|
My desire is (concluded Mr. T. ) to vote on
Something tangible. I hold in my hand a propo-
sition which embodied the true republican doc-
trine; and which I now offer.
Mr. T. read as follows:
"With instructions to report a plan of repre-
sentation in the House of Delegates on such
basis of compromise as will in their judgment
protect the interests of the different sections of
the State. "
Mr. T. then referred to the resolutions, and
said that the Convention proposed to send these j
resolutions back without either an affirmative or j
a negative answer. His opinion was that in or-
der. to protect all the interests of any State, or
Government, compromises on the part of the
various interests involved must be made. And
this he supposed to be the conclusion to which
the Convention must come at last.
Mr. SPENCER said, he would accept the amend-
ment of the gentleman from Prince George's,
(Mr. TUCK, ) if he (Mr. S. ) was at liberty to do
so.
Mr. BROWN thought, he said, that the propo-
sition of the gentleman from Prince George's did
not remove the difficulty. It was probable there
would be as many differences of opinion under
that amendment, as (here had already been in
committee.
After saying a few words in reply to Mr.
CHAMBERS, of Kent, an-! applying to that gentle-
man 's course on this question one of David Crock-
ett's anecdotes about a coon-fight, Mr. B. ex-
pressed the belief that the resolution ought to be
recommitted; and he was ture that if the com-
mittee could not agree on a plan without the in-
structions of the gentleman from Prince George 's,
they could not agree with them.
Mr. TUCK. I withdraw my amendment.
Mr. CHAMBERS, of Kent, replied briefly and in
good humor to the coon story, and, after refer-
ring to the proceedings which had taken place in
the committee upon them, said that every mem-
ber of the committee agreed that it it was neces-
sary that the Convention should pass upon the
question involved in the resolution. He believed
that if the House would decide that question, a
report could be made in twenty-four hours af-
terwards, if the committee could be got together.
Mr. MERRICK could not discover, he said, any
reasonable ground for the apprehension which
some gentlemen had expressed that bitter and
accrimonious feelings would grow out of the dis-
cussion on this question. The gentleman from
Frederick, (Mr. THOMAS, ) had said that the ques-
tion of the distribution of political power was
connected with this subject, and that other ques-
tions should be disposed of first, because of the
danger (as he, Mr. M, understood the gentleman, )
that astrangement and alienation would grow out
of the discussion. He, (Mr. M., ) hoped that their
was no member of this Convention who did not
feel the utmost good will towards every other
member of it; and that it would be found that
they could, as statesmen and philosophers (many
of them with locks whitened with age, ) act upon
this question without being transported with that
|
passion or ill-will to which younger men might
be apt to yield. So far from thinking that this
question should be postponed, because of its im-
portance, and because it occupied a larger share
of public consideration, and of the consideration
of the Convention than any other, he thought it
should for that very reason be the sooner dispos-
ed of.
He contested the idea that the resolutions re-
ported from the Committee, were mere abstrac-
tions. What was the first question to be decid-
ed when the Convention came to consider the
subject of representation? Was it not whether
there should be representation strictly according
to population, or whether there should he a
modification of that principle? That was the
first operation of the mind in approaching the
question — one which no mind could resist. And
it was emphatically and pre-eminently a practi-
cal question. Had not the Convention to deter-
mine whether it would concede the principle of
representation according to population, or
whether it would settle down upon something
else — some modification of that principle ?
When that principle had once been settled, there
would be no trouble. The rest wag a matter of
calculation and figures. Once settle the princi-
ple, and the Convention would have a practical
decision which would lead to a certain result.
Suppose the Convention decided this resolution
negatively. Would they not even then have ad-
vanced very considerably towards an adjustment
of the question? And was it not much more
likely that it would be adjusted at an early day
upon some proper, rational and salutary princi-
ple of compromise? He earnestly hoped that
the Convention would not blink this question,
but would come boldly up to it by a direct and
solemn vote.
Some conversation followed on a point of
order, between Mr. GWINN and the PRESIDENT,
after which —
Mr. GWINN withdrew his amendment.
Mr. G. asked the House to say, whether, if
they should proceed to take a vote on the reso-
lution now pending, they would have settled any
principle. He had, in committee, voted that it
was inexpedient to regard federal numbers in fix-
ing the basis of representation. With his expe-
rience of the state of things in this Convention,
he considered that in giving that vote he was in
fact voting for a compromise.
But so far as he was concerned, if this resolu-
tion should be set aside by the Convention, he
should vote for any proposition to place it upon
the basis of federal numbers. There was no ne-
cessity, as the gentleman from Frederick, (Mr.
THOMAS, ) had said, for taking the question as it
now stood, because the Convention -would settle
nothing by the motion. He, (Mr G., ) was wil-
ling that the matter should be recommitted, and
that the committee should be discharged, because
he was confident that it would never come to any
conclusion.
Mr. BLAKISTONE said, he had voted yesterday.
in favor of the motion to postpone the considera-
tion of this subject, and was anxious that it
|
