rangement of this kind is necessary in order
to keep up a competent and efficient board of
county commissioners.
The question being taken upon the motion
to suspend the rules, it was agreed to.
Mr. HEBB moved to amend section four of
the report by striking out the words ''on
Tuesday next after the first Monday of No-
vember, in the year 1865, and on the same
day in every second year thereafter," and in-
sert in lieu thereof the following :
"An election for county commissioners
shall beheld on Tuesday next after the first
Monday of November, 1865; as nearly one-
half as may be of said commissioners shall
hold their office for two years, ' and the either
half for four years, and at the first meeting
after their election and qualification, or as
soon thereafter as practicable, they shall de-
termine by lot which of their number shall
hold his office for two and four years re-
spectively, and thereafter there shall be
elected as aforesaid, at each general election
for county officers, commissioners for four
years to fill the places of those whose term
has expired."
The question being taken, the amendment
was adopted.
The remaining sections of the report were
then read, but no other amendments, except
some verbal ones, were made lo the report,
The report having been read the third
time, the question was upon its final pas-age.
The question was then taken by yeas and
nays, under rule forty-three, and the report
was adopted—yeas 41, nays 22—as follows:
Yeas—Messrs. Goldsborough, President;
Abbott, Annan, Baker, Cunningham, Cush-
ing, Daniel, Davis, of Washington, Dellinger,
Ecker, Farrow, Galloway, Greene, Hebb,
Hoffman, Hopkins, Hopper, Keefer, Kennard,
Larsh, Markey, Mayhugh, McComas, Mulli-
kin, Negley, Parker, Purnell, Ridgely, Russell,
Sands, Schlosser, Scott, Smith, of Car-
roll. Smith of Worcester, Sneary, Stirling,
Stockbridge, Swore, Thomas, Todd, Val-
liant, Wooden—41.
Nays—Messrs. Billingsley, Blackiston,
Bond, Briscoe, Brown, Chambers, Clarke,
Crawford, Dent, Duvall, Hodson, Hollyday,
Horsey, Johnson, Lansdale, Lee, Marbury,
Miller', Parran, Peter, Smith, of Dorchester,
Wilmer—22.
Mr. BILLINGSLEY. Does not the rule re-
quire that every article on its final passage
shall receive the votes of a majority of the
members elected to tills convention before it
shall be declared adopted ?
The CHAIRMAN (Mr. Daniel.) The rule
was altered so as to require only the affirma-
tive votes of ii majority of the members
present.
Mr. BILLINGSLEY. So that a minority of
this body can pass any provision they think
proper.
The CHAIRMAN (Mr. Daniel.).) Certainly, |
if they constitute a majority of the members
present.
EDUCATION.
On motion of Mr. STOCKBRIDGE,
The convention then proceeded to the consideration
of the report of the committee on
education, which was on its third reading.
Sections one and two were read, and no
amendments offered thereto,
Section three was read as follows :
" Sec. 3. There shall be a State board of
education, consisting of the governor of the
State, the lieutenant governor, the president
of the senate, the speaker' of the house of
delegates and the State's superintendent of
public instruction, which board shall perform
.such duties as the general assembly
may direct."
Mr. STIRLING. I move to strike out the
words " the president of the senate."
Mr. THOMAS. Suppose the lieutenant gov-
ernor should become governor, then the
president of the senate could act upon this
board.
Mr. STIRLING. That is a contingency that
might anise, it is true. But then this should
ie put in the alternative—"the lieutenant
governor, or the president of the senate."
However, I will withdraw my amendment.
The remaining sections of the report were
then read, and no amendments offered there-
to.
Mr. HOPKINS. I offer the following as an
additional section:
"The legislature shall foster and encour-
age moral, intellectual, scientific and agri-
cultural improvement; they shall, when it
may be practicable, make suitable provision
for the blind, mute and insane, and for the
organization of such institutions of learning
ins the best interests of the State may de-
mand."
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. I suppose no member
of the convention can have any objection to
the proposition of the gentleman from How-
ard (Mr. Hopkins.) But it has probably
slipped his memory, for it has been some
time since we acted upon it, that we have
adopted precisely his idea, and almost his
very language, in the decoration of rights.
The forty-third article of the declaration of
rights reads as follows :
"That the legislature ought to encourage
the diffusion of knowledge and virtue, the ex-
tension of a judicious system of general edu-
cation, the promotion of literature, the arts,
science, agriculture, commerce and manufac-
tures, and the general amelioration of the con-
dition of the people."
That would seem to cover the very propo-
sition of the gentleman, and part of it is in
the very language of his proposition; and
will probably obviate any necessarily for in-
corporating his proposition in this report. |
