very welkin justly ring with the fearful cry of
Et tu Brute
With us this is not a question of power, but of
self-preservation and liberty. We estimate it
not by figures and measure it not by words. It
rises high above all other considerations. Urge
then no longer a project that leaves us entirely
at the mercy of numbers, and places our every
interest under the wheel of a juggernaut that may
in an instant crush them in its course. Tell us
not of coming revolution, it has no terrors with
men who are struggling against colonial bondage.
Point not to the fate of Charles the first, the lofty
scaffold—the gaping multitude—the slaughtered
King—the whole dark and bloody scene is before
us, and we shake not in our resolution. Sir, we
are struggling tor liberty—our position one of
glorious sublimity. We cannot, dare not com-
promise it. Liberty has no compromise that can
endanger it. It has an alternative. 'Tis death
—and brave men prefer it to degredation. Bet-
ter, infinitely better, that the waters of the
Chesapeake and Atlantic should mingle and dance
their revels o'er our once happy land, than that
the soil in which our ancestral bones are sleep-
ing, should again be reduced to that slavish posi-
tion from which mure than three score years
ago, by the most dauntless patriotism and energy,
I trust it was forever and eternally freed.
Mr. JOHNSON made some remarks, which will
be published hereafter.
Mr, DONALDSON said:
Mr. President:—I confess to having felt a cer-
tain anxiety to get the floor, before the time
should arrive fur taking the question on this sub-
ject of apportionment. I desire to state calmly
and dispassionately, some of the reasons which
will govern the course of my votes on the vari-
ous plans now under consideration, and on the
amendments which may be proposed. The clock
warns me that I must do this briefly; and I will
therefore refrain in regard to some of my topics,
from going into as much detail as I would have
done, had I succeeded in obtaining the floor at
an earlier stage of the debate.
In the present position of affairs, I cannot
agree with the large number of members of this
Convention, who regard the apportionment of
representation as a subject of overwhelming im-
portance. I never have believed that a change
in the apportionment was one of the great re-
forms which were contemplated by the people
of Maryland, when they decided on making a
new Constitution. There is no such substantial
evil resulting from the present basis; there is
no such prospective advantage to be realized
from any practicable alteration in it, as did in-
duce, or could have induced the call of a conven-
tion. There are many subjects before us, which
to my mind, seem of far greater consequence
than this, when I consider their bearing upon
the real interests, the substantial prosperity and
happiness of the people. My time is to limited
for me to do more than merely allude to them.
Yet, ever since the assembling of this body, the
question of apportionment has been much agita-
ted around and among us; a great deal of strong |
local feeling has been mingled with it; and gen-
tlemen from almost every quarter of the State
have joined in proclaiming it to be aquestion
paramount in importance to all others. I do not
know whether the same state of feeling has been
communicated to the people; it is probable
enough that it has. But seeing the light in which
the subject was viewed by others, I thought it
my duty to consider it in all its bearings, with
the greatest deliberation, in order that I might
act understandingly for the benefit of my con-
stituents and of the State at large. So doing, I
made up my mind at an early day as to the
course I would pursue—not, to be sure, as to
every detail, but as to the general features of
the plan which I would prefer, and the great objects
to be aimed at in the settlement. Further
reflection has only confirmed me in the conclu-
sion at which I first arrived. I have been most
anxious to form an unbiased judgment, and I
have scrupulously kept myself free from the
embarrassment of any association. I have en-
tered into no conference, except that between
individual and individual, in which I have always
been ready for a candid interchange of
opinion. I have not been willing that there
should fall upon my limbs even the shadow of a
chain, which might deceive any eye into the
notion that I was bound, or that my movements
were in the slightest degree restrained.
I have said. Mr. President, that I do not consider
this subject of overwhelming importance
in the present position of affairs. I said so, be-
cause representation according to population in
the whole State, is entirely out of the question.
Had I thought there was danger of adopting that
principle, I should have been as much concerned
as others. But at an early day in our session, I
found that there was no such danger. I he ac-
tual vote of the Convention has decided that
point; and it was in fact well settled among us
long before the vote was taken. Against that
principle I have battled zealously, with what-
ever ability I may possess, both before the peo-
ple and upon this floor. I always shall battle
against it. The State of Maryland is peculiarly
situated in this respect, and is unlike any other
State of the Union. It contains one large city,
which, before the lapse of many years will con-
centrate within its limits, the greater portion of
the population and wealth of the State. I be-
lieve that the principle of representation accord-
ing to population, strictly applied to us, would
alter a while give to a single aggregated inter-
est, an undue preponderance, which might be
used unjustly to the injury of other interests.—
But that enemy is now out of the field; or rather
it lies stark dead upon the field. As far at least,
as this Convention is concerned, it cannot even
be galvanized into any show of vitality; although
under the eloquence of the two gentlemen from
Baltimore, it may have seemed to give a few
melancholy post mortem twitches. All the blows
of the gentleman from Montgomery, [Mr. Kil-
gour,] were bestowed upon an unresisting dead
body. |
