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1892.] OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES. 511
The Secretary of State, Hon. E. W. LeCompte,
appeared and delivered the following message :
To the Hon. Frank Brown, Governor of Maryland :
The petition of the undersigned sureties upon the
official bonds of Stevenson Archer, late Treasurer of
Maryland, respectfully represent to the Governor :
1. That a memorial for relief has been duly pre-
sented by them to the several branches ol the Legisla-
ture, as by the copy thereof presented to the Governor
appears.
2. That a bill entitled " An Act for the relief of the
sureties upon the official bonds of Stevenson Archer,
late Treasurer of Ma-ryland," has already been intro-
duced in the Senate.
3. That Article 3, section 33, of the Constitution of
this State requires the recommendation of either the
Governor or officers'of the Treasury Department before
the General Assembly can pass a law for the relief of
your petitioners.
4. Your petitioners therefore respectfully pray that
the Governor will entertain this their petition, and
recommend to the General Assembly the passage of a
bill for their relief, and they respectfully submit the
following as some of the considerations entitling them
to relief:
A. The facts and law referred to in the report of the
Joint Special Committee of the General Assembly of
1890, appointed to investigate the accounts of said
Archer, and the evidence taken by said committee.
B. The failure for many years of all Governors,
(with not more than one exception), Comptrollers and
Treasurers of the State, to comply with the various
provisions of the Constitution and laws intended for
the protection of the State securities and funds, by
interrogating the Treasurer under oath and actually
calling for the production of the securities which were
or ought to have been in his possession, which duty
the suieties had a right to believe would be performed.
C. The failure of successive Legislatures to comply
with the duties imposed by various provisions of law,
the full discharge of which would surely have led to
a much earlier discovery of Archer's defalcation.
Art. 95, secs. 22 and 23, Code of Public General
Laws, Vol. 2, p. 1431 Cons. Art. 3, sec. 24.
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