acts were in-
tended for the convenience of the State, and
therefore, they were at the discretion of the
State to be modified, if they did not touch the
contract. It was not possible to suppose that the
act passed in 1847 could have any reference to
the contract made in 1837.
Mr. DORSEY remarked that the gentleman had
said that the act of assembly was passed for the
convenience of the State. On the contrary be
knew that it was passed for the accommodation
of the parties themselves.
Mr. MCLANE. I was speaking of the act of
1847.
Mr. DONALDSON said:
The law of 1847 was passed, that sterling
bonds might be converted into currency bonds
the interest payable at home, instead of London;
and this was done to save more expense to the |
