from Washington was far below what was just;
but for the sake of peace and quiet, at the end of
five months, he was willing to take it. It should
be remembered that each county and the city of
Baltimore had a Senator. Nothing could become
a law until it had passed the Senate. Gentle-
men had mounted the negro hobby; although the
slave interest was as well protected as it could be
upon parchment. The Legislature had no power
to pass a law to interfere with the relation of
master and slave. It was contrary to the Constitution
?
The gentleman from Somerset had complained
of a change in his political course. That change
had been made from the stronger to the weaker
side; and was one of the proudest acts of his life.
Mr. BROWN said that in 1836, he had voted for
the compromise as such. He had taken for the
smaller counties all he could get. The election
of the Governor by the people was secured. It
was a hard bargain; but they agreed to it. He
proposed still to compromise, and to take but a
portion of their rights. As to his retaining office
by his change, the first information he had re-
ceived of their intention to elect him, was the
statement that he had been elected if other
proof were wanted of his disinterested motives,
they had made the Constitution, and though elec-
ted for five years, had voted themselves out at
the end of two.
Mr. CRISFIELD said he had not intended to in-
volve himself in a controversy with the gentle-
man from Carroll, (Mr. Brown.) He had not
designed to treat him unkindly, and he felt sur-
prised at his reply. The gentleman had charged
him with being an aristocrat
Mr, BROWN, interposing, said he had not
charged the gentleman from Somerset with be-
ing an aristocrat.
Mr. CRISFIELD proceeded. The gentleman from
Carroll had said. that he, (Mr. C.,) maintained
that the majority had no right to govern, but
that the minority had; and that those who deny
the right of the majority to rule, were aristo-
crats at heart. He, [Mr. C„] maintained no
such proposition, and was not obnoxious to any
such charge. What he had argued, was that
checks must be imposed, sufficient to enable the
weaker portions of society from being oppressed
by the strong, but not so strong, as to defeat the
will of the majority, any further than was ne-
cessary to give protection. This was but the
doctrine of the act of 1836, which was voted
for and maintained by the gentleman from Car-
roll. That gentleman now denounced that act
as a yoke. which the majority might throw off.
if that act was a yoke, who made it? It was
the gentleman's act.
Mr. BROWN said that only a portion of the
yoke had been thrown off in 1836; he then wish-
ed to go further.
Mr. CRISFIELD. There was no evidence at
the time the gentleman wished to go further.—
He, [Mr. C.,] was here at that time, and never
then heard from the gentleman, or any one else,
that he wished to go further. The gentleman
then acted with the friends of that measure, and |
appeared satisfied with it. But he denounced it
now as a yoke. How does it operate as a yoke?
Who does it really injure? What was the prac-
tical real grievance? None has been shown.
The gentleman declared against territory be-
ing regarded as an element, affecting the distri-
bution of representation; yet he maintained it in
1836, and maintains it now! The Senate was
purely territorial, and that too, with the con-
currence of the gentleman; and was it such a
monstrous proposition to apply the same princi-
ple to the House? In the proposition of the
gentleman from Washington, [Mr. Fiery] voted
for and sustained by the gentleman from Carroll,
(Mr. Brown,) the smaller counties were to have
a representation distinct from population. The
only difference between the gentleman and him-
self, was that he, [Mr. C.,] wished to give the
territorial element a greater influence, than the
gentleman from Carroll did.
The gentleman thought it was all wrong that
we should mount what he is pleased to term the
hobby of slavery, which he said had never been
attacked, and was secure under the provision in
the Constitution. Sir, [said Mr. C.,] that institu-
tion is not secure; it had been attacked here this
day; it is attacked in the proposition to exclude the
slaveholding counties from that power, which
has heretofore been awarded to them, on account
of their slaves. The constitutional guaranty is
of but little real value, it will be of no avail
when really needed; and will be changed or dis-
obeyed, as soon as the counties, which are to
have the power under this Constitution, if the
gentleman succeeds, shall find it convenient to
change or disobey it Constitutional restraints
are of little value, when those, whom they are
intended to restrain, have the power to change
them.
The gentleman says, the Whigs and Nullifiers
were classed together in 1836, and he never was
a Whig. Never was a Whig! Did the gentle-
man say so then? He was admitted into Whig
counsels in 1836; he was in full communion with
the Whig party at that time; did he tell those
with whom he acted that he was not a Whig?
Did he give them any reason to doubt his fideli-
ty to that party ? He accepted from the twenty-
one electors, the very apostles of the Whig party,
a seat in the Senate; did he tell them he was not
a Whig ? He took his seat as a Whig, he voted
as a Whig; and not a hint was given at the time
that he was not a Whig? If he were really not
a Whig, why did he accept and wear the honors
of the party ? The gentleman claimed merit for
having changed from the stronger to the weaker
party; that may have been so, but that weaker
party was strong enough to give him office, and
did give him office; and he should communicate
that fact when next he claims credit for disin-
terestedness. But he has changed again; and
the last change was from the weaker to the
stronger side; and he has received fresh honors
from his new friends.
In refering to these changes when first up, Mr.
C. said he had not designed to be unkind to the
gentleman from Carroll; all he he intended had |
