her 12 648 shall also go for nothing! A very
magnanimous proposition! And this is Allegany
generosity:
Mr. President, it was once my good fortune to
have had for clients, two elderly gentlemen, both
in good standing in the church, and zealous
members of the same class. They were pious
men, and gifted in prayer. While they realized
with a lively sense, the importance of garnering
up treasures where moth norrus do not corrupt,
nor thieves break through and steal, they also
had a strong appreciation of the value of earthly
treasures, and felt it to be a religious duty, never
to allow any with whom they dealt, to get the
better end of the bargain. These two gentle-
men on the occasion referred to, came to adjust
the partition of a farm which they held in com-
mon. The negotiation was quite protracted, and
they found great difficulty in coming to an agree-
ment. At last one of them left the room; and
the other thus spoke of him: "Brother Daniel is
a very clever man; he is a good man too; but
Brother Daniel is never satisfied, unless he gets
a little of the advantage." [Laughter.] Sir, my
friend from Allegany is a very clever man and
a good man too; but my friend is never satisfied,
unless he gets a little of the advantage. [Laugh-
ter] He is very generous, when he expects to
be paid for it !
The gentleman from Allegany, (Mr. Weber.)
and the gentleman from Baltimore city, (Mr.
Gwinn,) have presented us with a great variety
of statistics, for the purpose of showing that the
upper counties and the city, have more population
and wealth than the lower counties; and
they claim the benefit of their larger numbers
and greater wealth, in the distribution of politi-
cal power. These gentlemen are somewhat at
cross purposes but lo a certain extent they have
a common object, and that is to depress the
smaller counties.
My friend from Allegany, (Mr. Weber,) is un-
fortunate in his statistics. He has produced
them fur the purpose of showing that the small-
er counties, are not entitled to the privileges
they now enjoy; but unfortunately for him, they
lead him into a train of difficulties, from which
he will find it hard to escape. Let us look a little
at his figures. Allegany, he says, pays taxes
to the amount of $19,481 89, made up of $9,031.89
direct, and $10,450 indirect or miscellaneous
taxes; Carroll county, pays a tax of $19,481 83,
made up of $16 581 83 direct, and $2 900 indi-
rect taxes, Allegany has a gross population of
22 584; Carroll a gross population of 20,220.
which is about one-tenth less; and yet he
would give to Allegany one delegate more than
Carrolll His argument is, that wealth and po-
pulation are the basis of representation; his practice
is, to give Allegany with only one-tenth
more of population, and wealth no greater than
Carroll, one-fourth more power! How is the
gentleman to reconcile his practice with his ar-
gument? It will require mure ingenuity than
even he possesses, to assign a satisfactory reason
for this discrepancy. Either his rule is wrong,
or the gentleman seeks to evade it, when applied
to his own county. But this is not all. The |
gentleman says to us of the smaller counties,
We have more wealth and population than you,
and you must therefore stand back. True, we
answer; but Baltimore city has more wealth and
population than either of as, and must her repre-
sentation be in equal proportion? Oh no! an-
swers my friend from Allegany; Baltimore must
not have a veto on the legislation of the State;
that would be ruinous to the counties! Now,
Mr. President, if the rule be a good one, let us
work it out. If it be founded is, justice and pro-
priety, and be fit to control the action of this
body. can the gentleman from Allegany, assign
any objection, founded in reason, to giving Bal-
timore city all she asks? Sir, the gentleman
from Baltimore city, (I mean the Attorney Gen-
eral,) is the only man on that side of the ques-
tion, who is consistent with his principles. He
says, that population and wealth are the true
basis, and he is for carrying out his theory into
practice. How is the other gentleman, (Mr.
Gwinn?)
Mr. BRENT, of Baltimore city. Why, he argued
the same way
Mr. CRISFIELD. But he will vote the other
way.
Mr. GWINN must beg that the gentleman
would confine himself to the case before us.
When he had cast his vote, it would be time
enough to animadvert on his course How could
the gentleman know how he would vote?
Mr. CRISFIELD. I confess to no knowledge,
except what has transpired here before us. But,
Mr. President, I can put two and two together,
and putting two and two together, I feel war-
ranted in expressing the belief, that the gentle-
man from Baltimore city, (Mr. Gwinn,) will vote
for the proposition of the gentleman from Wash-
ington.
Mr. GWINN. And what has the gentleman to
«ay to that ?
Mr. CRISFIELD. I say it cuts the throat of his
argument Does the gentleman say be will not
vote for it?
Mr. GWINN said his conduct was within his
own control, and the gentleman from Somerset had
no authority to call his course in question. And
he, (Mr. G.,) said fearlessly and boldly, that if
the gentleman could make any distinction be-
tween the vote and the argument be made then, then
he might be open to the charge of inconsistency.
If in resisting, as far as he could, the tyranny of
the smaller counties, he should fall short of per-
fect success, and be constrained to take what was
less than the due of the populous sections, it
would not be his fault. He stood there in hopes
that a starting point for a future struggle might
be obtained; and he cared not what was the basis
they were about to establish, he would return to
his constituency prepared to renew that agitation,
upon which this Convention may place only
a temporary check.
Mr. CRISFIELD resumed. I did not intend to
give the gentleman from Baltimore city, so much
trouble. My predictions are founded on what
has transpired in this body. I heard the gentleman
speak—I heard his denunciations of the pro-
position now being considered, and its alleged |
