voters. The committee propose to number it
as the fourth instead of the second section.
The oath as referred by the convention to
the committee reads thus :
"I do swear or affirm that I am a citizen of
the United States, that I have never given
any aid, countenance or support to those in
armed hostility to the United States, that I
have never expressed a desire for the triumph
of said enemies over the arms of the United
States, and that I will bear true faith and
allegiance to the United States and support
the constitution and laws thereof as the su-
preme law of the land, any law or ordinance
of any State to the contrary notwithstanding,
and will in all respects demean myself as a
loyal citizen of the United States, and I swear
this without any reservation or evasion."
The committee recommend alterations in
this oath; as altered, it will read :
"I do swear or affirm that I am a citizen
of the United States, that I have never given
any aid, countenance or support to those in
armed hostility to the United States, that I
have never expressed a desire for the triumph
of said enemies over the arms of the United
States, and that I will bear true faith and alle-
giance to the United States, and support the
constitution and laws thereof as the supreme
law of the land, any law or ordinance of any
State to the contrary notwithstanding; that
I will in all respects demean myself as a loyal
citizen of the United States. And I make this
oath or affirmation without any reservation
or evasion, and believe it to be binding on
me."
The committee propose to make the third
section of this article as adopted by the con-
vention, the fifth section. It relates to
bribery, and provides, "that any person who
shall give or offer to give directly or indirect-
ly any bribe, present, or reward, or any
promise or any security for the payment or
delivery of money or any other thing to
induce any voter to refrain from casting his
vote, or forcibly to prevent him in any way
from voting, shall on conviction in a court of
law, in addition to the penalties now or here-
after to be imposed by law, be forever disqual-
ified to hold any office of profit or trust or to
vote at any election thereafter." The same
provision is made in the present constitution,
and the members of the committee are of the
opinion, that this section should be so modi-
fied as to embrace all cases which may have
arisen under that provision; they therefore re-
commend that the first part of this section be
amended to read thus :
"Section 5, If any person shall give or
offer to give directly or indirectly, or since
the fourth day of July, eighteen hundred and
fifty one, hath given or offered to give, any
bribe, present, or reward," &c.
In the last line of this section, the commit-
tee recommend that the words "an election"
be changed to read "any election."
66 |
The committee have no material change to
recommend in the sixth and seventh sections
of this article, and which were the fourth
and fifth sections of said article as adopted in
convention.
In the sixth section, they propose that the
words ' ' in the first article of the constitution ' '
be stricken out, and the words " in this arti-
cle"' inserted. In the second line of the sev-
enth section, they recommend that the words
"this constitution" be substituted for "the
constitution." *
The eighth and last section of this article
reads as follows:,
"Section 8, Every person holding any
office of trust or profit under' the late consti-
tution, or under any law of this State, and
who shall be continued in office under this
constitution) or under any law of the State,
shall within thirty days after this constitution
shall have gone into effect, take the oath or
affirmation set forth in the fifth section of this
article, and if any such person shall fall to
take said oath his office shall be ipso facto
void."
" The fifth section " above referred to hav-
ing become the seventh section, the appropri-
ate change should be made.
And the committee recommend as an addi-
tion to the end of the eighth section, the fol-
lowing :
"And every person hereafter elected or ap-
pointed to office in this State, who shall re-
fuse or neglect to take the oath or affirmation
of office provided for in the said seventh sec-
tion of this article, shall be considered as hav-
ing refused to accept the said office) and a
new election or appointment shall be made as
in case of refusal to accept or resignation of
an office. And any person swearing or
affirming falsely in the premises, shrill, on
conviction thereof in acourt of law, incur the
penalties of wilful and corrupt perjury, and
thereafter shall be incapable of holding any
office of profit or trust in this State."
This closes the report of the committee on
the elective franchise.
They respectfully recommend that the pro-
posed changes be concurred in by the conven-
tion.
GEORGE EARLE, Chairman.
When the second section reported by the
committee was read,
Mr. STIRLING said: That section embraces
an amendment which was submitted by my-
self when the report was under consideration
in the convention. The committee on revis-
ion has united it with another section of the
report, and put it together in a much better
form than it was originally.
Mr. EARLE. The second section is composed,
in part, of the first section as originally
adopted by the convention, and of the seventh
section which was proposed by the gentleman
from Baltimore city (Mr. Stirling.) That |
