38
VOTES and PROCEEDINGS, November, 1796.
contagion of faction, and the unfounded suspicions of prejudice.
Besides, from a body durable as
the senate, and appointed in the manner prescribed by the constitution,
more experience in business,
more steadiness of conduct, and consistency of views, are to be expected,
than from biennial representatives,
owing frequently their election as much to party zeal as to merit.
The quick rotation
of senators proposed to be established by the amendment would deprive the
senate of those advantages,
which, as at present constituted, it derives from that degree of stability
imparted to it by a longer
continuance in the trust of its members.
The fourth amendment was evidently levelled at the appointment
of Mr. Jay as envoy extraordinary
to the court of London, and no doubt was intended as an indirect censure
of that measure.
However, it does not strike the committee, that the appointment of a judge
on a momentous occasion,
to execute a temporary and particular commission, has been or can be attended
with any inconvenience
or danger to the public.
If the preceding observations and reasoning are just,
the committee submit the following resolve,
as proper to be passed by the legislature.
RESOLVED, That the first and third amendments, proposed
in last December by teh legislature of
Virginia to be made to the constitution or frame of government for the
United States, ought not to
be adopted, because, in the opinion of the legislature, they would give
too great a preponderancy to
the house of representatives, and thus derange the balance of reciprocal
control, checks and powers,
so happily devised and distributed among the component parts of the federal
government, and thereby
endanger the liberty of the people; that the second and fourth amendments
are particularly inexpedient,
as not being warranted by the experience of any evils which have resulted
from the government
as now constituted, or from its administration.
The committee also beg leave to report, that the annual
interchange of laws, as proposed by the
general assembly of Virginia, may be attended with beneficial effects,
and therefore recommend the
following resolve:
RESOLVED, That the governor of this state be requested
to inform the governor of the commonwealth
of Virginia, that the legislature of this state have acceded to their proposition
of an annual
interchange of the laws of their respective states, and also to an exchange
of the existing code of
laws in each state, and that the governor be requested to procure the said
laws, and determine and
fix upon the means for carrying this resolution into effect.
By order,
A. VAN-HORN, clk.
The senate adjourns until 5 o'clock.
P O S T M E R
I D I E M.
The senate met.
The senate adjourns until to-morrow morning 9 o'clock.
T H U R
S D A Y,
December 22, 1796.
THE senate met. Present the same members as
on yesterday, except the honourable John S.
Purnell, Esquire, who had leave of absence. The proceedings of yesterday
were read.
The bill, entitled, An act respecting two tracts
of land lying in Allegany county, the one called
Grassy Cabbin, the other called The Desert, the bill, entitled, An act
for the destruction of crows
in the several counties therein mentioned, with the amendments thereto,
and the bill, entitled, An
act to lay a road from Deep Point in Cornwallis's Neck, in Charles county,
until it shall intersect
the public road at the New House, on the head of Mattawoman creek, in said
county, were sent
to the house of delegates by the clerk.
The bill, entitled, An act permitting the proprietors
of lots binding on the water at the west end
of the bason in Baltimore-town to extend and improve the same, was read
teh first time and ordered
to lie on the table.
The honourable John Campbell, Esquire, from the committee,
brings in and delivers to the president
a bill, entitled, An act to authorise and empower the vestry of William
and Mary parish, in
Charles county, to sell and dispose of the negroes belonging to said
parish, and for other purposes;
which was read the first time and ordered to lie on the table.
The bill, entitled, An additional supplement to the
act, entitled, An act for the removal of the
seat of justice from Melville's warehouse to Pig Point, in Caroline county,
was read the second time
and will pass.
On motion, the honourable William H. Dorsey, Esquire,
brings in and delivers to the president
a bill, entitled, An act to correct a misnomer in an act, entitled, An
act concerning the bank stock;
which was read the first and second time by especial order and will pass.
The clerk of the house of delegates delivers to the
clerk of hte senate the following resolution:
By the HOUSE of DELEGATES, December 22, 1796.
RESOLVED, That the treasurer of the western shore pay
to Alexander Contee Hanson one
thousand dollars, as a compensation for the system of testamentary laws
by him prepared and laid
before this session of assembly.
By order,
W. HARWOOD, clk.
Which was read the first time and ordered to lie on the table.
The bill, entitled, An act to incorporate the Roman
catholic congregation worshipping at the
church of Saint-Mary, in the vicinity of Bryan-town, in Charles county,
was read the second time
and will pass with proposed amendment.
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