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PREFACE
It is to be regretted that the Constitutional Convention
of 1867, actuated largely by desire for economy, made no
provision for a verbatim report of its debates, the only
official record being the journal of proceedings.
The instrument framed then has survived for more
than half a century, and remains a testimonial to the able
and conscientious work done by those who were members
of the Convention. Much that was said and done, lost
through the failure to preserve the debates, would have
been of inestimable value in arriving at the true construc-
tion of provisions written into the Maryland Constitu-
tion for the first time by that Convention.
During Albert C. Ritchie's administration of the office
of Attorney General, a case involving the construction of
a provision of the Maryland Constitution was tried in
the Court of Appeals. In the preparation of the brief by
the Attorney General and by Ogle Marbury, Assistant At-
torney General, an effort was made to find what had been
said in the Convention about that particular provision.
A search of the files of The Sun was made and some data,
later used in the argument in the Court of Appeals, was
found.
The accounts in The Sun were reported with such ap-
parent care that it was suggested that the articles on the
Convention should be compiled and printed so as to make
them accessible to those desiring information on the sub-
ject. This book is the result.
In addition to the debates, this volume contains de-
tailed accounts of the suit for an injunction to prevent
the election on the question of a convention; a resume of
the work of the Convention, as printed in The Sun after
the adjournment, and a full account of the visit of Presi-
dent Johnson to Annapolis, including his speech to the
members of the Convention.
I am indebted to the editors of The Sun and the Li-
brary of Congress at Washington for their co-operation,
and to Horace E. Flack for his valuable work on the index.
May, 1923 PHILIP B. PERLMAN.
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