SEC. 22. A Secretary of State shall be appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall continue in office, unless sooner removed by the Governor, till the end of the official term of the Governor from whom he received his appointment, and receive an annual salary of Two Thousand dollars, and shall reside at the Seat of Government; and the office of Private Secretary shall thenceforth cease.

SEC. 23. The Secretary of State shall carefully keep and preserve a Record of all official acts and proceedings, which may at all times be inspected by a committee of either Branch of the Legislature; and he shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by Law, or as may properly belong to his office, together with all clerical duty belonging to the Executive Department.

ARTICLE III.

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

SECTION 1. The Legislature shall consist of two distinct Branches; a Senate, and a House of Delegates, and shall be styled the General Assembly of Maryland.

SEC. 2. Each County in the State, and each of the three Legislative Districts of Baltimore City, as they are now, or may hereafter be defined, shall be entitled to one Senator, who shall be elected by the qualified voters of the Counties, and of the Legislative Districts of Baltimore City, respectively, and shall serve for four years from the date of his election, subject to the classification of Senators hereafter provided for.

SEC. 3. Until the taking and publishing of the next National Census, or until the enumeration of the population of this State, under the Authority thereof, the several Counties, and the City of Baltimore, shall have representation in the House of Delegates, as follows: Allegany County, five Delegates; Anne Arundel County, three Delegates; Baltimore County, six Delegates; each of the three Legislative Districts of the City of Baltimore, six Delegates; Calvert County, two Delegates; Caroline County, two Delegates; Carroll County, four Delegates;

Cecil County, four Delegates; Charles County, two Delegates; Dorchester County, three Delegates; Frederick County, six Delegates; Harford County, four Delegates; Howard County, two Delegates; Kent County, two Delegates; Montgomery County, three Delegates; Prince George's County, three Delegates; Queen Anne's County, two Delegates; Saint Mary's County, two Delegates; Somerset County, three Delegates; Talbot County, two Delegates; Washington County, five Delegates; and Worcester County, three Delegates. *

SEC. 4. As soon as may be after the taking and publishing of the next National Census, or after the enumeration of the population of this State, under the Authority thereof, there shall be an apportionment of representation in the House of Delegates, to be made on the following basis, to wit: Each of the several Counties of the State, having a population of eighteen thousand souls, or less, shall be entitled to two Delegates; and every County, having a population of over eighteen thousand, and less than twenty-eight thousand souls, shall be entitled to three Delegates; and every County, having a population of twenty-eight thousand, and less than forty thousand souls, shall be entitled to four Delegates; and every County, having a population of forty thousand, and less than fifty-five thousand souls, shall be entitled to five Delegates; and every County, having a population of fifty-five thousand souls, and upwards, shall be entitled to six Delegates, and no more; and each of the three Legislative Districts of the City of Baltimore shall be entitled to the number of Delegates to which the largest County shall or may be entitled, under the aforegoing apportionment. And the General Assembly shall have power to provide by law, from time to time, for altering and changing the boundaries of the three existing Legislative Districts of the City of Baltimore, so as to make them, as near as may be, of equal population; but said Districts shall always consist of contiguous territory.

*This representation has been since changed, as follows, viz: Allegany, four Delegates; Anne Arundel, four Delegates; Cecil, three Delegates; Charles, three Delegates; Frederick, five Delegates; Garrett, two Delegates; Queen Anne's, three Delegates; Talbot, three Delegates; Washington, four Delegates; Wicomico, three Delegates. The others are unchanged.

SEC. 5. Immediately after the taking and publishing of the next National Census, or after any State enumeration of population, as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the Governor, then being, to arrange the Representation in said House of Delegates, in accordance with the apportionment herein provided for; and to declare, by Proclamation, the number of Delegates to which each County, and the City of Baltimore, may be entitled under such apportionment; and after every National Census taken thereafter, or after any State enumeration of population thereafter made, it shall be the duty of the Governor, for the time being, to make similar adjustment of Representation, and to declare the same by Proclamation, as aforesaid.

SEC. 6. The members of the House of Delegates shall be elected by the qualified voters of the Counties, and the Legislative Districts of Baltimore City, respectively, to serve for two years from the day of their election.

SEC. 7. The first election for Senators and Delegates shall take place on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven; and the election for Delegates, and as nearly as practicable, for one-half of the Senators, shall be held on the same day, in every second year thereafter.

SEC. 8. Immediately after the Senate shall have convened, after the first election, under this Constitution, the Senators shall be divided by lot, into two classes, as nearly equal in number as may be Senators of the first class shall go out of office at the expiration of two years, and Senators shall be elected on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November, eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, for the term of four years, to supply their places; so that, after the first election, one-half of the Senators may be chosen every second year. In case the number of Senators be hereafter increased, such classification of the additional Senators shall be made as to preserve, as nearly as may be, an equal number in each class.

SEC. 9. No person shall be eligible as a Senator or Delegate, who at the time of his election, is not a citizen of the State of Maryland, and who has not resided therein for at least three years next preceding the day of his election, and the last year thereof, in the County, or in the Legislative District of Balti

more City, which he may be chosen to represent, if such County or Legislative District of said City shall have been so long established; and if not, then in the County or City from which, in whole or in part, the same may have been formed; nor shall any person be eligible as a Senator, unless he shall have attained the age of twenty-five years, nor as a Delegate, unless he shall have attained the age of twenty-one years, at the time of his election.

SEC. 10. No member of Congress, or person holding any civil or military office under the United States, shall be eligible as a Senator or Delegate; and if any person shall after his election as Senator or Delegate be elected to Congress, or be appointed to any office, civil or military, under the Government of the United States, his acceptance thereof shall vacate his seat.

SEC. 11. No Minister or Preacher of the Gospel, or of any religious creed or denomination, and no person holding any civil office of profit or trust under this State, except Justices of the Peace, shall be eligible as Senator or Delegate.

SEC. 12. No Collector, Receiver, or Holder of public money shall be eligible as Senator or Delegate, or to any office of profit or trust under this State, until he shall have accounted for and paid into the Treasury all sums on the Books thereof charged to and due by him.

SEC. 13. In case of death, disqualification, resignation, refusal to act, expulsion, or removal from the county or city for which he shall have been elected, of any person who shall have been chosen as a Delegate or Senator, or in case of a tie between two or more such qualified persons, a warrant of election shall be issued by the Speaker of the House of Delegates, or President of the Senate, as the case may be, for the election of another person in his place, of which election not less than ten days' notice shall be given, exclusive of the day of the publication of the notice and of the day of election; and if during the recess of the Legislature, and more than ten days before its termination, such death shall occur, or such resignation, refusal to act, or disqualification be communicated in writing to the Governor by the person so resigning, refusing or disqualified, it shall be the duty of the Governor to issue a warrant of election to supply the vacancy thus created, in the same manner the said Speaker or President might have done

during the session of the General Assembly; provided, however, that unless a meeting of the General Assembly may intervene, the election thus ordered to fill such vacancy shall be held on the day of the ensuing election for Delegates and Senators.

SEC. 14. The General Assembly shall meet on the first Wednesday of January, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, and on the same day in every second year thereafter, and at no other time, unless convened by Proclamation of the Governor.

SEC. 15. The General Assembly may continue its session so long as in its judgment the public interest may require, for a period not longer than ninety days; and each member thereof shall receive a compensation of five dollars per diem for every day he shall attend the session; but not for such days as he may be absent, unless absent on account of sickness or by leave of the House of which he is a member; and he shall also receive such mileage as may be allowed by Law, not exceeding twenty cents per mile; and the presiding officer of each House shall receive an additional compensation of three dollars per day. When the General Assembly shall be convened by Proclamation of the Governor the session shall not continue longer than thirty days, and in such case the compensation shall be the same as herein prescribed.

SEC. 16. No book, or other printed matter, not appertaining to the business of the session, shall be purchased or subscribed for, for the use of the members of the General Assembly, or be distributed among them, at the public expense.

SEC. 17. No Senator or Delegate, after qualifying as such, notwithstanding he may thereafter resign, shall during the whole period of, time for which he was elected, be eligible to any office which shall have been created, or the salary or profits of which shall have been increased, during such term.

SEC. 18. No Senator or Delegate shall be liable in any civil action or criminal prosecution whatever for words spoken in debate.

SEC. 19. Each House shall be judge of the qualifications and elections of its members, as prescribed by the Constitution and