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the management of it, he agreed to. But here he stopped
and denied that this section would accomplish either of
these objects. He proclaimed here that it would strike a
deadly blow at the prosperity of the city of Baltimore.
The whole control of this work was to be placed in the
hands of the people of the District of Columbia, who
would work it for their own benefit, and against the in-
terests of the city of Baltimore, (t would produce a
ruinous competition between the canal and the railroad,
both would suffer by it, and also the State of Maryland.
The gainers would be the people who would get their coal
transported at a nominal rate, and the people of the Dis-
trict of Columbia. We may know now who the trustees
are, but do we know who they will be twelve months
hence? They are the representatives of the bondholders
and may be changed at any time to suit the purposes of
the latter. Have we got to the condition as to say that we
have no men in the State of Maryland fit to manage this
work, that we must go to New York and the District of
Columbia to find them? Tie believed now that the Chesa-
peake and Ohio Canal was in a fairer condition of pros-
perity than ever before, that its prospects were better
than ever before. He had a proposition which he should
offer, if this section was stricken out, for the appointment
of five commissioners to serve without compensation,
selected from the best men of the State, to manage the
affairs of the company. He denied the assertion of his
colleague that the interests of the bondholders would be
identical with the State, they were, and are likely to be,
directly antagonistic.
Mr. Alvey had not intended to say a word on this sub-
ject, but he thought where such momentous interests
were concerned that he would be derelict to his duty if
he sat here and gave a silent vote. Wore they not here
for a purpose like this? Were they here to make con-
tracts with people of the State of Maryland? Were they
not confined to the work of making a fundamental law
for the State? Members had often before claimed that
they were trenching upon the powers of the Legislature,
and now, in the last hours of the session, they were asked
to make a private contract. It was not fair to put this in
the constitution; the people wanted the constitution, and
might be forced to sustain a measure which, if submitted
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