|
should be postponed; but the Convention had de-
cided otherwise. He was, therefore, desirous
that the sense of the body should be taken upon
the resolutions reported by the committee.
Several gentlemen had declared that they were
in favor of representation according to popula-
tion. He desired that the people of the State
should understand how they were voting here.
The gentleman from Carroll had said the other
day, that he was anxious that gentlemen should
show their hands. The time, he, (Mr. BLAKIS-
TONE, ) thought had come He was for no dodg-
ing. He would tell gentlemen that they should
not Hodge. The proposition might be voted down,
but it should come up in its plain and naked
shape, and a vote should be taken upon it. He
took it for granted that no gentleman here, was
afraid, or ashamed to give his opinion upon the
proposition itself. He, for one, was ready to ex-
press his. He wanted to record his name, and
he desired to see other gentlemen record their's.
It had been intimated by the gentleman from
Carroll, that there were some members of this
body who were not ready to "t.. e the mark. "
Let it be seen who they were. Let every gentle-
man march up to the vote with a fixed and stea-
dy purpose, to let the people of the State of Ma-
ryland know who they were, from whence they
came, who would go for this abstract proposition
of representation according to population. He
did not anticipate that any such scenes of excite-
ment as some gentlemen predicted would take
place here, or that any member of the body, in
the expression and enforcement of the opinions
he entertained, would go beyond the limits of
propriety. He alluded to this doctrine of repre-
sentation according to population, as a political
hobby which had been ridden to death, and whose
death-warrant he desired to see. Gentlemen
might ride it at home if they pleased, but it should
not be mounted here, or if it was, he, for one,
was resolved to see how the gentleman rode, and
upon what sort of pony he was mounted.
The people did not know all the reform opin-
ions advocated in this body. He alluded to the
various grades of reformers, and the kind of re-
form which they sustained; but declared that he
had never, in his experience, heard a man in the
State of Maryland, high or low, broadly advocate
before the people, the principle of representation
according to population. It had not even been
argued here when the reform bill was up, and if
it had been, the very statement of the argument
would have strangled the offspring in its birth.
Let the question be met. He would meet it
boldly— even if alone; and if he fell, the greater
glory would be his. that he had fallen, not by the
lands of pigmies, but of giants
He amused the Convention for some time by
allusions to the strange combinations of the po-
litical elements which were manifested in the
Convention; and described th» animals, (hobbies)
upon which some gentlemen were riding and the
particular order in which they mounted. He
then proceeded to remark, that if gentlemen had
come bene with a serious intention of making a
Constitution, it was time they should go to work
|
in good earnest to do so. Looking to the way u*
which the Convention was now going on.the peo-
ple would never get a Constitution on the face
of the earth. He spoke of his own constituents
as among the purest in the world; and thought,
that one of the strongest evidences of the fact
was to be found in the steadfastness with which
they had always voted for him. (Laughter.)
He desired to say one word to the gentleman
from Baltimore city, (Mr. GWINN.) That gen-
tleman had stated that the Committee could not
make a report without instructions, and yet be
turned around and declared his willingness to
vote to recommit witliout instructions, when it
was conceded by him that no report could be
obtained. Did gentlemen expect to have a
Constitution, when the sure result of attempting
to carry out their own extreme views, would be
to defeat the formation of any Constitution ?
He (Mr. B.) did not expect to gain any great de-
gree of credit among the ultra reform members
of this Convention, by any vote which he should
give. He came here witih a fixed determina-
tion to make the best Constitution he could, for
the whole people of the State. And if he ever
spoke art honest word, such was his fixed pur-
pose now. If he could make such a Constiiution
before the sun went down this evening, he would
do so. The time for work liad come, and he
called upon every member of The Convention to
step boldly forward and avow his opinion.
Much had been said in the course of the recent
discussions, about corruption in Maryland.
Where was its paternity? This reform move-
ment in Maryland was its father — corruption was
its design. Before a sacrilegious hand had been
laid upon the Constitution which our forefathers,
made, there was no corruption to be found in
any part of the State of Maryland. And where
did it now come from ? From the office-seekers
and their satellites. This was the origin of all
the corruption.
Notwithstanding all that had becili said of the
fraud and corruption existing in tie State of
Maryland — of which there might be a good deal
—he believed there was not a more honorable
or chivalrous people on the face of the earth, or
a people generally more free from corruptions.
He passed a high eulogy upon them.
In conclusion, he appealed to the members of
the Convention, whigs and democrats — for he re-
cognized here no party but Marylanders — to
come up and vote upon this question. Let there
be no higgling — chaffing — or dodging — but let
every man vote boldly, aye or no. The people
would then have some guarantee, that the Con-
vention intended rapidly and successfully to do
the work for which it had assembled.
Mr. DAVIS corrected his friend from St Mary's,
(Mr. Blackistone.) who had stated that no person
could be found in or out of the Legislature, who
had come out, and taken the broad ground in
favor of population as a basis of representation.
He pointed out his friend from Carroll, (Mr.
BROWN,) as having done so, and asked his friend
from Frederick, (Mr. Eisen,) if he also had not
advocated the principle before the Legislature.
Mr. BLAKISTONE replied that he stood correct-
|
