478 



MARYLAND. 



see fit so to do. Mr. Jones, who had reported 

 the original article, believed the right to be one 

 of absolute and unqualified justice, guaranteed 

 to the black man as well as to the white by the 

 common law. He thought the fear that there 

 would be antagonism created between the two 

 races was groundless. The discussion was kept 

 up for some days, and the provision was finally 

 transferred to the Legislative article in tbese 

 words: " No person shall be deemed incompe- 

 tent as a witness on account of race or color, 

 except hereafter so declared by the act of the 

 General Assembly." 



The following article was adopted in the Bill 

 of Eights, with very little opposition : 



ART. 44. That the provisions of the Constitution 

 of the United States and of this State apply as well in . 

 time of war as in time of peace, and any departure 

 therefrom or violation thereof under the plea of ne- 

 cessity, or any other plea, is subversive of good gov- 

 ernment, and tends to anarchy and despotism. 



The only changes of importance in the Exec- 

 utive Department of the Government were, con- 

 ferring the power of veto on the Governor, and 

 abolishing the office of Lieutenant-Governor. 



The Legislative article limits the regular 

 sessions of the General Assembly to ninety 

 days, and any extra session which may be 

 called, to thirty days. Clergymen are made 

 ineligible for members of the Assembly, which 

 restores the provision on that point of the old 

 constitution, which was superseded in 1864. 

 The credit of the State cannot be employed 

 for the benefit of internal improvements, and 

 county and municipal corporations are prohibit- 

 ed from embarking their credit in any enterprise 

 of the like kind. The General Assembly is 

 forbidden to make any compensation for eman- 

 cipated slaves, but is empowered to receive and 

 distribute any funds for that purpose which 

 may be granted by the Federal Government. 

 A new clause was inserted relating to bribery, 

 which runs as follows : 



SEC. 46. It shall be the duty of the General Assem- 

 bly, at its first session held after the adoption of this 

 constitution, to provide by law for the punishment 

 by fine, or imprisonment in the penitentiary, or both, 

 in the discretion of the court, of any person who 

 shall bribe, or attempt to bribe, any executive or ju- 

 dicial officer of the State of Maryland, or any member 

 or officer of the General Assembly of the State of 

 Maryland, or any municipal officer in the State of 

 Maryland, or any executive officer of such corporation, 

 in order to influence him in the performance of any 

 of his official duties : and also to provide by law for 

 the punishment by fine, or imprisonment in the peni- 

 tentiary, or both, in the discretion of the court, of any 

 of said officers or members who shall demand or re- 

 ceive any bribe, fee, reward, or testimonial for the 

 performance of his official duties, or for neglecting or 

 failing to perform the same ; and also to provide by law 

 for compelling any person so bribing or attempting to 

 bribe, or so demanding or receiving a bribe, fee, re- 

 ward, or testimonial, to testify against any person 

 or persons who may have committed any of said of- 

 fences : Provided, That any person so compelled to 

 testify shall be exempted from trial and punishment 

 for the oifence of which he may have been guilty ; and 

 any person convicted of such offence shall, as part of 

 the punishment thereof, be forever disfranchised and 



disqualified from holding any office of trust or profit 

 in this State. 



The article on the elective franchise bestows 

 that right on every wliite male citizen of the 

 age of twenty-one and upward who has re- 

 sided in the State one year and in the county 

 in which he designs to vote, six months, thus 

 removing the test-oath of the constitution of 

 1864, which disfranchised a large number of 

 persons for being more or less concerned in the 

 late Confederacy. The usual disabilities arc im- 

 posed upon idiots, lunatics, and criminals, and 

 the necessary regulations made for the pun- 

 ishment of fraudulent practices at elections; 

 and the General Assembly is required to pro- 

 vide by law for a uniform system of registra- 

 tion. 



The apportionment of the representation is 

 to be based on the entire population, instead 

 of being reckoned according to the number of 

 white inhabitants, as was the case under the old 

 constitution. The school system was entirely 

 done away, and the next Assembly required to 

 establish a new one in its place, all the details of 

 which were left to the discretion of that body. 

 The article on the judiciary makes very com- 

 plete arrangements to control that important 

 department of government, fixing the number 

 and salary of the judges. The State is to be 

 divided into eighteen judicial circuits, each with 

 a chief justice, whose salary is fixed at $3,500; 

 and two associate justices, each with a salary 

 of $2,800. The provisions relating to the city 

 of Baltimore fix the term of office of the 

 mayor at four years, while one branch of the 

 city council is to be changed each year, and the 

 other branch every two years. 



The members of the convention finally came 

 to a vote on the constitution, as reported by 

 the various committees to whom the prepara- 

 tion of different portions had been intrusted, 

 and modified by the protracted deliberations of 

 the Assembly, on the 16th of August, more than 

 three months after they first came together. 

 The 18th of September was appointed as the 

 day on which the vote of the people should be 

 taken on the adoption of the instrument as 

 framed by their delegates; and if adopted, it 

 was to go into operation on the 5th of October. 

 The vote resulted in the adoption of the con- 

 stitution, the whole number of votes cast being 

 71,088 ; majority for the new constitution, 24,- 

 116. 



The fiscal year, in the financial operations of 

 the State of Maryland, ends on the 30th of 

 September. At the bee-inning of the last fiscal 

 year there -were $367.816.36 remaining in the 

 Treasury from the unexpended resources of the 

 previous year. The total receipts for the year 

 1867 amounted to $2,362,876.88: the year's ex- 

 penditures reached the sum of $2,573,855.24; 

 leaving a balance in the Treasury, on the 30th of 

 September last, of $156,838. The last report of 

 the Comptroller states the whole amount of the 

 war loan, which had assumed the form of a per- 

 manent indebtedness, at little more than $500,- 



