their residence, but their loyalty. The judges
of election in the army know that a soldier
is loyal because he has a gun in his hand.
The question was upon the motion of Mr.
DAVIS, of Charles, to strike out the word
" may " in the first line, and insert the word
" shall."
Upon that question Mr. DAVIS, of Charles,
called the yeas and nays, and they were or-
dered.
The question was then taken by yeas and
nays, and resulted—yeas 24, nays 35—as fol-
lows:
Yeas—Messrs. Belt, Billingsley, Blackiston,
Brown, Chambers, Crawford, Davis, of
Charles, Dent, Duvall, Edelen, Henkle, Hol-
lyday, Horsey, Johnson, Lansdale, Lee, Mar-
bury, Mitchell, Miller, Morgan, Parker, Par-
ran, Smith, of Dorchester, Turner—24.
Nays— Messrs. Goldsborough, President ;
Abbott, Annan, Audoun, Baker, Barron,
Carter, Cunningham, Cushing, Daniel,
Davis, of Washington, Dellinger, Ecker,
Galloway, Greene, Hebb, Jones, of Cecil,
Kennard, Markey, McComas, Mullikin, Ny-
man, Peter, Pugh, Purnell, Russell, Schlos-
ser, Scott, Smith, of Worcester, Sneary,
Stirling, Stockbridge, Swope, Todd, Wooden
—35.
The amendment was accordingly rejected.
The following explanations were made,
pending the call of the yeas and nays, by
members when their names were called :
Mr. BELT. I am, as a general proposition,
opposed to having any one sworn. But as
the convention has decided that civilians
shall be forced to take the oath, I shall vole
to put all on an equality. I vote "aye."
Mr. CHAMBERS. I believe of all persons who
should swear when they come to vote) these
soldiers should do so. An officer from Mas-
sachusetts commands a company, a dozen
men of which may claim to be citizens of
Maryland. The officer knows nothing aboat
it; be knows no more where they come from
than he does what is going on in the farthest
end of the world. I suppose the result will
be that if a man professed to be of his poli-
tics he would take his vote, without swear-
ing. If be professed to be of different poli-
tics the officer, who is the judge, would swear
him. That is not right. It strikes me that
the only way to have common justice is to
swear all. It is bad enough under any cir-
cumstances. But it seems to me that if the
citizens are made to take the oath, all should
be made to do so. I vote "aye."
Mr. DAVIS, of Charles. I did not mean in
offering this amendment to sanction the pro-
priety of administering this oath. I merely
offer it to remove the distinction made be-
tween the two classes of voters. In the first
place the judges of election are required to
administer the oath to all civilians. But in
the case of soldiers voting it is provided that |
they may, not that they stall, administer the
oath. I want to remove that restriction.
Mr. PETER. It strikes me that we have no
authority to pass any such provision as this,
and therefore I vote " no."
Mr. BELT moved to amend the section by
adding thereto the following :
"Provided, however, that no votes, of sol-
diers cast at any one polling place or camp
shall be valid or taken into account in any
case where the total number returned shall
exceed the numbers of record in the office of
the adjutant general,
Pending the consideration of which,
On motion of Mr. DAVIS, of Washington,
The convention took a recess until eight
o'clock, P. M.
EVENING SESSIONS.
The convention reassembled at eight
o'clock, P. M.
The roll was called, and the following
members answered to their names;
Messrs. Goldsborough, President; Abbott,'
Annan, Audoun, Baker, Barron, Billingsley,
Blackiston, Carter, Crawford, Cunningham,
Cushing, Dail, Daniel, Davis, of Charles,
Davis, of Washington) Dellinger, Dent, Du-
vall, Earle, Ecker; Edelen, Galloway, Greene,
Hebb, Hodson, Hollyday, Hopper, Horsey,
Johnson, Jones, of Cecil, Keefer, Kennard,
King, Lansdale, Lee, Marbury, Markey,
McComas, Mitchell, Morgan, Mullikin, Mur-
ray, Nyman, Parker, Parran, Pugh, Purnell,
Russell, Schley, Schlosser, Scott, Smith, of
Carroll, Smith, of Dorchester, Smith, of
Worcester, Sneary. Stirling, Stockbridge,
Swope, Sykes, Todd, Wooden—62.
SCHEDULE.
The convention then resumed the consid-
eration of the report of the committee on the
schedule, which was on its second reading.
SOLDIERS' VOTE.
The section under consideration was the
following in relation to soldiers voting :
"Sec. 2. The judges may swear any one
offering to vote as to his being a legal voter
of this State. The judges shall take down
on a poll book or list the names of all the
voters as their votes are taken, and the tickets
shall be placed in a box as taken. After the
polls are closed the tickets shall be counted
and strung on a thread; and the judges shall
make out a certificate which they shall sign,
addressed to the governor, in which they
shall state that they have taken the oath
hereby prescribed, and shall certify the num-
ber of votes taken, and the number of votes
for and against the constitution; the said
certificates shall be accompanied with the
names of the voters, and shall be plainly ex-
pressed, but no particular words shall be re-
quired.' ' |
