whom he received his appointment, " near the
close of the section.
Mr. EDELEN. That does not remove the
objection, as stated by the gentleman from
Somerset (Mr. Jones.) Suppose the governor
goes out by resignation, or in any other
way, and does not remove his secretary of
state. Does he not continue in office?
Mr. STIRLING. The next governor that
comes in can turn him out. The governor
is the man who happens at any time lo be
governor. And whoever happens to be gov-
ernor can turn out the secretary of state, and
appoint a new one.
Mr. JONES, of Somerset. I will offer the
amendment I suggested, and let the conven-
tion act upon it. I move to amend by strik-
ing out the words " till the end of the official
term of," and insert the word "while;"
and also insert after the word "appoint-
ment" the words "shall continue to act as
governor." It will then read: "shall con-
tinue in office, unless sooner removed by the
governor, while the governor from whom he
received his appointment shall continue to act
as governor,"
Mr. STIRLING. That will create two vacan-
cies in office instead of one. Whenever a vacancy
occurs in the office of governor, that
amendment would create avacancy in the of-
fice of secretary of state. As the section now
stands the next governor that comes in can
always have his own secretary of state, by
turning out the old one and appointing a new
one. Besides you have already provided in
this article that the secretary of state shall
convene the legislature to take action upon
the subject, if the vacancy in the office of gov-
ernor cannot be filled under existing arrange-
ments and provisions. The secretary of state
is to have the custody of the great seal of the
State. If this amendment is adopted, and the
governor dies, then the secretary goes out of
office, and the great seal of the State will be
in the hands of no one.
Mr. JONES, of Somerset. There is force in
the view presented by the gentleman from
Baltimore city (Mr. Stirling;) and I will with-
draw my amendment.
The amendment was accordingly with-
drawn.
Mr. THOMAS. I will move an amendment;
merely to transpose some words in the section
as it now stands. I move to strike out the
words "unless sooner removed by the gov-
ernor, " from where they now are, and insert
them after the words " from whom be received
his appointment. "
The question being taken upon the amend-
ment of Mr. THOMAS, it was rejected.
No further amendment was offered to this
section.
The next section was then read as follows ;
" Sec. 24. He shall carefully keep and pre-
serve a record of all official acts and pro-
ceedings which may at all times be inspected |
by a committee of either branch of the legis-
lature, and shall perform such other duties as
may be prescribed by law, or as may properly
belong to his office."
Mr. MILLER. On behalf of the committee
on the executive department, I move to strike
out the word " he" in the first line, and in-
sert the words " the secretary of state," As
this is an independent section, it may lead to
some ambiguity if you say "he" instead of
" secretary of state."
The question being taken upon the amend-
ment, it was adopted.
Mr. MILLER. I have a further amendment
to this section. It now reads, "and shall
perform such other duties as may be prescribed
by law," There are existing laws upon the
subject, giving him the custody of the great
seal. of the State, and fixing certain duties
that he shall perform, I move to insert after
the word "as" the words ' 'are now or," and
after the word "may" the word " hereafter,"
so that it will read, " and shall perform such
other duties as are now or may hereafter be
prescribed by law."
The amendment was adopted.
On motion of Mr. THOMAS,
The report was further amended, by striking
out the word "legislature" wherever it occurs,
and inserting the words "general assembly."
The report as amended was then ordered
to be engrossed for its third reading, and to
be printed.
ORDER OF BUSINESS.
Mr. PUGH. I move that the convention
now take up the report of the committee on
the judiciary department.
Mr. KENNARD. The chairman of that com-
mittee (Mr. Stockbridge) is not here this
morning. I think therefore we better pass
over that report. There are other subjects
which we can consider to-day.
Mr. PUGH. I will withdraw that motion,
and move to take up the report of the com-
mittee on State's attorney.
Mr. THOMAS. That report has not been
made yet.
Mr. PUGH. Then I will withdraw that mo-
tion.
ATTORNEY GENERAL AND STATE'S ATTORNEY.
Mr. SMITH, of Carroll. I am prepared to
make the report from the committee on
State's attorney. I will say that the com-
mittee are not unanimous in their report.
But as the time of the convention is being
rapidly consumed, they are willing to unite
in submitting a report to the convention, re-
serving to themselves the right to offer any
amendment they may deem proper. This re-
port is signed by a majority of the committee.
1 presume if it is submitted now, it will not
be deemed a discourtesy to the other mem-
bers of the committee who are absent. |
