Yeas—Messrs. Belt, Bond, Brown, Cham-
bers, Crawford, Dail, Davis, of Charles,
Dent, Duvall, Gale, Henkle, Hodson, Holly-
day, Horsey, Jones, of Somerset, Lansdale,
Lee, Marbury, Mitchell, Miller, Morgan, Peter,
Smith, of Dorchester, Turner, Wilmer—25.
Nays—Messrs. Goldsborough, President;
Abbott, Annan, Audoun, Baker, Barron,
Berry, of Baltimore county, Brooks, Carter,
Cunningham, Cushing, Davis, of Washington,
Dellinger, Earle, Ecker, Farrow, Galloway,
Greene, Hatch, Hebb, Hoffman, Hopper,
Jones, of Cecil, Keefer, Kennard, King,
Markey, Mayhugh, McComas, Mullikin, Mur-
ray, Negley, Nyman, Parker, Pugh, Purnell,
Ridgely, Russell, Schley, Schlosser, Scott,
Stirling, Stockbridge, Swope, Sykes, Thomas,
Todd, Valliant, Wickard, Wooden—49.
The convention accordingly refused to ad-
journ sine die.
ADJOURNMENT.
Mr. HEBB submitted the following order :
" Ordered, That when this convention ad-
journs to-day, it stands adjourned in pursu-
ance of a resolution of the convention passed
upon the 21st day of August, 1864."
The resolution referred to, of the 21st of
August, is as follows :
" Resolved, That in view of the uncertain
condition of affairs in this State, owing to the
possibility of an invasion by the public en-
emy, which may interfere with the expression
of the popular will on the day to be fixed for
voting on this constitution, that this conven-
tion, when it adjourns, for the purpose of
taking the sense of the people '(on this consti-
tution, it stand adjourned subject to the call
of the president, and in case of the death or
disqualification of the president (H.H. Golds-
borough,) Frederick Schley, of Frederick
county; Joseph B. Pugh, of Cecil county ;
Henry Stockbridge, of Baltimore city; Wm.
T. Purnell, of Worcester county, be and they
are hereby authorized, in the order in which
they are named, to act as president, and call
the convention together; but should the day
appointed for the adoption or rejection of this
constitution pass without interruption, then
the president shall declare, through the public
press, the final adjournment without day of
this convention, and no per diem shall be
allowed tor the recess."
The question being taken upon the order
of Mr. HEBB, it was adopted.
Mr. HEBB moved that the convention do
now adjourn, which was agreed to.
ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT.
The PRESIDENT, before announcing the
vote, addressed the convention as follows :
Gentlemen of the Convention :—The time
has now arrived when, as your presiding
officer, it becomes my duty to declare the
termination of the labors of this body. In
so doing it would not be proper to omit the |
observance of the time-honored custom of
giving utterance to some brief and friendly
words of parting.
We have been engaged for the past four
months in the work of framing anew the organic
law of this State. However easy the task
may appear to many, and especially to those
who have never participated in such a work,
yet I am sure you will concur with me that its
difficulties, not a few even in times of pro-
found peace, have been greatly increased by
the condition of things by which we were
surrounded.
Amid a civil war of the most gigantic pro-
portions, our minds have been constantly
disturbed by the ever recurring considera-
tion whether the institutions, under which
we have prospered so long as a nation, were
to stand or fall amid the conflicts of the day.
While the nation has been thus agitated
throughout its entire limits, our own State
has been the theatre of the most bitter con-
tests between social and political classes ever
experienced, and which it could have been
wished should not have existed while we
were engaged in a work of so much import-
ance and magnitude. Our labors, though
thus interrupted by scenes calculated to cre-
ate the most embittered feeling, and to pro-
voke discussions of the most exciting charac-
ter, have not been marred by any of those
personal animosities or collisions which
might have been anticipated, and which
have so often characterized the proceedings
of other deliberative bodies. This is a mat-
ter of sincere congratulation, and if your
president has succeeded in the accomplish-
ment of this object, be has been encouraged
and sustained by a conviction of your belief
in his conscientious discharge of duty, and
in his faithful endeavor at all times to award
to each individual member, irrespective of
party designations or particular localities,
that impartial justice which should always
control the action of a presiding officer of a
deliberative body.
We are now about to separate for our re-
spective homes. In all human probability
the most of us may never meet again. As
actors in the past and present eventful
scenes, can we not all—dismissing the me-
mory of every embittered feeling, before
parting—unite in the prayer so often re-
peated at this desk, that the same ever living
God, who has heretofore protected and de-
fended us as one people, may, notwithstand-
ing our civil broils, our many sins and mis-
givings, still " preserve us under the shadow
of his wing" as one undivided nation; that
whatever changes may be occasioned by the
rapidly transpiring events of the day—what-
ever modifications may be produced in the
character of our social institutions, the Union,
as the great ark of our national safety, with
the constitution, may be vouchsafed to us
and our children; and that ere many years |
