tion of the principal within a reasonable time;
and yet there might not be enough, without the
aid of a loan, to accomplish the object desired
as early as it ought to be accomplished. A pub-
lie work of importance might readily be comple-
ted in a couple of years, by means of such a loan,
whilst the loan would be paid off in the course of
ten or fifteen years. Without the loan, the rev-
enues, on which it would be based, could not be
made available to construct the same work with-
in & shorter period than the whole ten or fifteen
years.
The gentleman from Queen Anne's, had once
been chairman of the committee on ways and
means in the House of Delegates, and he surely
knew enough of finance to understand that.
A few words in reply to the gentleman from
Carroll, (Mr. Brown.) He, [Mr. D.,] had cer-
tainly expected when that gentleman rose, that
he would take the same side with himself. That
gentleman had yesterday treated us to a philippic
in relation to our chaining down the legisla-
ture.
Mr. BROWN interposed, and said, he had yes-
terday stated, that he would go to chain down
the legislature in relation to this very matter.
Mr. DONALDSON continued. The gentleman
yesterday had delivered a philippic against the
Convention, because of the checks it was impos-
ing upon the legislature. He had declared that the
legislature was the people's body, that through it
the people expressed their wishes, that it was
their voice, and that these restraints upon it were
in the last degree improper; he bad confidence in
the people, and the people's delegates, and was
ready to trust them. On this theme, he was so
warm, so earnest, so vehement, that he became
almost eloquent. He was then willing that a
mere majority of a quorum should pass laws af-
fecting our dearest rights and interests; yet now
he would not trust the same legislature, although
two-thirds of the whole number elected were
requisite for the passage of a law, and although
the scope of that law was restricted by certain
important conditions. This is chaining down the
legislature with a vengeance.
Mr. D. said, that no man could be more op-
posed than himself to wild schemes of internal
improvement. He repeated, that he would not
advocate the imposition of taxes, for the purpose
of making such expenditures. It was better, in
general, to leave such undertakings to private
capital and enterprise. But he could not consent
to deprive the State of the power to use her own
surplus receipts hereafter, in the manner which
might, at the time, be most conducive to her pros-
perity. Gentlemen ought not to let themselves
be frighted from their propriety, by the alarming
apprehensions which had been indulged, in regard
to this subject. It was the part of states
men to restrict a power, so as to prevent its
abuse; but not to destroy the power, if, under pro
per guards, it could be used beneficially.
Mr. McLANE said, he supposed that the restriction
which was contained in the bill, was a
lesson we bad derived from experience; and that
it was now proposed to engraft upon the legisla-

tion of the State some provision which would for
the time to come, prevent the recurrence of the
evils under which we were now laboring.
He concurred in the opinion expressed by the
gentlemen from Carroll, (Mr. Brown,) that the
necessity of taxation was, after all, the great se-
curity which we possessed against abuses by the
legislature, of the power to contract debts.
I believe, (continued Mr. McL.,) that no gentleman
who listens to me this day, entertains a
doubt, that, if, at the time we became involved
in our present enormous debt, those who con-
tracted it, had been compelled at the same lime
to provide by taxation for its payment, that debt
never would have been created. Does not every
man know, that when this system was commenc-
ed, it was represented and believed, that the rev-
enues lo be derived from our great system of in-
ternal improvements—for great I conceive it to
be—would more than pay the interest on the debt
and would open to the State a career of prosper-
ity and success, not easily computed ? It gentle-
men will look back to the elaborate reports made
at the time, and to the constant calculations pre-
sented to the public, they will find that every
man dreamed that he was about to reach a new
El Dorado. Taxation was to exist no longer—
public debt was to become an obsolete idea.
These works were to bring upon us a flood-tide
of prosperity and advancement, which was to
know no ebb, which was to be felt to all time,
and throughout all the various interests of the
State.
What was the result? I am not one of those
who would depreciate these works. But I think
that the imagination which can now look forward
to so early a fruit from them, is about as vague
and insubstantial, as that which in the first in-
stance led us astray. There are, within the sound
of my voice, men who will live to realize that
many of these calculations are as empty and as
deceptive, as those which tempted us to the crea-
tion of the debt; though some of them will, no
doubt, be realized.
The gentleman from Anne Arundel, [Mr.
Donaldson,] always able, and always ready, has
submitted a proposition; and what is it? He
proposes to confer upon the legislature, the
power to contract debts for public works—mere
public works. And they are to provide for the
payment of the debts, not by taxation, but by
other means. And what other means does the
gentleman contemplate ? The revenue to be de-
rived from the public works. Well—some ten
or fifteen years hence, we may realize some five,
or six, or perhaps more, hundred thousand dol-
lars a year, from these works; some grand scheme
uniting the intereats of all parties, may be brought
before the Legislature, and we may be told that
no taxation is to grow out of it. We have an in-
come of five or six hundred thousand dollars a
year, and, therefore, there can be no apprehen-
sion that we shall ever suffer taxation for the
payment. And the Legislature—yes, two-thirds
of both branches—not from any improper motive,
but from a just appreciation of public sentiment,
at the time, and from an honest conviction that