and those who would read the law would see that
he' was justified in the denial, that this substitute
of six per cent. bonds, payable in this country,
for sterling, was done for the convenience of the
State. It was done for the accommodation of
the bond-holders, not of the State only as is alleged.
This Comptroller, instead of saving money, in
his opinion, would lose it. His friend on his left,
(Mr. Donaldson,) had stated that the Treasurer
had such enormous power that he could make
bills for any amount he pleased, that he could
make the balance in the State Treasury, usually
from $200,000 to $400,000 at the end of the year.
any thing or nothing as he pleased, and he could
not be detected. If any thing was susceptible of
demonstration, nobody could doubt the facility
of detection and there was nobody better aware
of that than his friend, (Mr. Donaldson.) When
these accounts were formed, they were adopted
after the most mature deliberation. There was
not a man who had examined these accounts,
(and they had been examined by persons highly
skilled in matters of this description,) but who
considered them inferior to none for their clear
and explicit character.
In the plan proposed, they were to leave all the
State's treasure in the Treasurer's hands, to be
paid out by warrants. Suppose he should pay it
out without warrants—he could do so, if he was
so disposed, for he would have the money in his
hand as heretofore. He would not repose one-
half the confidence in the Comptroller that he
would in the Treasurer. The Treasurer was
elected by the Legislature, and did not electioneer
for his office. If they should elect the Comptrol-
ler by the people, as they designed to do, he
would of necessity be an electioneering politician,
in which class of the community he reposed hut
little confidence. Such a politician, that when
they come to settle up the accounts, they could
not tell what sacrifices of the State's interests
might not have been perpetrated. He might
sacrifice half of its revenue, and there would be
no sure means of detecting it. How did the Trea-
surer proceed? He did not allow one farthing
for insolvencies claimed by collectors, &c., until
he had first submitted the accounts to the State's
attorney of the county where the claims arose,
who was obliged to inquire into it, and make his
report to the Treasurer of the State of everything
that was required to give the Treasurer authority
to make the allowance; but in the Comptroller's
discharging the duty assigned him, he would best
promote his own interest by sacrificing that of the
State, and thus secure his own re-election the
next or even that year. The Governor,
whose duty it was to be as perfect a check upon
the Treasurer as was at all necessary—in three
days, by studying the accounts, could make himself
master of everything that he ought to know.
Under an article of the Constitution the Governor
was to inspect and carefully examine the Bank
Book, and all other books and proceedings of the
Treasurer, a really important duty, and of using
every necessary protection to the public fiscal in-
terests of the State, and there would be no use |
for a Comptroller, except to give & man an office
at $2,500 a year.
The gentleman from Cecil (Mr. McLane,) had
referred to the fact that a Comptroller should be
appointed, because such officers were in the ser-
vice of the United States, which never had lost
any thing from the treasury. The answer to this
argument is that during a much longer period, the
State of Maryland has never had a Comptroller,
and acting with a Treasurer only, it has never
lost a dollar.
He (Mr. D.) had known every man that had
been Treasurer of the State since the adoption of
the Constitution in 1776, to the present day, and
he believed no human being had ever whispered
an insinuation that the State had lost any thing
by any one of them. They had a good system, and
the means of detection were abundant.
Gentlemen had said that by this proposition
ton or twelve thousand dollars would be saved
every year. He would say there was no founda-
tion but in excited imagination for such an asser-
tion, and that more that fifty thousand would be
annually in imminent danger by the proposed
change in the treasury department.
The Comptroller might reside on the lop of the
Allegany mountains, for ought the hill provided.
If a man desired to get his stock redeemed, or
State bonds changed, he would have to come
from Baltimore city to Annapolis, and present his
claims to the Comptroller.
They had been told that they would save the
salary of the clerk to the Commissioner of Loans.
This was not so They would he as much bound
to have a clerk to discharge the transferred duty-
in the treasury, as in the office of the Commis-
sioner of Loans. They imposed upon the Trea-
surer, living in Annapolis, the duty of buying up
bills of exchange. He would have no means of
buying, except by sending to a broker to ask him
to buy for him. Then the Treasurer would have
to send money, and the broker might cheat the
State out of money and exchange too. There
was no law requiring money to be transferred to
Europe. They required the Treasurer to transfer
to the Commissioner six months beforehand, in
order that he might buy these bills on the best
possible terms. He said he must stop—his time
not his subject, being exhausted.
The question was then stated to be on the
amendment of Mr. DORSEY.
Mr. BROWN moved the previous question,
which was seconded, and the main question ordered,
viz. on the amendment of Mr. DORSEY.
Mr. DORSEY moved that the question be taken
by yeas and nays, which being ordered, appeared.
as follows:
Affirmative—Messrs. Ricaud, Lee, Mitchell,
Dorsey, Wells, Kent. Sellman, Weems. Dalrym-
ple, John Dennis, Williams, Hicks, Eccleston,
Phelps, Bowie, Sprigg, McCubbin, Dirickson,
McMaster, Hearn, Fooks, Jacobs, Gaither, Ste-
phenson, Schley, Michael Newcomer, Kilgour,
Brewer and Smith—29.
Negative—Messrs. Chapman, Pres't, Morgan,
Blakistone, Dent, Hopewell, Chambers of Kent,
Donaldson, Randall, Brent of Charles, Merrick, |
