possession of members of this House; and my
friend from Baltimore city has referred also to
some informal proceedings that have taken
place It is proper under these circumstances
that I should not remain silent, in view of the
part which I had the honor to take by au-
thority of that informal meeting touching
this subject I regret that it has been intro-
duced this morning, for the reason so Well
put by my friend from Frederick, (Mr. Schley)
that as yet the invitation has not reached us
in official form. The committee who have
the subject in charge on the part of the City
Council will reach here to-night. That invi-
tation will be made in official form to-morrow
morning. It seems to me therefore to be
fitting that the subject should be postponed
until to-morrow.
The motion to lay upon the table was
seconded.
The yeas and nays were demanded, and be-
ing ordered were taken, and resulted—yeas
39, nays 41— as follows :
Yeas—Messrs. Miller, Bond, Henkle, Stock-
bridge, Stirling, Cushing, Berry of Baltimore
county Ridgely, Hoffman, Parker, King,
Ecker, Wooden, Earle, Pugh, Briscoe, Tur-
ner, Parran, Dail, Johnson, Smith of Dor-
chester, Hodson, Galloway, McComas, Hop-
per, Russell, Hopkins, Sykes, Blackiston,
Hollyday, Clarke, Berry of Prince George's,
Belt, Marbury, Lee, Brown, Billingsley, Mor-
gan, Davis—39.
Nays— Messrs. Hebb, Thruston, Wickard,
Robinette, Hatch, Kennard, Brooks, Barron,
Daniel, Abbott, Thomas, Audoun, Larsh,
Swope, Jones of Cecil, Scott, Todd, Garter,
Noble, Keefer, Schley, Annan, Baker, Cun-
ningham, Schlosser, Crawford, Gale, Dennis,
Horsey, Valliant, Mulliken, Dellinger, Nyman,
Negley, Mayhugh, Sneary, Smith of Worces-
ter, Purnell, Farrow, Murray—41.
So the motion to lay upon the table did not
prevail.
Mr. SCHLEY moved that the subject be post-
poned until an official communication should
be made to the Convention.
Mr. HEBB. I do not like the form of this
motion, because, if no official communication
should be made, it would be impossible for
this body to move to the city of Baltimore.
I would suggest that it should be postponed
until to-morrow at one o'clock.
Mr. SCHLEY modified his motion accordingly.
The motion was agreed to.
AN IRON SAFE.
Mr. BARRON submitted the following order:
Ordered, That the Secretary of this Con-
vention procure an iron safe in which to de-
posit all documents and papers relating to the
business of this Convention in order the better
to secure their safety.
Mr. B. said: My reason for offering that
order is that at the last session of the House
of Delegates a bill was lost; and I think it is |
desirable that we should have some place for
the safe-keeping of papers belonging to this
Convention,
Mr. SMITH, of Carroll. This order seers to
be an intimation of a want of honesty or in-
tegrity on the part of members of this body,
which I trust is totally unfounded. The loss
of the bill in the House of Delegates may have
arisen from a class of gentlemen who will not
trouble us very much, fur the lobby seems to
be entirely deserted, and I trust it will remain
so. I do not see the slightest necessity for
such an expense, and, although not so intend-
ed, the order is an imputation of a want of
integrity upon the part of members of this
body and its officials, which I trust we shall
by our vote entirely repudiate.
Mr. BARRON. It is right that I should say
in explanation that I did not intend anything
of the kind. I do not believe that the lost
bill was taken by any inember of the House
of Delegates; and I do not believe a member
of this Convention would stoop so low as to
take any paper belonging to the Convention
without proper authority, I will withdraw
the order, if any gentleman present thinks
that is the intention of it.
The order was rejected.
"AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONS."
Mr. HOFFMAN submitted the following order.
Ordered, That the Librarian be directed to
furnish each member of the Convention with
a copy of the "American Constitutions'"
published by Lippincott of Philadelphia.
Mr. STIRLING. I think that is a very good
order, but I should like to add an amendment
to it. It has been a custom, and I suppose a»
custom sanctioned by law, for members of the
Assembly lo take home with them books thus
voted to them, although the Library may be
very deficient in these books This is a book.
which is valuable for the Library, and I wish
to amend by adding that the books shall be
returned to the Librarian after the adjourn-
ment of the Convention. Otherwise the books
will become the property of the members.
Mr. HOFFMAN accordingly modified his order
by adding:
"These books, however, to be returned to
the Librarian at the close of the session of the
Convention."
Mr. VALLIANT. I desire to know of what
advantage this book will be to us, before
voting for the order,
Mr. DANIEL. I ask for a division of the
question. I think the books will be useful to
us, but I do not see the use of returning them
to the Library afterwards. I do not see why
they will not be as useful in the hands of
members, as to have 96 copies in the Library.
Perhaps we shall have more to do with this
subject, after the Convention adjourns, than
anybody else, and the books will be oftener
used than if lying in the Library for the next
ten or twelve years. I think if we are to have |
