said office until the next general election for
delegates thereafter, at which time an election
shall be held as hereinbefore prescribed, for a
judge, who shall hold the said office for 10 years,
according to the provisions of this constitution."
Mr. GEASON offered as a substitute for the sec-
tion, the following:
"In case of a vacancy in the office of a judge in
any court of law, or orphans' court, the Govern-
or, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, shall fill such vacancy by appointing a
judge, whose commission shall continue in force
till the next general election of delegates, and
till his successor shall qualify."
On the question being put,
Will the Convention accept said substitute?
it wag
Determined in the negative.
The question then recurred on the adoption of
the amendment offered by Mr. DONALDSON; and
it was agreed to.
The 28th section of the report of the committee,
as amended by the revisory committee, was
then read;
And the question being on its adoption,
Mr. SPENCER moved that the question be taken
by yeas and nays,
Which being ordered,
Appeared as follows:
Affirmative— Messrs. Lee, Chambers of Kent,
Donaldson, Randall, Bell, Williams, Hicks, Hod-
son, Tack, Grason, George, Wright, Annan,
Stewart of Caroline, Gwinn, Stewart of Balti-
more city, Brent of Baltimore city, Sherwood
of Baltimore city, Ware, Harbine, Michael New-
comer and Parke—22.
Negative—Messrs. Chapman, President, Mor-
gan, Wells, Sellman, Weems, Jenifer, Howard,
Buchanan, Welch, Chandler, Ridgely, Lloyd,
John Dennis, Dashiell, Goldsborough, Eccles-
ton, Constable, Miller, McLane, Bowie, Spencer,
Dirickson, McMaster, Fooks, Jacobs, Thomas,
Gaither, Biser, Sappington, Stephenson, McHen-
ry, Magraw, Nelson, Presstman, Schley, Brew-
er, Waters, Anderson, Weber, Fitzpatrick and
Brown—41.
So the section, as amended by the revisory
committee, was not adopted.
The report of the revisory committee was
then got through with.
Mr. HOWARD. We are about to adjourn with-
out doing strict justice, and I will state the facts
that members may see whether I am right or
wrong. I understand that the compensation of
the reporter of this Convention is dependant
upon the amount of printing. A deduction has
been made of 20 per ct. upon the whole amount
of his compensation, which money is retained
in our hands as a guaranty for the faithful per-
formance of his duty, and is to be held by us
until he shall have accomplished all his duties
to the Convention. The legislation, now by
resolution, is such that he is to be paid a certain
compensation for his attendance here in the com-
pletion of the work, up to the first of June; and |
we have annexed a limitation to the powers of
the committee, of the president, and of every
representative of this convention, to take effect
on the first of June, After that day, there will
be no authority in any body to pay money on
behalf of this convention. If this is so, my con-
clusion follows that we shall do an act which
will not be equitable, fair and just to this officer;
because he is not responsible for the non-per-
formance of the work upon the first of June.
He cannot hasten the primer. He cannot re-
ceive compensation for what is published after
that date. Nor can he receive the 20 per cent
upon the whole amount when the debates shall
have been printed. IIf we now adjourn, he will
find himself upon the first of June, from the very
impossibility of the printers completing the
work, and without any fault on his part, mulct
in 20 per cent of the money which he has fairly
earned, and which is justly due to him from this
body, and which he cannot get without an appeal
to the Legislature. I suppose that no member
of this convention desires to place this officer in
that situation; and it is the inevitable conse-
quence of our action here, I therefore move
the following resolution:
Resolved, That the journal of accounts having
been closed, the president of this convention
draw upon the treasurer for such amounts as
may he certified by the committee on printing,
to be due for the fulfilment and the execution of
the contracts made by this convention, for the
reporting and printing the debates of the Con-
vention.
Mr. STEWART, of Baltimore. That resolution
assumes that the power of the committee goes
over the first of June. If they are to certify to
accounts, it can only be done by the grant of
power; and that I understand to have been already
given by the order passed yesterday. My friend
and former colleague upon the Committee on
Printing, suggested that the certificate should
state as of the 13th of May, 1851, what was due
to the Reporter, to be paid accordingly. I only
desire to call the attention of the House to this
point; I know something of the labors of that
committee. The object of this resolution is lo
extend their labors beyond the first of June.
The Committee would understand that their
powers were continued until this whole matter
should be wound up; and if so, it was no more
than right that they should be paid their per diem
while here in the discharge of that duty. if they
were to be called upon to perform the duty of
examining the vouchers of the reporter, and to
certify to them, he should insist upon it as a mat-
ter of justice, to which they were entitled, quite
as much as the reporter, that they should be paid
the per diem until the duty should be fully dis-
charged. There should be no difficulty about
that.
Mr. BOWIE said, that the object of this was
simply to authorise the committee to certify after
that day. There would be no committee sitting
here day after day. But upon the limitation of
the gentleman from Calvert, (Mr. Weems,) there
would be no power to provide for the payment of |
