occurs in section eight, and insert the fol-
lowing :
''And no person shall, after his election
and qualification as senator or delegate, and
during his term of office, be elected to Con-
gress or to any office in the gift of the
General Assembly, or accept any office, civil
or military, under the Government of the
United States."
The question being taken, the amendment
was rejected,
Mr. PETER, I move to amend the section
by striking out at the close, the words
"his acceptance thereof shall vacate his seat,"
and insert the following :
"And shall not decline or refuse to fill
such office, within ten days after his election
or appointment, then his seat as a senator or
delegate shall be vacated."
The question being taken, the amendment
was rejected.
Mr. RIDGELY. I move to amend section
eight bystriking out the word "eligible"
and inserting the words "qualified to act,"
and also to strike out all after the word
" delegate" where it first occurs. It strikes
me that the idea. designed to be carried out
by this section can be very much simplified;
that the amount of verbiage employed here is
wholly unnecessary. If the section is
amended, as I propose, it will then read as
follows:
" No member of Congress, or person
holding any civil or military office under the
United States, shall be qualified to act as a
senator or delegate."
The second branch of the section, as it now
stands, I consider to be unnecessary. This
section seems to embrace two aspects of the
question; one, the eligibility of a person to
the Senate or House of Delegates; the other,
his disqualification after election by reason of
accepting an office under the Government of
the United States, I propose by my amend-
ment to cover both cases by the first clause
of the section, so that he Shall be disqualified
co instanti from acting .as senator or delegate
as soon as he becomes the holder of an office,
either civil or military, under the Government
of the United States.
Mr. CHAMBERS. One difficulty occurs to
me in reference to the proposed amendment.
An officer of the Government of the United
States, a major general, for instance, in Bal-
timore city, presents himself as a candidate
for the Legislature of Maryland. He holds
on to his commission until the election is
over, when he is either elected or defeated.
If elected, may he not resign his commission,
and come and take his seat in the Legis-
lature? According to the section as reported
by the committee he cannot be voted for; he
is not eligible as a candidate. That, I think,
is •'right. I ask my friend from Baltimore
county (Mr. Ridgely,) if he has well consid-
ered that point? I do not think it is right |
that a major general, with all his troops
there, shall take his chances for election,
holding his commission all the while.
Mr. RIDGELY. It is scarcely probable that
he would take his chances for an election to an
office that the Constitution prohibits him ac-
cepting.
The question being taken upon the amend-
ment of Mr. RIDGELY, it was rejected.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. I move to strike out
the words "civil or" in the first sentence of
this section. I do not see the propriety of
excluding from the Legislature of this State
all persons holding civil offices under the
Government of the United States, or, as in
the next section, all persons holding any
office of profit, or profit and trust, under this
State, it has happened more than once that
very respectable, worthy men, in some
county, hold some civil office, a petty post-
office for instance, an office of service to the
community, but which does not require their
constant personal attendance. Those men are
perfectly competent, without neglecting any
of the duties of their office, to serve as
senator or delegate in the Legislature. And
I do not see any reason why the should be
excluded from doing so. So in regard to the
next section. There are constables and
justices of the peace in this State who have
no great amount of work to do, and whose
absence from home would not interfere with
the duties of their office, and who could with
propriety occupy seats in the Legislature. I
am not disposed to question the propriety of
excluding those whose official duties would
interfere with the proper discharge of their
duties in the Legislature.
Mr. STIRLING. If my colleague (Mr. Stock-
bridge) had simply submitted his amendment,
and omitted his argument in favor of it, I
should feel more inclined to vote for it. Bat
postmasters are exactly the very persons I
want to keep out of the Legislature. I think
there is a great deal more danger to be ap-
prehended from the improper use of civil
patronage to influence elections, than from
the military. The postoffice department is
one example of the very strongest power
which a centralized government can bring to
bear upon politics in a State. And we see
the results of it at the present moment. The
postmasters are the very persons I want to
exclude from our Legislature.
Mr. THOMAS. There are other officers I
would exclude; custom-house officers, for in-
stance.
Mr. STIRLING. I would exclude both.
The question being then. taken upon Mr.
STOCKBRIDGE'S amendment, it was rejected.
No further amendment was offered to sec-
tion eight.
MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL, &C.
Section nine was then read, as follows ;
"No minister or preacher of the gospel of |
