"And that the absentees hereafter shall not receive
their per diem during their absence."
Mr. DASHIELL asked the yeas and nays.
Mr. JENIFER moved to amend the amendment
by inserting the words "or who may have been
absent heretofore."
Mr. DASHIELL accepted the modification.
Mr. MAGRAW moved further to amend by add-
ing the words "and absentees without leave."
Mr. DASHIELL accepted this modification also.
Mr. SOLLERS moved further to amend by em-
bracing a provision, that so much of the per diem
of members should be docked, as would be
equal to the sum they had received during the
recess.
Mr. GRASON moved that the resolution and
amendments be laid upon the table.
Mr. WEBER call the yeas and nays, which
were ordered, and being taken, resulted as fol-
lows :
Affirmative—Messrs. Chapman, President, Mor-
gan, Blakistone, Dent, Hopewell, Lee, Cham-
bers, of Kent, Donaldson, Dorsey, Randall, Kent,
Weems, Dalrymple, Bond, Sollers, Brent, of
Charles, Merrick, Jenifer, Buchanan, Chandler,
Ridgely, Sherwood, of Talbot, Colston, John
Dennis, James U. Dennis, Crisfield, Dashiell,
Williams, Hodson, Goldsborough, Phelps, Cham-
bers, of Cecil, McCullough, Miller, McLane,
Sprigg, McCubbin, Spencer, Grason, George,
Wright, McMaster, Beam, Fooks, Biser, Annan,
Davis, Kilgour, Waters, Anderson, Hollyday
and Fitzpatrick—52.
Negative—Messrs. Ricaud, Mitchell, Sellman,
Bell, Welch, Hicks, Eccleston, Shriver, Gaither,
Sappington, Stephenson, McHenry, Magraw,
Nelson, Carter, Thawley, Stewart, of Caroline,
Hardcastle, Gwinn, Stewart, of Balto. city,
Brent, of Balto. city, Ware, Jr., Schley, Fiery,
John Newcomer, Harbine, Brewer, Weber, Sli-
cer, Smith, Parke, Shower, Cockey and Brown
—33.
And the resolution and amendments were laid
upon the table,
On motion of Mr. SPENCER the Convention
proceeded to the order of the day.
THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE.
The Convention again resolved itself into com-
mittee of the whole (Mr. Blakistone in the Chair)
and resumed the consideration of the Report of
the Committee on the Elective Franchise.
The pending question was on the motion of Mr.
PHELPS to amend the amendment heretofore offer-
ed by Mr. CHAMBERS, of Kent, as a substitute
for the first section of the report, by inserting
after the words "Howard District," the follow-
ing :
"And five days in the Election District or
Ward of the City of Baltimore."
Mr. MCLANE obtained the floor but yielded to
Mr. CHAMBERS of Kent, who desired, he said,
to supply an omission which he had inadvertantly
made in the remarks which, without notes or pre-
meditation, he had yesterday submitted to the Con-
vention. Reference had been made to the Con-
stitution as it had existed at the commencement
of the government, and it had been alleged that |
according to its provisions, there never had been
any requirement that a party claiming to vote
should have a residence except in the State and
county. He had yesterday remarked that the
Constitution was formed under circumstances
entirely different from those which now existed,
and he intended also, but omitted to state a fact
which he should now supply. It was this: When
the Constitution was originally made, and as
subsequently modified in 1809, the only geo-
graphical division in the State, in which votes
were received, was into counties. There
was no instance, he believed, in which citizens
of the same county or city, or citizens of
the same district were called upon, or had the
privilege to vote for a different member of the
Legislature, or a different Senator, or a different
Congressman. Everyman in his county voted at
the same election tor a representative for his
immediate district and for none other. The re-
sult was, therefore, such as had been stated, that
although from district No. 1, in county A, a
voter might be translated to district No. 2,
yet he had before him the choice between the
same candidates, and whether his vote was cast
in one district or the other, the result of the
election was not changed. He meant to say
that it was unimportant, that although the voter
moved over-night out of one district of the
county into another, yet that no one was practi-
cally injured. In the position he had yesterday
assumed, therefore, he was not going in viola-
tion of any principle of the old Constitution, be-
cause a change was absolutely necessary to car-
ry out the very principles of that instrument,
since the division of one of the counties and the
City of Baltimore, into different Congressional
districts.
Aftersome conversation between Mr. BOWIE
and Mr. CHAMBERS,
Mr. Me LANE resumed the floor.
Mr. MCLANE referred to the legislation of
Congress ill passing the law establishing the dis-
trict system, and contended that it was simply a
direction to the States to make the elections by
districts, without intending to interfere with the
arrangement of the districts. To do this, Con-
gress had no power under the Constitution of the
United States. Their power was to district the
States themselves and not to direct the States to
do it. Their law, however, was acquiesced in
by the States and the subject is not now material.
The framers of our original Constitution knew
that Congress had the right to establish the sys-
tem of election by districts, and so they left it.
Considering the question now before the Convention
as one of the highest importance, he had
felt it his duty to submit the observations he was
about to make. He should embrace the oppor-
tunity, however, to go beyond the immediate
question, and to touch on other parts of the re-
port. He concurred with the gentleman from
Kent in many of his views. There was no ques-
tion of greater importance than the purity of
elections : it lies at the root of our republican in-
stitutions. Concurring in this view, with the
gentleman from Kent, he was willing to go with
him, so far as he could with propriety, any length |
