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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 these words: "No person shall be deemed incompetent 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 Rights, 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 necessity, or any other plea, is subversive of good government, and tends to anarchy and despotism.

The only changes of importance in the Executive Department of the Government were, conferring 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ineligible for members of the Assembly, which restores the provision on that point of the old constitution, which was superseded in 1864.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 prohibited from embarking their credit in any enterprise of the like kind. The General Assembly is

forbidden to make any compensation for emancipated 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 Assembly, 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 judicial 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 penitentiary, or both, in the discretion of the court, of any of said officers or members who shall demand or receive 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, reward, 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 offence 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 white male citizen of the age of twenty-one and upward who has resided 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 are imposed upon idiots, lunatics, and criminals, and the necessary regulations made for the punishment of fraudulent practices at elections; and the General Assembly is required to provide by law for a uniform system of registration.

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 complete 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 preparation of different portions had been intrusted, the Assembly, on the 16th of August, more than and modified by the protracted deliberations of 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 constitution, 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 beginning 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 expenditures 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 permanent indebtedness, at little more than $500,

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