The question then recurring on the adoption
of the thirteenth article of the report of the com-
mittee,
Mr. SCHLEY moved to amend the said article
by striking out in the fourth line thereof, the
words "actual worth in."
The amendment was rejected.
Mr. SCHLET moved to amend the said article
by inserting after the word "property," in the
fifth line thereof, the following:
"And the legislature shall, at its first session af-
ter the adoption of this Constitution, provide a
convenient mode by which the actual worth in
real and personal property of any individual in
the State shall be ascertained."
After some explanations by Messrs. SCHLEY,
DORSEY and MERRICK,
The question was taken, and the amendment
was rejected.
The thirteenth article of the report was then
adopted.
And the Convention adjourned, until to-mor-
row at eleven o'clock.
TUESDAY, February 11th, 1851.
The Convention met at eleven o'clock.
Prayer by the Rev. Mr. GRAUFF.
The roll of the members was called.
The journal of yesterday was read, and on
motion of
Mr. SCHLEY, was amended by substituting, in
his amendment, the word "every," in lieu of
"any," as erroneously recorded.
MR. M'CULLOCH, OF CECIL.
On motion of Mr. MILLER, it was
"Ordered, That it be entered upon the journal,
that Mr. McCullough, is detained from his seat
in the Convention by the severe illness of a mem-
ber of his family,"
On motion of Mr. MCMASTER, it was
"Ordered, That it be entered upon the journal
Samuel I. Lambden, an officer of this Conven-
tion, is detained at home in consequence of the
illness of his wife."
Mr. GWINN, presented a memorial of H. J.
Scarff, Robert White, Peter F. Young, William
H. H. Turner, and others of the Marion Total
Abstinence Society, praying some constitutional
protection for the cause of Temperance;
Which was read, and
On motion of Mr. GWINN,
Referred to the committee on the Legislative
Department.
Mr. MORGAN presented an account of G. J.
Spalding, clerk to commissioners of tax for St.
Mary's county;
Which was read, and
On motion of Mr. MORGAN,
Referred to the committee on Accounts.
On motion of Mr. PHELPS, it was
"Ordered, That the committee upon apportion-
ment and representation be, and they are hereby

directed, to enquire into the propriety and expe-
diency of so changing the present basis of repre-
sentation in the House of Delegates, as to deduct
one member from each county, and the city of
Baltimore.
The PRESIDENT, pro tem., called for reports of
committees, and also for motions, notices and re-
solutions, but none were presented or made.
THE BILL OF RIGHTS.
The Convention resumed the consideration of
the order of the day, being the report of the
committee on the declaration of rights.
The question was on the adoption of the fol-
lowing preamble:
"We, the Delegates of Maryland, in Conven-
tion assembled, taking into our most serious con-
sideration, the best means of establishing a good
Constitution in this State, DECLARE."
Mr. DASHIELL moved to amend the said pream-
ble, by inserting after the word "Maryland," in
the first line, these words, "representing the
counties and city of Baltimore."
The preamble, as amended, would then read
as follows:
"We, the Delegates of Maryland, representing
the counties and the city of Baltimore, in Con-
vention assembled, taking into our most serious
consideration, the best means of establishing a
good Constitution in this State, DECLARE."
Mr. D. said his object in proposing this amend-
ment, was to place upon record a fact which ex-
isted, and by so doing he relieved the preamble,
as reported by the committee, of all ambiguity.
The preamble, without the amendment, admits of
a construction which the facts do not warrant,
and he thought it expedient and wiser to place it
beyond the possibility of cavil and doubt. He
wished it to tell but the one tale, and that the
truth. No one can deny the fact, that we are
here as Delegates of Maryland, representing the
counties and the city of Baltimore—that we, in
the aggregate, are the result of an apportion-
ment—that each county has upon this floor a
separate and distinct delegation. Mr. D. advert-
ed to the fact that the preamble to the Constitu-
tion of the United States had been a matter of
great controversy, and from it the advocates of
two great doctrines, deduced arguments in favor
of each. One he believed, had the letter in its
favor, the other, the facts. One favored consoli-
dation, the other, confederation. Now the pre-
amble as reported by the committee will admit of
a like double construction. He hoped the Con-
vention would see the propriety of adopting the
amendment and thereby rid the preamble of its
present ambiguity.
Mr. GWINN expressed his unwillingness that
the Convention should act upon a proposition of
this character without some consideration. It
seemed to him that it was not only a change of
phraseology,but that it involved some assertions as
to the political relation which the counties bore to
each other utterly at variance with the fact. The
members of this Convention were not delegates
of the counties, but of the State of Maryland.
And if the inference was to be drawn that they
were here as the representatives of distinct muni-