564 THE CHANCELLOR'S CASE.—1 BLAND.

which would expire with that session, except the Act of 1798, ch.
86, and also except the Act of 1797, ch. 71; which bill the Senate,
after much hesitation, consented to pass.

On the 26th of February, the Senate sent the following message
to the delegates. "Gentlemen of the Home of Delegates. The
Senate have again rejected the bill entitled, An Act to pay the
civil *list and other expenses of civil government, and also
602 the resolution relative to the Chancellor's salary. We dis-
sented from this bill yesterday, because the salary provided for the
Chancellor was in our opinion, insufficient, and because we con-
sidered it a violation of the spirit and intention of the Constitution
and Bill of Rights. It is known to your honorable body, that but
a few days ago, the Senate unanimously rejected the bill from
your house to reduce the salary of the Chancellor, and to-day, at
the very moment we are about closing the session, when many of
our members are absent, who are known to have been opposed to
any reduction of the salary of that officer, we are presented with
another bill from your house, in which you have thought proper to
make no provision to pay the Chancellor any salary whatever. If
your honorable body will send us a bill to continue in force the
Act entitled a supplement to the Act, entitled, An Act for estab-
lishing and securing the salary of the Chancellor, we will at once
pass the Civil List Bill; otherwise we cannot, under any circum-
stances whatever, consent to that bill. The Senate regret the
difference of opinion that has arisen between the two houses in re-
lation to this matter; but they owe it to themselves, and to the
people of Maryland, after the repeated expressions of their
opinion on this subject, to adhere to the course they have taken."
This message expresses concisely the opinions oi' the Senate upon
this subject.

On the same day the delegates returned the general continuing
Act to the Senate for their reconsideration, with the following
message:—" Gentlemen of the Senate—We find ourselves driven to
the painful necessity of dissenting from the amendment to the con-
tinuing Act proposed by your honorable body. We conceive, that
we cannot, in conscience, longer continue to the Chancellor the
profuse and enormous salary which he now enjoys; we conceive
that duty requires us to reduce it, and that there is nothing in our
Declaration of Rights or Constitution to inhibit it. What we
have already refused to do directly, by at least four or five differ-
ent votes of this House, we cannot consent to do indirectly; we
stand pledged to our consciences to maintain in every constitu-
tional way, the ground we have occupied. We regret that this
proposition has been so often coupled by your house with Acts or
propositions of a wholly different character, and in no wise de-
pendent upon it. If your House has resolved to reject every con-
tinuing Act, unless it also continues the Acts giving the Chan-