this suggestion is entitled to very serious con-
sideration; and I will therefore move that
the section be passed over informally until
to-morrow. The gentleman who moved this
amendment is obliged on account of illness to
absent himself, and I think it is just to him
as well as to ourselves to postpone it until we
can give him an opportunity to be heard
upon it. This report will undoubtedly occu-
py the attention of the convention a long
while, so that we can wait without damage
to the interests of the Stile for the gentleman's
return.
Mr. DANIEL. I think the proposition has
been printed.
The PRESIDENT. No, sir; it is in manu-
script.
Mr. DANIEL. Whether it has or not, I see no
necessity for passing over it. The main fea-
ture of the proposition submitted by the gen-
tleman from Baltimore city (Mr. Thomas,) if I
understand it, has twice been before the con-
vention; and that is whether they will elect by
districts or by general) ticket. The proposi-
tion of the gentleman brings us right back to
the district system with the exception of one
judge; and this question was so fully dis-
cussed this morning, when we voted upon it
twice, that I see no reason for postponing.
After the vote was taken I mentioned lo my
colleague that I supposed the vole taken today
would destroy his proposition effectually,
or pretty much so; and he said he cared very
little about it; that he had to go home; that
he was sick and should not be back for seve-
ral days.
Mr SMITH, of Carroll. Whether he cares
about it much or little is not the question be-
fore us. He has submitted a proposition to
the convention, and we are as much interested
in that proposition as the gentleman himself.
The election of these judges is not to take place,
Borne of them for three years, and others for
six or seven years; and there can certainly
be no political object in the proposition to
elect by general ticket. I take it that the
sense of the convention has not yet been taken
upon the proposition, it is not to besup-
posed that judges elected in any manner
would be controlled by personal or political
feelings, it appears to me that the people in
electing their judges decide some of the most
momentous questions before them. They
hare an opportunity to judge of the qualifica-
tions and fitness of those for whom they are
called to vote. Can a convention assembled
from every part of Maryland be as well qualified
to determine in regard to the qualifica-
tions of men fur this office as the delegates
from the immediate vicinity in which they
live? I think that the gentleman from Al-
legany ought not to be asked to vote for
the candidate coming from Worcester We
can only know their qualifications by waking
the districts so small that any lawyer of any
prominence will be known to all the people
44 |
so that they may know who is fit, and whom
they are willing to trust. Considering the
vital importance of the question, and the fact
that the gentleman who proposed the amend-
ment is absent, I think it is but just that we
should postpone the section. The system
which he proposes is a mixed system; and
the sense of the convention has not been taken
upon it; nor has the attention of the conven-
tion been invited to it. It is a system pro-
viding for the election of the chief justice by
general ticket, and of the four associate jus-
tices from their several districts.
Mr. JONES, of Somerset. I concur moat
heartily in what has been said by the gentle-
man from Carroll (Mr. Smith.) This propo-
sition has not been printed upon our jour-
nals, and I should like to have an opportu-
nity of considering it very deliberately. It
seems to be a sort of compromise proposition,
between those who go for election by general
ticket, and those who go fur election by dis-
tricts. I concur in all the gentleman from
Carroll has said with reference to the impor-
tance, if we are to have an elective court of
appeals, of electing them from the several
districts of the people, where they live, and
where the people are best qualified to judge
of their qualifications.
1 voted with the majority in relation to
the elective system, upon what I supposed to
be the determination as manifested by the
vote of yesterday, to adhere to the system
which we now have, which is the system of
election of the judges of the court of appeals
by districts. But the vote to-day has entire-
ly disappointed me; and I am frank to any
that if this is persisted in I shall return and
vote for the appointment by the governor.
1 hive conversed with several friends, and
found the same view; and we shall go for
!the appointive system, if the judges are not
to ire elected by districts. I concur with the
gentleman from Carroll in the desire that the
section may bepostponed informally, that it
may be printed, and that we may have an
opportunity of seeing the proposition and
consulting about it.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I rise simply to do an act
of justice to an absent member. I think the
gentleman from Baltimore (Mr. Daniel) has
mistaken the feelings of his colleague (Mr.
Thomas) with regard to this amendment.
That gentleman is absent to-night, not from
any inwillingness to be in his place, but
from sickness. I saw Mr. Thomas after the
house adjourned, and I remarked to him that 1
regretted the vote of the house; and he had
high confidence, or seemed to have, that his
proposition would be carried. I rose to cor-
rect that error, in order to do justice to an
absent member.
Mr. ABBOTT. In behalf of my colleague
' who is now absent (Mr. Thomas,) I will say
, that I had some conversation with him with
; regard to this amendment after the adjourn- |
