diligently and faithfully, without partiality or prejudice. No other oath than this can be prescribed. If the person does not take the oath, the office is declared vacant and a new election or appointment follows; while, if the person takes the oath and violates it, he is declared incapable of holding office for the future as a penalty. The clerks of courts keep the signatures of persons to official oaths in a book, and if one takes the oath outside the county of his residence, he must place an official copy of the oath in the clerk's office of his county. Qualifying for some offices, especially those which involve the handling of large sums of money, includes the giving of a bond, as well as the taking of an oath. The bond is a paper signed by respectable property-holding citizens, guaranteeing the officeholder's honesty, and agreeing that its signers will be responsible to a certain amount for all money the government loses through the office-holder. In recent years, a number of bonding companies have arisen, which will sign a man's bond on his paying a definite sum of money to them. This is a sort of insurance, and, as most office-holders are honest, the companies can afford to make their charges low, while the friends of the office-holder are freed from all danger of being ruined through his wrongful acts. (Const. I. 6, 7; XV. 10. Dec. of R. 37.)

In Engeland, for

13. Public Officers; Pluralities. merly, men were allowed to hold two offices at the same time. This was called a plurality and is forbidden in Maryland, as far as offices of profit created by the state constitution, or laws, are concerned. Offi,fces merely

of trust, and to which no remuneration is attached, do not come under this prohibition. Not only are Maryland's officers restricted to one state office of profit, but they are also forbidden to receive a present from any other state, the United States, or any foreign prince, without the approbation of the state. This is to prevent any influence on state officers by outside powers and to secure an undivided allegiance. (Dec. of R. 34, 35.)

No

person

who

14. Public Officers' Disqualifications. has been a collector, receiver, or holder of public money can hold a public office until all sums due the state are accounted for and paid into the treasury. No dueller, second at a duel, or abetter of a duel, can hold office save by act of Legislature. No person who gives or receives bribes can ever hold office. (Const. III. 12, 41, 50.)

66

15. Public Officers; Rotation. Our ancestors, when they declared their independence, were very much afraid of a permanent office-holding class and so placed in their Bill of Rights a clause which still remains there, that a long continuance in executive departments of power or trust is dangerous to liberty; a rotation, therefore, in those departments is one of the best securities of permanent freedom." It is doubtful whether there is not now rather a greater danger to efficiency of government, through too rapid rotation and placing of untried men in office. (Dec. of R. 34.) There is nothing to prevent the reëlection or reappointment of an officer, as long as the people desire it.

16. Public Officers; the Secretary of State. He is nominated by each governor to serve till the close of

his official term, and is confirmed by the Senate. He resides at the seat of government, receives a salary of $2000, and has the duty of keeping and preserving carefully 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 of performing the clerical duties of the executive department. He acts as the governor's private secretary, and attests or witnesses the governor's signature to all proclamations, such as the one appointing a Thanksgiving Day. (Const. II. 22, 23.)

17. The Great Seal. In 1876 the great seal was restored so as to be similar to that directed to be used by Lord Baltimore in 1648. His seal bore on the front, or obverse, the figure of the lord proprietary mounted on horseback. He is represented arrayed in complete armor and with a drawn sword in his arms. The caparisons of his horse are adorned with his family coat of arms. On the ground below are represented flowers and grass growing. On the reverse, or back of the seal, is Lord Baltimore's coat of arms. The shield's quarters bear the arms of the Calvert family described in heraldic language as "paly of six pieces, or and sable, a bend countercharged." From this fact, gold and black have been taken as Maryland's colors. The second and third quarters show the arms of the Crossland family, of which was the mother of the first Lord Baltimore. These are "quarterly, argent and gules, a cross bottony, countercharged." Above the shield was placed an earl's coronet, above that a helmet set full-faced, and over that the Calvert crest,

two pennons - the right, or dexter one, of gold; the other, sable or black; the staves, gules or red, issuing from a ducal coronet. The supporters are a plowman and a fisherman, designated respectively by a spade and a fish held in the hand. The motto was that of the Calverts, "Fatti maschii parole femine," which Italian words mean either "deeds are manly, words womanly," or "manly deeds and womanly words." Behind and surrounding both shield and supporters is a crimson-lined mantle, and on the circle about the whole are the Latin words "Scuto bonae voluntatis tuae coronasti nos," which quotation from the Scriptures is translated as "Thou hast crowned us with the shield of thy good will." The Great Seal is kept by the secretary of state, and is used by the governor on any communication with any other state, the United States, or a foreign government. The Great Seal is said to authenticate, or certify all documents on which it is used. It is affixed to all bills which have passed the General Assembly and are presented to the governor for approval, and to all the governor's proclamations. It is also placed on patents issued from the land office and to copies of resolutions and laws certified by the clerk of appeals. The governor must sign every document sealed with it.

CHAPTER VI.

FINANCES.

1. Comptroller; Position and Duties.

He is so called

because he controls the treasury of the state. He has a very important office as financier or manager of Maryland's money matters. He is elected by the people on the years ending with an odd number, and serves two years from the third Monday in January after his election, and until his successor qualifies. He is paid a salary of $2500, and is not allowed to receive fees, commissions, or perquisites of any kind in addition to his salary. In case there is a vacancy in the office, the governor, with consent of the Senate, shall appoint a successor to fill out the term. The comptroller gives a bond for the performance of his duties and has an office at Annapolis. He has general superintendence of the financial affairs of the state, prepares and reports estimates of the revenue and expenditure of the state, so that the people may know what the income and outgo will be, and prepares plans for the improvement and management of the revenue and the support of public credit. He superintends and forces the prompt collection of all taxes, adjusts matters and settles on legal terms with the delinquent collectors of taxes, preserves all public accounts, and decides on forms of keeping and stating accounts. To prevent the improper expendi