violent and bitter; but they would pass away
like the summer clouds; leaving the surrounding
atmosphere purer and more serene,
For these and similar reasons, he should oppose
this amendment. He did not believe it
would answer the end for which it was designed,
and he thought its operation would, be oppres-
sive. It did not in fact guard the elective franchise,
and it was probable that, even if it were
enacted, the people themselves would trample it
underfoot. In conclusion, he would invite gen-
tlemen to go with him, first, in favor of the definition
of the right in the Constitution, and then,
in giving such powers to the Legislature as
would best accomplish the great object which
was deaired by all.
Mr. SOLLERS obtained the floor; but yielded
for purposes of explanation, to
Mr. HICKS, who said, he had risen to endeav-
or, if he could, to make himself correctly under-
stood in regard to certain honest confessions he
had made the other day, and which had been ani-
madverted upon by several gentlemen, "Hon-
est confessions, it was said, were good for the
soul." The gentleman from Cecil had referred
to one of the three cases which he (Mr. H.) had
cited on a former day, as exemplifying the facil-
ity with which frauds upon the ballot-box might
be perpetrated.
Mr. SOLLERS (interposing) said that he had
yielded only to allow the gentleman to make an
explanation and state a fact.
Mr. HIGH remarking that that was all he de-
sired, proceeded to correct a misapprehension as
to one of the cases referred to, and said that he
had brought forward these cases with no invidious
or party purpose. He had, in his remarks
the other day, distinctly disclaimed all such mo-
tives, and he had endeavored in his course here,
to demonstrate the sincerity with which that disclaimer
had been made. His own opinion was
that there was not a county in the State of Ma-
ryland where these frauds were not practised to
a greater or less degree; although he had no
doubt that gentlemen were perfectly sincere in
avowing a disbelief of their existence. Nor
did he himself believe that they existed to the
extent some gentlemen supposed. He .thought,
however, that these matters were not germane
to the question. But the evil ought to be cor-
rected, whatever its extent might be; and he
would go for any proposition, no matter from
what quarter or party it might emanate, which
would effect that object. At the same time, he
would be among the last to impose any impro-
per restraints upon the honest voter.
Mr. SOLLERS apologized for rising to reply to
the gentleman from Cecil, but he felt himself
called on by an imperative sense of what was
due to the State of Maryland, to vindicate her
against the charges which had been brought
against her. He was a Marylander, " native to
the manor born," and he could not restrain him-
self when he heard the gentleman from Cecil ar-
raign his native and much loved State as rotten
to the core from corruption, as the victim of a
foul and spreading cancer, the result of which
must be fatal, unless the knife be promptly em- |
ployed, and that it would require the scalpel of
the most skilful surgeon to eradicate it. He .
knew not where the gentleman . from Cecil ob-
tained the information which he has thus commu-
nicated to this Convention. If he meant to Bay
that he obtained it from gentlemen on this floor,
he denied that any facts had been presented to
justify so sweeping and severe a censure. He
denied that such facts existed. He knew of no
such frauds as those which had been described
in such awful terms by the gentleman from Cecil.
He demanded the evidence of their exis-
tence. Where was it to be found ? It was not
so. And it was a libel on the State to utter such
things in the ear of this Convention. It might
be, that all this was instigated by a jealousy of
Baltimore. But whether it was so or not, he
would not let the charge pass without notice;
without prompt and stern denial. It was not so.
And then the gentleman from Cecil, after speci-
fication of all the possible evils which could fall
upon a country, held up the examples of Greece
and Rome and told us that as we are following
their course of corruption, we must participate
in their ruin. And in this corruption, which is
to destroy us, the gentleman had said that we
have all participated. " Speaketh the prophet
of himself or of some other man." The gentle-
man admitted that he had himself contributed to
the expenses of an election. Surely then he
ought to have been the last to come out with
this general denunciation of the State.
He thought it ill became the gentleman from
Cecil to stand up in this body and lecture native
Marylanders and denounce them for these frauds.
What right had that gentleman to say that we
are on the brink of perdition ? This he has told
us, and that he himself aided to bring us into
this condition. It might be all true that learned
men from other States should be allowed to come
here and teach us our duty. He could not un-
derstand it. .
He accorded with the gentleman from Cecil in
some things he had said. When that gentleman
lectured the gentleman from Kent, he agreed
with him in all he said about his political moral-
ity. But why did he tell us of the downfal of
Greece and Rome, and of the probability of
their fate becoming ours I What remedy has
been proposed to save us in this dangerous con-
dition? None. He felt all proper respect for the
gentleman from Cecil. But had he offered any
remedy ? He had told us that the government
was tottering. Where then was the remedy? A
"masterly inactivity." He has talked of correct-
ing public opinion. And the gentleman from
Kent, who had followed him, proposed to cure
the corruption by correcting public sentiment—
by encouraging public schools ! " By enlightening
public sentiment," said the gentleman from
Kent. Now, with all respect for these gentle-
men, and their abstract ideas, he could not un-
derstand them.
He could not see, by the course of these gen-
tlemen, that they are doing much towards en-
lightening the public sentiment when they op-
pose every effort to maintain the purity of the
right of suffrage. When we see gentlemen act- |
