before the convention except by a decision of
the chair, and an appeal from that decision?
Mr. BARRON. If it is for the convention to
decide, let us vote on it. Give us votes now ;
not so much talk. I am willing to take the
yeas and nays on it, if it is necessary; but let
us vote.
Mr. DAVIS of Charles. I think it is the duty
of the president to decide whether this is
divisible or not. If any member differs from
that decision, then let him appeal.
Mr. STIRLING. If it is distinctly understood
that this preamble is to be divided into but
two parts, and no more, I will withdraw my
point of order.
Mr. BELT. The gentleman cannot with-
draw it upon any such understanding with
me.
Mr. STIRLING. I meant with the under-
standing of the chair, I do not want any un-
derstanding with the gentleman from Prince
George's (Mr. Belt.)
The PRESIDENT. As the chair understood
the proposition of the gentleman from Prince
George's (Mr. Belt,) it was to divide the pre-
amble into two parts; and the chair so di-
rected the secretary,
Mr. STIRLING. Then I withdraw my point
of order.
The question was upon the first clause of
the preamble, which was read as follows :
" Whereas, There is in Maryland a class of
persons whose desire for the success of the
rebel arms is a matter of public notoriety,
who have been demonstrated more clearly by
the recent invasion to be the inviters of rebel
raids, the guides, welcomers and entertainers
of rebel soldiers, who have rejoiced at the
burning of our houses and the plunder of our
property, who only want the opportunity to
place the lives and property of loyal people at
the mercy of their rebel friends, by pointing
them out for destruction, and under the pro-
tection of the rebel army usurp the govern-
ment of the State."
Mr. DAVIS, of Charles, called for the yeas
and nays, which were ordered,
The question was then taken by yeas and
nays, and resulted—yeas 42, nays 14—as fol-
lows:
Yeas—Messrs. Goldsborough, President ;
Abbott, Annan, Barron, Brooks, Carter, Cun-
ningham, Cushing, Daniel, Davis, of Wash-
ington, Earle, Ecker, Galloway, Greene,
Harwood, Hatch, Hoffman, Hopkins, Hopper,
Keefer, Kennard, King, Larsh, Markey, McCo-
mas, Mullikin, Murray, Negley, Nyman, Par-
ker, Pugh, Russell, Sands, Schley, Smith, of
Carroll, Sneary, Stirling, Stockbridge, Swope,
Sykes, Wickard, Wooden—42.
Nays—Messrs, Belt, Chambers, Crawford,
Davis, of Charles, Dent, Henkle, Hollyday,
Johnson, Jones, of Somerset, Lee, Mitchell,
Miller, Morgan, Smith, of Dorchester—14.
That portion of the preamble was accord-
ingly adopted. |
The question recurred upon the second
clause of the preamble, to wit •
"And whereas, the experience of the past
two weeks now clearly shows that the pres-
ence of such persons in our midst in time of
war is no longer to be tolerated, and justice
to ourselves our families and our country, no
less than to weak-minded disloyalists them-
selves, the only hope of whose reclamation is
in a vigorous policy, requires that the sternest
justice should at once be meted out to those
who persistently refuse to obey the laws, and
the active and dangerous class be separated
from the peaceable and loyal, by the exercise
of the undoubted power of the Government
to arrest and detain dangerous persons during
times of war."
The question being taken, it was adopted.
LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.
The Convention then resumed the consid-
eration of the reports of the committee on the
legislative department, which was on its
second reading.
BANKING.
The section under consideration wag sec-
tion forty-two, which had been amended to
read as follows':
"The General Assembly shall grant no
charter for banking purposes, or renew any
banking corporation now in existence, except
upon the condition that the stockholders
shall be liable to the amount of their respect-
ive share or shares of stock in such banking
institution, for all its debts and liabilities
upon note, bill, or otherwise; and on the
further condition that said charter or renewal
of such existing corporation, shall not au-
thorize the issue of paper money as a cir-
culating medium so long as the United States
shall provide by law a national paper cur-
rency. The books, papers and accounts of
all banks shall be open to inspection, under
such regulations as may be prescribed by
law."
The pending question was upon the motion
of Mr. RIDGELY to amend, by inserting after
the word " shall" in the first line, the words
"after the expiration of all the existing bank
charters," so that the section will then read :
"The General Assembly shall, after the
expiration of all the existing bank charters,
grant no charter for banking purposes, or re-
new any banking corporation now in exist-
ence," &c.
Mr. STIRLING. I do not care to argue this
proposition. But I would suggest to the
Convention that if this amendment is adopted
it will amount practically to destroying our
work of yesterday; and we might just as
well go back and undo that work as to adopt
this amendment. If we adopt this amend-
ment we will be legislating for something
that cannot take place for twenty years, and
we might just as well leave the whole matter |
