record my vote, utter well-considered and
mature reflection and the experience of three
years of civil war, in favor of the declaration
of paramount allegiance which I hold I owe
to the Government of the United States.
Mr. BELT. I would enquire whether it
would be in order for me to move an amend-
ment to this fourth article at this time ?
The PRESIDENT. The gentleman can move
an amendment to the amendment of the gen-
tleman from Prince. George's (Mr. Clarke);
or he can wait until that amendment is dis-
posed of, and then move to amend the article.
Mr. BELT. There is no proposition before
the Convention which fully meets my views ;
there is no proposition before the house
which will enable me to take a course of ar-
gument strictly in accordance with my views
upon this subject. If it would be allowable,
merely for the sake of argument, to move to
strike out the fourth article, then I would
proceed with what I desire to say.
The PRESIDENT. The gentleman can give
notice of a motion to strike out this article,
and on that notice he can proceed with his
argument.
Mr. BELT. That will accomplish my pur-
pose. I accordingly give that notice, and
move that this Convention now adjourn.
The motion was agreed to ;
And the Convention accordingly adjourned.
TWENTY-SIXTH DAY.
FRIDAY, June 3,, 1864.
The Convention met at 10 o'clock, A. M.
Prayer by the Rev. Mr. McNemar.
Present at the call of the roll the following
members:
Messrs Goldsborough, President; Abbott,
Annan, Audoun, Baker, Barron, Berry of
Prince George's, Billingsley, Blackiston,
Bond, Briscoe, Brown, Carter, Chambers,
Clarke, Crawford, Cunningham, Cushing,
Dail, Daniel, Davis of Charles, Davis of
Washington, Dellinger, Davis, Duvall, Earle,
Ecker, Edelen, Farrow, Gale, Galloway,
Green, Harwood, Hatch, Hebb, Hodson, Hoff-
man, Hopkins, Hopper, Horsey, Johnson,
Jones of Cecil, Jones of Somerset, Keefer,
Kennard, King, Lansdale, Larsh, Lee, Mar-
bury, Markey, Mitchell, Miller, Morgan, Mul-
likin, Murray, Negley, Noble, Nyman, Parker,
Parran, Peter, Pugh, Ridgely, Robinette,
Russell, Sands, Schlosser, Scott, Smith of
Carroll, Smith of Dorchester, Smith of Wor-
cester, Sneary, Stirling, Stockbridge, Swope,
Sykes, Thomas, Todd, Turner, Valliant,
Wickard, Wilmer, Wooden—84.
The proceedings of yesterday were read
and approved.
PRINTING OF THE DEBATES.
Mr. RIDGELY submitted the following or-
der;
Ordered, That the President of the Con-
vention be and be is hereby requested, if con- |
sistent with the terms of the present contract
with the printer of the Debates of the Con-
vention, to take such steps as may be requi-
site to enforce the delivery of the printed
copies thereof to the members within three
days after the copy is supplied by the stenog-
rapher, and if such end cannot be attained
consistently with the existing contract, that
he be and is hereby authorized to effect such
a modification of the contract as will reach
this object.
Mr. RIDGELY said: I do not know that it
is necessary for me to say anything in expla-
nation of this order, for it is apparent from
the present mode of the delivery of the Regis-
ter of Debates, that they will be of little
value to the Convention. In reference to the
very able and elaborate argument delivered
here tine other day by the gentleman from
Prince George's, (Mr. Clarke,) it will be ex-
tremely difficult for any member of this Con-
vention to make a satisfactory reply to it in
the absence of the printed report of it. I
was present myself during the entire delivery
of that argument. But I confess for one,
that I was not able to follow the argument
in such a manner as to sufficiently compre-
hend its force, or to have it sufficiently intelli-
gible to me, to enable me to distinctly under-
stand it. Nor do I think it possible for any
member of this Convention to be able to meet
any argument, especially such as we now
have relating almost exclusively to constitu-
tional law, without the aid of the printed re-
port. It is for this reason that I have offered
this order, and I think it will be adopted by
this Convention with unanimity. Our Reg-
ister of Debates will be of comparatively lit-
tle service to us, if we are not to receive them
until some two or three weeks after the argu-
ments have been delivered here.
Mr. DANIEL. I was just preparing an or-
der similar to the one offered by my friend
from Baltimore county, (Mr. Ridgely.)
Doubtless every member of this Convention
has felt the need of having the printed de-
bates before us in some more recent time than
has been the case heretofore. The last two
weeks comprise the most extended debates,
and the most work of this Convention, yet
not one page of the printed record has been
laid before us. Now there should be no rea-
son for this delay. In Congress all the debates
are printed within a day or two after delive-
ry; and any member who desires to examine
and reply to any argument, has it before him
in such a form as to enable him to ascertain
accurately all the points it contains. It
. would certainly facilitate our business here
very much, if we could have the debates be-
fore us in a printed form within a reasonable
time, especially as we are now in the midst of
a most interesting debate, and perhaps others
of a similar character soon to follow. It
is very necessary and proper, for an
intelligent discharge of the important du- |
