with whose concurrence this course of proceed-
ing had been adopted, Mr. T. thought there
should he more patience than was exhibited—ant
in suggesting the course he bad proposed in the
afternoon, he was only yielding to what seemed
to be the fixed purpose of a majority not to ad-
journ over to another day.
Mr. CHAMBERS of Kent, desired to know if
there ever was an engrossed bill, before the bill
was engrossed? Was there ever a report made
from an engrossing committee, (which reports,
as the gentleman had said, were never read,)
when there was no engrossment? There was a
part of the constitution which he knew had not
been engrossed. The chairman, not knowing
that this amendment had been adopted, had said
that this was an engrossed and perfect copy of
the constitution, and the gentleman from Baltimore
county had introduced an order that the
President should sign it, and acommittee of two
deposit it in the court of appeals.
Mr, HOWARD would be pleased to know what
the gentleman proposed to do? He did not like
this order, and what course ha wished to take he
had not indicated. He, (Mr. H.,) would say
that perhaps he was misled in supposing that this
was a perfect copy, and if he was, it was from
an innocent mistake. What was the committee
he proposed to raise to do? They were to de-
posit the engrossed copy. Now the gentleman
had said that this committee would receive whatever
the clerk chose to give them, without know-
ing whether it was an engrossed copy or not,
and then deposit it in the Court of Appeals.
Was not this stultifying the committee?
Mr. CHAMBERS said, that he stated that the
paper which the committee had presented as an
engrossed copy he had never seen; that paper
this House had never seen, and that paper was
now admitted not to be a copy of the Constitution,
and they had not given any committee the au-
thority to compare the copy which it was now
said must be made, to ascertain whether it was
a true copy.
Mr. HOWARD desired to have the Constitution
engrossed, and this committee he proposed were
to see that it was a correct engrossed copy.
Mr. CHAMBERS asked the gentleman to refer
to the order, and see whether that was a part of
the duty of the committee.
Mr. HOWARD contended that it would he the
duty of the Committee to see whether the copy
they deposited, was an engrossed copy of the
Constitution. If a committee were appointed
to deposit a twenty dollar note, it was their
duty to see that they deposited a note of that
value. After the President had signed it, the
committee were hound to see that it was an en-
grossed copy, which they deposited. This com-
mittee would be nothing more than equivalent
to the committee on enrolled bills in Congress.
The bills reported from that committee were
never read to either house after the committee
bad examined them. They were simply handed
to the presiding officer, who signed them in the
presence of the House. But there was no anal- |
ogy between this case. and between that of the
officer of the House of Representatives. The
President of the Convention might sign it in his
chamber.
He was desirous of adjourning to-night, for he
did not think that they would have a quorum in
the morning. For himself, he could certainly
trust two gentlemen with the supervision of the
engrossment.
Mr. CHAMBERS said:
The House must really permit him to state the
facts precisely as they occurred. He did not
mean to express the slightest censure on the
committee. He was not present, nor had he ever
heard one word of the consultation to which the
chairman referred as to the proposed course of
the committee, or that two gentlemen were to be
designated to deposit a copy of the Constitution
amongst the archives. It was all news to him
until it was this moment announced on this floor.
He must be permitted to say he had been contin-
ually on duty, first in the House, then in the com-
mittee room. He had been passing to and fro,
charged with duty in one place and the other
alternately, and when he left the committee
room a short time since, it was by their direction
to procure an article in the Constitution which
had been overlooked. He would state what had
occurred while he was present in the committee
room. When it was suggested that it might be
left to the engrossing clerk to make a fair copy
of the Constitution after the Convention had ad-
journed, which copy could be signed by the Pre-
sident and filed in the office of the clerk of the
Court of Appeals, he had declared in the most
decided terms, that never while he had breath to
oppose it, would he consent to have a Constitution
for the State which would finally be the work of
one of the committee clerks without the supervi-
sion of the Convention or any portion of it. It
was then suggested that the House should be
asked to continue the revising committee of
seven for the next day, and confide to them the
duty of collecting all the various detached parts
of our work, and comparing every word and let-
ter with the original. To this arrangement he
had ultimately assented, and wrote a resolution
to that effect, which his friend from Queen Anne's
(Mr Grason,) took charge of to place in the
bands of the gentleman from Baltimore county,
(Mr. Howard.) His friend soon after returned
and reported that some difficulty was likely to be
caused by it. For the minute accuracy of this
statement he appealed to the members of the
committee, and particularly his friend from Queen
Anne's, who was perfectly acquainted with every
particular he stated.
This was the condition of things, when and
while engaged in revising one of the bills he dis-
covered there was no mode provided to settle a
contested election of Judges. An article was
hastily prepared, discussed, amended and unani-
mously adopted by the committee, and he was
requested to come into the House and propose its
adoption as an article of the Constitution. He
had hurried off without waiting even to make a
fair copy of the article, and on coming in found |
