zens, was extending itself into the counties of
this State, and was not, as he had heretofore sup
posed it to be, confined to the city of Baltimore
His informant stating that again, again, and again
he had seen persons thus in the possession of na-
turalization papers, as they are called, standing
at the polls of an election district of the county
of his residence, awaiting the arrival of the new
made? citizens, who received their certificate of
naturalization from the person who gave them at
the same time a ticket to vote, which the person
giving it, he saw deposited in the ballot-box
That the day before the last election in this State
a friend of the informant called upon him ant
showed him the naturalization papers of a foreign
ex, for which he had paid the clerk; and that in
consideration thereof, this new born citizen was
by agreement, to meet him the next day at the
polls, and vote the ticket that was to be given
aim, upon the receipt of his papers thus paid for
My informant then observed to his friend—"But
how do you know that he will not cheat you in
Toting the ticket given him?" The reply was
" I am to see the ticket deposited in the ballot
box, and if he does not do so, he shall not have
his papers at all."
This, he was credibly informed, and verily
believes, was but an ordinary transaction, occur
ring on every election day at the polls of the differ-
eat wards in the city of Baltimore. If this Con-
vention under such circumstances will do nothing
to put a check upon such abuses of the elective
franchise, such foul corruptions of the ballot-box
then indeed there is no hope of the permanency o
our free political institutions; which can only exist
or be preserved whilst the purity of the ballot-box
is protected against fraud and corruption. In all
fairness he would state that the particular instance
of misconduct in a county of this State, to which
he had alluded, was the act of a whig, not of what
in this body has been called progressive demo-
cracy, nor had he ever intimated a belief that the
similar conduct, which he had described as pre-
vailing in the city of Baltimore, was imputable to
one of the political parties only. He had always
regarded the odium as justly attributable to both
parties. But as to what I shall say or do in this
Convention, I disclaim all party ties or obliga-
tions; I belong to no party, my sole object being,
in the matters now under consideration, to purge
and protect the ballot-box from all impurities,
and to frame such a Constitution as will give
equal security and protection to every portion of
the State of Maryland, and promote its tranquil-
ity and prosperity for ages yet to come.
He was free to confess that he was not so re-
plete with the milk of human kindness and tole-
ration, as the distinguished member from Queen
Anne, who sees nothing in the acts of those pa-
tronizers of naturalization, which he had encea-
vored to portray; but instances of the purest and
most praiseworthy charity and benevolence,
Could he view their acts in the light that he does,
he should be one of the last persons in the com-
munity to complain of them. To ask him to do
so, was a heavier tax upon his credulity than it is
able to bear. He had so long been in the habit
of judging of the actions of men by the motives
|
(which prompted them, that he wanted faith in
that kind of charity and benevolence, which is
barren of all fruits, is hermetically sealed up
for eleven-twelfths of the years, and never dis-
closes itself or is seen or beard of, but upon the
eve of a warmly contested election. In the purity
or sincerity of a benevolence go novel and extra-
ordinary, he must confess that he reposad no con-
fidence.
Mr. BUCHANAN said he had been under the
impression that this very discursive debate had
terminated on Saturday, and that he had regard-
ed the able, patriotic, and liberal speech of the
gentleman from Calvert, (Mr Soi.Li:as) as en-
tirely conclusive on the subject, it seemed,
however, from the remarks which had been
made this morning, that the debate waa not yet
to be brought to a close, and hence the neces-
sity of a few observations from him (Mr. BU-
CHANAN).
His object was to say a lew words to his friend
from Kent (Mr. CHAMBERS). The proposition be-
fore the Convention was to engraft upon our poli-
tical system a provision wholly unknown to it
before—unjust—invidious—oppresssive, and in
derogation of the spirit of the age. Before any
such provision, emanating from so distinguished
a quarter, should be incorporated in our Consti-
tation, the Convention was entitled to bear
some satisfactory reasons for the change. He
submitted whether his friend from Kent had not
failed to make out such a case as ought to be sa-
tisfactory to the Convention—whether, in fact,
' he had not expected gentlemen who advocated
adifferent system to give their reasons for the
faith that was in them, rather than assign any
sufficient reasons for his own. The gentleman
presumed that frauds existed, and on the strength
of that presumption, he boldly made the charge
of their existence. Now, his friend well knew
that no principle was better settled, than that
where a charge of fraud was made, it was not to
rest purely upon presumption,but the gentleman
bad given the Convention nothing more than the
vaguest suspicion of its existence. If frauds did
actually exist, and if the mode proposed by the
gentleman from Kent would remedy the evil, he
(Mr. B.) was quite willing that the gentleman
should have his own way; but if fraud did not
actually exist, then the whole basis of the com-
plaint was taken away,
Upon what did the gentleman rest his charge
of fraud? Why, upon the ground that, a short
time before an election came on, when the ex-
citement was great, when the judgments were
lulled, or their cupidity awakened, frauds were
not only more easily committed, but were in fact
committed upon the ballot-box. The argument
was not valid. Every roan having any knowledge
of the mode of conducting elections in the State
of Maryland, (especially in that part of the State
to which the mind of his friend from Kent was
more particularly directed, that was to say. the
City of Baltimore, where the greatest amount of
the foreign population resided,) knew that the
time antecedent to an election, when great ex-
citement prevailed, and when corresponding care
and vigilance were exercised, was precisely the |
