The amendment submitted by Mr. PURNELL
was rejected.
Mr. TODD. I move to amend by striking
out "five," and inserting "six," in line
six; renewing the amendment of the gentle-
man from Frederick (Mr. Schley,.) which was
withdrawn; so that the election shall take
place in 1866 instead of 1865.
Mr. STIRLING. I will call the attention of
the convention, as there does not seem to be
much attention paid to it, to this important
matter. I have no interest in the matter my-
self, for I do not vote for county commissioners
if the report stays as it is, the elec-
tion of State officers will be in the even
years, and the election of the county officers
will be in the intervening years. If you want
them to come in] different years, you will vote
against the amendment. 'The amendment of
the gentleman from Caroline (Mr. Todd) ex-
tends to a term of three years the tenure of
gentlemen who have been elected for two.—
It does not seem to me that that is a wise
thing to do. This is a very important mat-
ter, and I should like to hear some expression
of opinion about it. if we provide that the
county commissioners shall be elected at a
separate election, we should provide for the
election of all the county officers at the same
time, it seems to me.
Mr. SCHLEY. The amendment offered by the
gentleman from Caroline (Mr. Todd) is iden-
tical with one presented by myself yesterday
and subsequently withdrawn. It occurred
to me at the lime, and I then stated, that it
would be a saving of expense, and avoid an
unnecessary repetition of elections, to adopt
the amendment as then proposed. But up in
a hasty conference with a number of gentle-
men around me, I became impressed with the
belief that it was generally deaired through-
out the counties, to separate their local elec-
tions from the time of holding the general
State elections.
I also understand that that matter was
fully canvassed in committee, and that the
committee came to the conclusion that it
would be very much better to hold this elec-
tion at a separate time, notwithstanding
the expense. Moved by these considerations,
I withdrew the amendment last night. Be-
ing still of opinion that they possess force,
I shall therefore vote against the amend-
ment.
Mr. TODD, The object of this amendment
is to prevent unnecessary frequency of elections,
both as a matter of finance and as a
matter of morals. I think it is desirable
that all these county officers who are by the
terms of this report to be elected at all, shall
be elected at the same time with the general
State election. There are other reasons, but
it is unnecessary for me lo elaborate them,
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. This is a question af-
fecting a large number of officers, It is not
the office of county commissioners alone, but |
1 believe that of sheriffs throughout the State,
the county clerks of some counties, the gov-
ernor of the State, the comptroller of the
State—a large number of these offices have
terms expiring at that time. Perhaps this is
the best time to settle that question. Here
are a large number to be provided for. If
we make this modification here upon the the-
ory that there is to be no election the in-
tervening year, we shall have to provide some
mode of disposing of the office of governor,
and all these other officers of the State. In
a previous section of the constitution where
this question came incidentally be ore us,]
think it was the general understanding that
there were so many officers, whose term of
office expire at that time, that it would be
essential, necessary, and the simplest man-
ner of disposing of it, to provide for elections
at that time. If the convention thinks oth-
erwise, this would be as good a time to dis-
pose of the question as any. It seems to me
that it will be necessary to have an election
in the fall of that year.
Mr. TODD demanded the yeas and nays,
but they were not ordered.
Mr. STIRLING. I do not know whether it
is well to fill this blank at all. What my
colleague (Mr. Stockbridge) has said, is a
matter of very serious consideration. We
do not know what we want until we fix upon
our policy for some other offices. I think
the best plan may be to let it be a blank to
be filled afterwards. It is impossible to set-
tle the question now, without going into a
discussion about the governor and all those
other officers. I suggest the propriety not
only of rejecting this amendment, but of
striking out the filling of the blank, leafing
it still blank. I am not ready to vote
upon it.
The amendment submitted by Mr. TODD
was rejected.
Mr. SCOTT. By passing on to the fifth sec-
tion, it will be observed that road supervi-
sors and constables are to be appointed by
the county commissioners. It is by no
means certain what will be the action of the
convention on that subject. They may
be appointed or they may be elected as at
present. If they are to be elected, I should
prefer that it should be at a special election.
1 therefore move that we pass over informally
the fourth section until we arrive at some
conclusion with regard to the other offices.
Mr, PUGH. If we pass over that informally,
we cannot get rid of this article at all,
The PRESIDENT. After considering the
other sections, the convention will return to
the consideration of this.
Mr. PUGH. We shall not be out of the dif-
ficulty suggested by my colleague until we
act upon the report of the judiciary com-
mittee.
Mr. SCOTT. My object is, that if we are to
elect road supervisors and constables, the |
