guarding the purity of the Elective Franchise. I
Its operation would be equal upon all classes,
and it would enter with an impartial tread into
the cottage as well as the palace. It may not be
so perfect, that no case of hardship can occur
under it. Perfection is not within the grasp of
the human mind. Yet its general beneficial re-
sults will greatly over-balance any temporary
and individual hardship it may occasion.
He proceeded to say, it had been stated that
frauds upon the Elective Franchise, in the way
of double voting, colonizing, bribery, and so on,
existed in some parts of the State to an alarm-
ing extent. That frauds existed and had been
practised, he had no doubt. He spoke in terms
of high praise of his own county, and said bri-
bery at elections there was a thing unknown.
Whether these frauds existed or not, was not
very important to the consideration of this ques-
tion. If they did not now exist, they might hereaf-
ter, and it was the duty of the statesman to guard
against them in either aspect. Whenever any
measure to guard the honest voter in the exer-
cise of his right was brought forward, it should
have his support. He here referred to the sup-
posed case, mentioned by the gentleman from
Kent, (Mr. RICAUD) to shew that this amendment
might operate unjustly, and stated how, in his
opinion, the same state of things might occur,
even to a greater extent, under the restrictions
already adopted requiring a residence of twelve
months in the State and six months in the coun-
ty.
The object of the amendment is to prevent
the ready transfer of voters from one district to
another in the same county or city, and the "co-
lonizing" of men in a certain district to influence
and control the election there. The principal
objection urged against the amendment is, that
the means are inadequate to the proposed end.
The time of, residence was not as long as he de-
sired. He would have preferred thirty, or even
sixty days; but as these longer periods had been
rejected, he was now willing to take the short
term proposed. It certainly throws some imped-
iment in the way of double voting and "coloniz-
ing," and will no doubt, in great measure, act
as a check upon both. If a residence of five
days is required, the difficulty of colonizing
would beincreased by that much, and men could
not, on the day of election, with such facility,
(as they might in the absence of such a provi-
sion,) go from district to district, voting in each
one. He trusted the amendment would be adop-
ted, and that this Convention would beable to
embody in the Constitution such guards as will
effectually prevent fraudulent voting.
Mr. STEWART, of Caroline, stated that after
listening with great attention to the discussion,
he entered into it, feeling his inability to throw
any new light on the subject. But as he was delirious
that his views should be understood, he
would briefly give the reasons which influenced
his vote. He had been induced to do this principally
because he had seen a paper published
in the district he represented, advocating the
Registry Law. He bad thought it proper through
this Convention, to lay before his constituents |
his views on the subject. Against every attempt
to impose these restrictions on the right of suf-
frage he had given his vote, and in order to satis-
fy himself of the correctness of his course, he
had listened to all that had been said on the sub-
ject, and had not heard a single argument to lead
him to any change of his own convictions on the
subject.
He referred to the statement of the gentleman
from Dorchester, (Mr. HICKS,) relative to the-
individual who was about to deposit an illegal
vote, and the polite attempt of the gentleman:
from Dorchester to arrest his vote, in consequence
of the interference of a friend who said the man
was going to vote the right ticket; and put it to
that gentleman whether he would have been
more successful in preventing this illegal vote
from being given, if a five days residence had
been required.
Mr. HICKS hoped the gentleman from Caro-
line would state the other case of the man who
had voted in four different places.
Mr. STEWART, resuming, disavowed any in-
tention to make an attack on the gentleman from
Dorchester. His only design was to show that
there was nothing in this case to induce him to
vote for the pending amendment. Neither the
statement of the gentleman from Dorchester, nor
the argument of the gentleman from Cecil, had
brought him to that conclusion. If the gentle-
man from Calvert, (Mr. SOLLERS,) believed that
there were no frauds committed in the ballot box,
why does he not evince his sincerity by lending
his aid to strike at all restrictions on the freedom
of suffrage. He (Mr. S.) knew of no frauds of
the kind spoken of in the elections in his county.
He knew of no voters from Delaware coming over
the line to vote in Caroline. There was, indeed,
a fraud which he would not specify, but which
he would be happy to contribute his aid in pre-
venting.
He attributed this fierce tirade against the
corruption of the ballot box, to the fact that Bal-
timore city always voted by large majorities in
a certain way, and presumed that it was the
wish of those who uttered these tirades, that in
framing the Constitution, instead of looking to
the whole State, we should have an eye to Baltimore
only. He felt great respect for the city
of Baltimore; she occupied a; proud position for
her commercial enterprise; without her, we
should not have seen our flag floating on many.
a distant sea; she was justly the pride of Mary.
land, and it was the duty of every citizen of the
State to unite in sustaining her character. And
if he should be charged with being under the in-
fluence of Baltimore, he must bear the imputa-
tion as well as he could. He himself had connexions
in that city. He knew of many instances
of young men who had gone there, accumulated
fortunes, and returned to their native coun-
ties, thus forming a tie between the counties and
city. The effect of this restriction in the city
of Baltimore would be to throw the poor into the
hands of the wealthy. By the aid of money the
dwelling of the poor man might be purchased.
over his head, and its tenant turned out of doors
five days before an election; and in this way the |
