Brent, of Charles, Merrick, Buchanan, Bell,
Welch, Chandler, Ridgely, Lloyd, Colston, Con-
stable, Chambers, of Cecil, Miller, McLane,
Bowie, Tuck, Spencer, Grason, George, Wright,
Thomas, Shriver, Johnson, Gaither. Biser, An-
nan, Sappington, Stephenson, McHenry, Ma-
graw, Nelson, Thawley, Stewart, of Caroline,
Hardcastle, Gwinn, Stewart, of Baltimore city,
Brent, of Baltimore city, Sherwood, of Baltimore
city, Presstman, Ware, Fiery, John Newcomer,
Harbine, Michael Newcomer, Brewer, Anderson, Weber,
Hollyday, Slicer, Fitzpatrick, Parke,
Shower. Cockey and Brown—55.
So the Convention refused to reconsider their
vote on the said order.
BASIS OF REPRESENTATION,
The Convention resumed the consideration of
the special order of the day, being the consider-
ation of the several reports of the committee on
representation.
Mr. DIRICKSON addressed the Convention, as
follows:
Mr. President:—After witnessing the anxiety
betrayed this morning, by gentlemen in various
quarters of the Hall, to proceed at once to the
decisive vote upon the great question now before
us, I shall not long weary your patience be a
useless and unnecessary consumption of your
time. Indeed, the many beautiful, able and elo-
quent remarks, which, since the very inception
of this debate, have been constantly falling, and
to which all listened with so much of interest
and pleasure, have so completely placed the
whole subject before us in all its mighty magni-
tude, as to scarce render necessary the utterance
of one, single additional word. Sir, the time was
in the halcyon days of the past—and in this very
capitol—when the power of argument and rheto-
ric might be invoked to do its proper and legiti-
mate influence—when the strung chord of sympa-
thy might be struck, and every heart tremble
responsive to the melody of its touch. But those
days and hours seem to have gone forever. During,
the progress of this discussion, link after
link of the magic chain that once bound us close-
ly together, has been ruthlessly and wrecklessly
rent assunder, and now, here, where peace and
harmony should dwell, discord, wild and unre-
strained, reigns and holds its revels. Strange,
too, and novel is our position amid the changing,
eventful scenes that are passing in our midst.
An annunciation clear, calm, solemn, has dis-
tinctly gone forth from one among the most emi-
nent of this body, (the oracular voice yet seems
ringing in mine ear,) that this grave question
has already been weighed, prejudged, resolved
upon elsewhere. The " unholy bond " has been
signed, sealed and ratified, doubtless by the most
rigid caucus formality; and, when I look around
upon this intellectual and distinguished assem-
blage—though my gaze meets many a cold, re-
lentless eye—no Portia is seen, the fullness of
whose wisdom may detect " the single drop of
blood" that is to nullify and destroy the dam-
ning scroll. Under .such circumstances, and im-
pressed with such convictions, naught but the |
sternest sense of duty to those who have commissioned
me, in part, to watch over and guard
their interests, could break that silence now in
harmony with my every feeling. Sir, was it con-
sistent with the grave solemnity of the subject
under discussion, gladly would I wander forth
amidst the mighty ocean of fancy, lulling and
gathering the rarest and richest flowers to lay as
a votire offering at the shrine of that beauty,
(pointing to the lobbies,) with which we are now
so graced and honored. But mine is not the
task to paint the delicate tints of the rainbow's
varying color, or fashion cushions of roses upon
which the imagination might delight to pillow. I
am here for a sterner and loftier purpose—I
come to speak for the rights and privileges of as
noble and gallant a constituency as any within
the limits of our State—aye, to war, if need be,
to the death, against that proposition, which, in
in my humble judgment, seeks to invade and
destroy their very political liberty itself. With
their feelings, every impulse and sympathy of my
nature beats in entire and perfect unison, and my
only object in addressing the Convention, is,
that their voice, at lest, may be heard, ere the
unhallowed deed which mortal hand cannot stay,
shall be finally and irrevocably done.
The county of Worcester occupies a position
widely differing from that held by any other iso-
lated community in our whole commonwealth,
Located upon the extreme south-eastern BORDER=0
—entirely shut out from every central advantage
—away from the artificial arteries through which
the wealth and commerce of the nation may be
destined to flow—cut off by nature from the very
marl which the generous liberality of her own
hand has helped to rear—she still stands a bright
and shining example amid her more fortu-
nate sister counties, with a character unstained
and unsullied, and with a heart unceasingly
throbbing with patriotic devotion and regard for
that proud old State of which she is a part. The
mighty ocean that has ever laved her white bosom
is not truer to her coast, or deeper in its pro-
fundity, than is her abiding affection for that
escutcheon, which is alike the emblem of our un-
tarnished honor and glorious renown. The pages
of our earliest history bear the record of her at-
tachment and devotion to the eternal principles
of liberty, and the mighty effort with which, re-
gardless of present benefit or future hope, she
triumphed over every prejudice, and rallied to
the rescue of our common birth-right, the State's
integrity, in that dark hour when the clouds
hung the heaviest and looked the blackest, speaks
with a fervent and thrilling eloquence which nut
only appeals to your justice, but extorts your re-
gard, respect and highest admiration.
In view then of such facts—in view of the
peculiar remoteness of her situation from the
great common interest—and with the bitter ex-
perience graven upon the memory by past and
present foiling— no wonder that every feelings of
sensibility is aroused, and every suspicion awak-
ened into the liveliest excitement, when amid
the changing scenes and startling developments
of each succeeding hour, she learns that she is to |
