1856.] OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES.            623

report of four members only of that Committee, and not of a
majority. The undersigned, constituting one-half of the Joint
Committee, did not concur with the four members of it who have
reported to the Senate; and if the undersigned cannot assume, as
they do not assume, to be the majority of the Committee, neither
can those who dissent from them claim to be anything more than
what they are, or to express any more than their own opinions.

The only question submitted to the Committee by the four
members who have assumed to act for it was, that the contract
now in existence was unconstitutional, illegal and irregular.

To the question so submitted the undersigned address them-
selves, as being, in brief, the subject confided to the Committee

The 7th Article of the Constitution, in its 5th section, expresses
the will of the people of Maryland on the subject of the extinction
of Lotteries in this State. They were not willing to leave this
subject where it had been before, in the hands of the Legislature.
They not only forbade their Representatives the permission to
grant any Lottery privileges after the first day of April 1859, but
they went further. During the intervening time they provided
for the existence of a Commissioner of Lotteries, defined his
powers and determined under what sanctions those powers should.
be exercised. The whole matter, therefore, has been by the
people settled for themselves without legislative intervention,
past or future. Whatever, therefore, is the true meaning of the
Constitution, will ascertain the extent of the powers of Lottery
Commissioner in regard to the contract; and it is useless to
enquire into what may have been the state of his powers anterior
to the Constitution. If the powers given by the Constitution are
the same with the pre-existent powers of the Commissioner, there
is no ground for any examination as to a conflict between them;
and if there be a conflict, the Constitution, as the supreme law of
the land, must override all previous legislation, as is expressed in
the 3rd Article of the Bill of Rights.                                         

Coming then to the consideration of the constitutional article,
which is the sole foundation of any authority for the present con-
tract, the undersigned find, that whatever powers it gives are
given as means to an end. What is that end? Two-fold, first
to extinguish all existing Lottery grants before the first day of
April 1359; and second, to secure to the State a clear yearly
revenue equal to the average amount derived by the State from
the system for the preceding five years.                                     

Now, whatever else may be disputed this cannot be contro-
verted, that the present contract does secure both the ends which
the Constitution aimed at. It does secure the cessation of the
system by the time designated. It does secure the State the
revenue stipulated; nay, it does more in regard to the revenue.