sum of ten dollars as the per diem of mem-
bers of this body.
Now so far as living and other expenses
are concerned, they have increased fifty per
cent. over what they were at the meeting of
the last general assembly of this State. I
think that in view of everything that is stated
here in the report of the committee of the
last general assembly, and in view of the law,
this convention ought to be liberal enough to
allow the poor members of this convention
the amount asked for in this order.
Mr. STIRLING. I wish to say a word upon
this subject, because I am not in the habit of
refusing to acknowledge anything I have
done. It has been said or insinuated here,
that those who reported that resolution in
the last general assembly were not to be re-
spected, so far as their judgments were con-
cerned, and were not quite to be respected so
far as their motives were concerned. That
resolution passed both houses of the general
assembly, by a large majority. And so far
as I have heard, with the exception of one
gentleman, whom I have heard of since,
every member of both houses took the money.
And I think that anybody who took that
money has no right to say anything against
the legislature for voting it. I voted for that
resolution, and I stand here responsible for
having voted for it. And the reason why I
shall not vote for the order of the gentleman
from Washington (Mr. Dellinger) is that the
per diem of the members of the last general
assembly was only four dollars, and more
than a hundred dollars in addition to that
has already been received by members of this
convention whose per diem is five dollars.
Mr. RIDGELY. Consistently with nay own
views of law, I reach a very different conclu-
sion from that just communicated by the
gentleman from Baltimore city (Mr. Stirling.)
I do not think this convention has any right to
decide this question at all. If this convention
bill is susceptible of the construction which
has been put upon it; if it will admit of the
interpretation which the gentleman from
Washington county (Mr. Dellinger) has put
upon it, and I think it will, that appears to
roe to be an end of the question. This con-
vention bill is no longer an act of assembly.
It ceased to be an act of assembly the moment
the people passed upon it and indorsed it.
When the people passed upon it and indorsed
it, it became' the law, and imperative in all its
parts. We have no discretion to relax it or to
extend it. If the convention bill be susceptible
of the interpretation and construction put
upon it by the gentleman from Washington
county, then I say you are bound to pay the
mileage received by the members of the last
legislature, because the people have said so.
I care nothing about the proposition itself.
I rise simply to express an opinion upon the
law of the case. And I go further; and I do it
with great deference and respect. I believe |
that each member of this convention has a
legal right to this amount, and that that legal
right could be enforced by a mandamus.
I think, therefore, it is no longer a question
of discretion, but imperatively a question of
right which we cannot resist,
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. I do not see either the
right or the justice of it. The phraseology of
the convention bill is: "and the compensa-
tion of the delegates to said convention shall
be five dollars per day, and the mileage al-
lowed to members of the genera] assembly of
this State." Now what does that mean?
Does it refer to one single exceptional case
in all the State's history, or does it refer to
the customary and usual mileage? That is
the question. At the time of the passage of
this convention bill, there had never been in
the State of Maryland, so far as I know, but
one rate of mileage established by law; cer-
tainly not more than one rate for many years
at least.
The PRESIDENT. It bad been so from the
days of the revolution.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. There had been but one
rate of mileage, and that is what it was at the
time this convention bill was passed. I sub-
mit to the convention, with great deference,
that a single, wrongful, exceptional case,
transpiring after the passage of this conven-
tion act, should not in this case have any in-
fluence upon the minds of members of this
convention. What is mileage? A certain
fixed rate allowed as travelling expenses;
nothing else. There are members sitting here
whose homes can be hit with a stone thrown
from the steps of this State-house. A hun-
dred dollars mileage to them for travelling
expenses to those homes? The proposition
is absurd upon its face. It is a wrong upon
the State which we have no right to per-
petrate, I hope this order will not be
adopted,
Mr. DELLINGER. The gentleman from Bal-
timore city (Mr. Stockbridge) cannot throw
a stone to my house, at any rate. I would
inquire of the honorable gentleman from Bal-
timore city (Mr. Stockbridge) whether he
took the mileage that was allowed by the
last general assembly to every one of its
members? I know one thing; it has cost me
a great deal more than the mileage I receive,
to travel to my home and back. It is well
known to members of this convention that
we had to leave the city of Annapolis upon a
certain occasion, and I could only reach my
home then by going around by the way of
' Philadelphia and Harrisburg. I have gone to
my home and come from my home, but once
since I have been a member of this convention,
directly by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
I have been subjected to extra expense every
time I have gone home from here, which has
been but three times. And I would ask whether
the cost of everything has not increased at
least fifty per cent. beyond what it was when |
