The doorkeepers returned, after the lapse of a few moments, and reported that they were unable to find any of the absent members in the city.

Mr. McKaig said he had no doubt the want of a quorum was accidental, and moved to adjourn.

Mr. Mackubin said his colleague, the Hon. Judge Merrick, was present, and would like to be sworn in.

Mr. McKaig then withdrew his motion.

The Hon. William M. Merrick, of Howard county, then came forward and qualified before the President, and the Convention then, at 11 A. M., adjourned.

TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY.

ANNAPOLIS, TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 1867.

The Chair presented a communication from the clerk of the Circuit Court of Baltimore city, showing the following aggregate revenue of Circuit Court of Baltimore city from March 26, 1864, to January 10, 1867, $15,469.97; expenses same period, $15,443.54; due the State of Maryland, $26.43.

Mr. Barnes presented the petition of Wm. H. Roberts, John R. Sadler and other citizens of Baltimore, asking a new election for mayor and members of the city council.

Mr. Merryman presented the petition of the Prison Association of the State of Maryland, asking the insertion of a provision in the constitution looking to the appointment of one State Prison Inspector.

The President presented the petition of James Dwyer, of Springfield, Illinois, praying official recognition by the Convention of the national flag and national seal of the kingdom of Ireland.

Mr. Barry moved to lay the petition on the table.

Mr. Dobbin said he had read the petition and it was couched in respectful terms, and he therefore offered an order which, though probably not entirely satisfactory to Mr. Dwyer, would show the feeling of the Convention.

Ordered, As the sense of this Convention, that the whole subject of the individual relations of the States of

this Union to foreign nations having been committed by the constitution of the United States to the general government, this Convention, representing the government and people of an individual State, can take no action upon the petition of James T. Dwyer, except to declare that the citizens of Maryland, composed in large part of Irishmen and their descendants, will ever witness with deep solicitude any measures promotive of the welfare and happiness of the people of Ireland, and it is further ordered that the said petition be printed, for general information, upon the journal of the Convention.

Mr. Barry said, after the explanation made, he would withdraw his motion.

Mr. Stoddert hoped the order would be adopted unanimously.

The order was then unanimously adopted.

Mr. Gill submitted the following:

Ordered, That the committee on corporations be instructed to investigate the proceedings of the mayor and city councils of Baltimore since the election of the present incumbents, and particularly into their proceedings relative to the endorsement by the city of Baltimore of the bonds of the Union Railroad Company, and to the building of a new city hall, and that said committee be authorized to send for persons and papers.

Mr. Horsey, of Frederick, asked that the order be laid over for a day or two, until members had time to inform themselves in regard to this very important matter. The proposed investigation would take considerable time.

Mr. Wethered also asked that it be laid over.

The order was then laid over informally.

On motion of Mr. Merryman, it was

Ordered, That the committee on corporations and public works inquire into the expediency of incorporating an article into the constitution requiring that all railroads hereafter to be built within this State shall, in crossing any turnpike road, be built either above the bed of said turnpike road, at sufficient height to enable carriages, wagons or any vehicle of pleasure or burden to cross un

impeded, or said railroad shall be constructed beneath the bed of said turnpike roads, for the same object and purpose, leaving thereby the beds of said turnpike roads unobstructed; done so as to avoid the destruction of life and property within the State.

USURY LAWS.

Mr. Ritchie, from the committee on the rate of interest and the usury laws of the State, made a report recommending that the following section be added to the article on the legislative department:

"In the absence of contract the rate of interest shall be six per cent per annum, but it shall be lawful to contract for the payment of any rate of interest provided that no greater rate than six per cent. shall be allowed or recognized unless the contract wherein the same is agreed upon be in writing."

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.

The unfinished business, being the consideration of the article relative to the executive department, was then taken up, the pending question being on the motion of Mr. Stoddert to reconsider the vote adopting the fifth section as amended, as follows:

"A person to be eligible to the office of Governor must have attained the age of thirty years, and must have been for ten years a citizen of the State of Maryland, and for five years next preceding his election a resident of the State, and at the time of his election a qualified voter therein."

The motion to reconsider, after some discussion, was lost, and the article ordered to be engrossed for a third reading.

EDUCATION.

The report of the committee on education was then taken up.

Section 1 was read and passed over without amendment. It is as follows:

"Section 1. The General Assembly, at its first session after the adoption of this constitution, shall, by law, es

tablish throughout the State a thorough and efficient system of free public schools, and shall provide, by taxation or otherwise, for their maintenance."

Section 2 was read, as follows:

"The system of public schools as now constituted shall remain in force until the end of the said first session of the General Assembly, and shall then expire, except so far as adopted or continued by the General Assembly."

Mr. Franklin moved to amend, by striking out all after the word "and," and insert "shall expire when the system provided for in the first section shall have been adopted."

Mr. Brown hoped this article would remain as reported by the committee. He thought the abrupt suspension of the present system, unwise as he considered it, would be very injudicious.

Mr. Farnandis said the members of the committee had severally prepared an article embodying their views, and had instructed him to prepare the report based upon them. The reasons which actuated the committee in making this report were that the school year ends on the 30th of June, and the contracts for the ensuing school year will then be made, under constitutional authority, with which this Convention cannot interfere, as its work cannot be done before that time. It was an important matter, to be impressed on the Legislature, as this subject engrosses the attention of the whole community, to enforce upon the Legislature the necessity of immediate action at its first session, and he did not think they would be apt to neglect it. The contracts for the new year, the employment of teachers and superintendents will necessarily be attended to before their work can be accomplished. It is also rather difficult to say where the school funds are, and as this may be a matter of legislative inquiry, it was thought better not to embarrass that body by naming any particular day when this system shall expire. It is not believed that it was ever legally put upon the State, and there exists no doubt of its abrogation.

Mr. Maulsby had intended to offer an amendment, but after the clear explanation of the chairman of the com

mittee, the distinguished gentleman from Harford, (Mr. Farnandis,) he would not now make it.

Mr. George proposed the following as an additional section:

"The public schools of the city of Baltimore shall be a separate organization under the control of the mayor and city council of said city."

Mr. Kilbourn wanted this matter left to the Legislature, and hoped the gentleman from Baltimore, (Mr. George,) would withdraw his amendment. He (Mr. K.) had been for abolishing the present system by constitutional enactment, but after the arguments of the gentleman from Harford in the committee he had been content to leave it to the Legislature, but in no shape or form would he consent that the system should continue one day beyond the time indicated in this article, but thought it best to adhere to the report of the committee. The committee had ample evidence of the almost entire voice of the people of Maryland against the system. The reason why he was willing to leave this matter to the Legislature was because he was thoroughly convinced that no section of the State would send a delegate to the Legislature who would not be in favor of abolishing the present system. The enormous expenses of the system, the mode of raising the money and the mode of expending it, and the power of the superintendent, are all reasons why this system should be dispensed with. The committee had abundant evidence that the reports made to the Legislature, to the people and to this Convention are not founded in truth. The aggregate cost of books is stated at $64,000, when by examination of the details it has been ascertained that the amount is one hundred per cent greater, or $128,000. To show the working of this in the counties, the superintendent receives the books and passes them over to the teachers and the teachers to the scholars, and in this shifting of responsibility the cost of the books to the scholars is enhanced 100 per cent. They had abundant proof that the intolerant misrepresentations of the superintendent had not been unadvisably made. The whole system has radical, fundamental objections. It would be supposed that it would be right to commit the expenditure of the funds to those who contributed them,