in 1850 met here and adopted the present
Constitution of the State. The Legislature,
when they passed the bill at the last session,
presumed that the Constitution which this
body was to frame would be framed here, in
this ancient city, the place where Constitu-
tions have always been framed for the State
of Maryland. What is our charter? Our
commission from the people is to come here
and make a Constitution here.
What conveniences have we here for the
performance of the duties which the people
have imposed upon us? We have a hall
here, fitted up in the most convenient man-
ner, for the accommodation of the members.
We have the rooms in which our various
committees can assemble and deliberate upon
the various subjects committed to their care.
We have our State Library, containing
the records and journals of the proceedings
of the former Convention and former legisla-
tive bodies that have been held here, to
which we have ready access; and books to
which reference can be made in the argument
and examination of any question which may
come before the body are all right at our
hands. Now I know that in the city of Bal-
timore we cannot be accommodated with
these things unless our Library be removed.
There is no library there that we can have
access to. They have a Law Library, to
which members of the bar are only admitted.
A removal of this Convention to Baltimore
would necessitate, in order that we may carry
out properly the objects for which the peo-
ple sent us here, the removal of almost all
the archives of the Government to that city.
Our committee .rooms have been fitted up
and we have access to them. If we go into a
hall in the city of Baltimore, any which has
been mentioned by the gentleman from Balti-
more city (Mr. BARRON) yesterday, we shall
probably have to look for the accommoda-
tion of our committees to rooms in a different
building.
But the question is not whether it may be
more convenient to members, in giving them
railroad facilities to their homes, and their
families, or to attend to their own private busi-
ness; but the immediate purpose to which
we should look is the duty which the people
sent us here to perform.
Mr. BARRON. I will state to the gentleman,
with his permission, that Odd Fellows'' Hal
has committee rooms far superior to what we
have here.
Mr. MILLER resumed. The gentleman says
that there are committee rooms there. But
even if they have halls and committee rooms
every facility for performing the work which
the people sent us here to do is in the city of
Annapolis. It is the capital of the State. All
the records, and archives, of the government
of the State are here; all the departments of
the government, from which we shall wish to
obtain information on the subjects on which
4 |
we are to act, are here. We have ready com-
munication with them, which we cannot
have, with such facility, if we remove to the
city of Baltimore.
Besides that, as I have said before, it is a
departure from the law under which we are
assembled. The people, when they sent us
here, intended that we should meet in the
city of Annapolis and hold our sessions from
day to day until we had completed our
work. The people said to us that we were
not to consult our own convenience. When
we came belore the people as candidates for
ibis high public trust we accepted the position
knowing that under this law the people had
directed that we should come here and hold
our sessions, and continue here until our
work was completed.
The facility of carrying on the business of
the Convention, apart from those matters to
which I have referred, would be greatly
increased by remaining in the city of Annap-
olis. Baltimore is a city in which there are
various allurements which would perhaps
attract members from the duties which they
are required to perform; and I venture to
predict that if we go to the city of Baltimore
we shall not complete the labors of this Con-
vention with in so short a time by a month as
we should if we stayed here. I know a little
about Baltimore city, and if gentlemen choose
to absent themselves and leave the Conven-
tion without a quorum, and if a call of the
Convention is ordered, and the Sergeant-at-
Arms is sent out fur absent members, I should
like to know how long it would take to get
them present in the hall. The Sergeant-at
Arms might hunt over the city of Baltimore
for a week before he could find an absent
member and bring him into the body. But
this, our ancient city, where Constitutions
have been formed, where the seat of govern-
ment is established, is comparatively small,
the residences of members are known, and it
can be known at once whether a member has
left the city or is here; the absent members
can be summoned without delay to partici-
pate in the deliberations of the body and made
to perform their duties.
The dignity of the body also, it seems to
me, would he preserved by following the pre-
cedents which hare been set by those who
have framed our previous Constitutions. Let
us not, in the very opening of our session, do
an act which would seem to disregard the
will of the people who sent us here, as ex-
pressed in the law under which we are con-
vened.
I will not allude to many other things
which might possibly occur in the city of
Baltimore. I wish, and I have no doubt it
is the wish of the majority of this Convention,
that there shall be full and tree and frank de-
bate on all questions that may anise in this
body. We can have it here. Can we at all
times without interruption have it in the city |
