proper sense of justice? If Baltimore is so pow-
erful as to control all who come within her reach,
and so tyrannical as to oppress all, why is it that
the honorable gentleman is so ready to throw us
into the vortex, and to keep clear his own people
and himself? It is natural that he should seek to
protect himself, but why is it that he should strug-
gle to surrender us ? If, indeed, he entertains the
opinions he has expressed of the character of
Baltimore, his effort is wholly irreconcilable with
a proper estimate of what is due to us.
I have said that all the reasons which the gen-
tleman has assigned for attaching Baltimore
county to the city, apply with equal force to How-
ard district. The gentleman has only to turn to
his left, and he will see by his side, from among
the lawyers who live in Howard district and who
practice in the city of Baltimore, his colleague,
(Mr. Donaldson,) a gentleman who, for his age,
occupies as respectable a position as any member
of the Bar of Baltimore.
Mr. President, [said Mr. B.] to me individually
it is a mailer of but little importance how these
districts are arranged, or how other districts may
be arranged with a view to political ascendancy.
For myself I have nothing to ask—nothing to
seek for—nothing to desire. My ardent wish is,
and has been for a long time, to retire from political
excitements.
I can truly say, before God and my country,
'"what was so beautifully indicated by the gentleman
from Frederick (Mr. Thompson) yesterday,
"that as the hart panteth after the water-brooks,
so panteth my soul fur the peace and quiet of re-
tired life
Mr. JENIFER withdrew the amendment offered
by him and accepted the amendment offered by
Mr. Thomas.
Mr, BOWIE then moved to amend the amendment
by inserting after "Carroll," the wold "Har-
tford," and by striking out in the 4th line the
word "Harford."
Mr. THOMAS accepted this amendment.
The question then recurred upon the adoption
of the amendment as amended.
Mr. CHAMBERS said, the gentleman from Frederick
was willing to do this, if the Eastern Shore
preferred it. Time was when on some questions
he would have felt willing to answer for the Eastern
Shore, but that day was past and gone. Its
voice was not only feeble, but divided. It was
truly a house divided against itself. Its political
influence and importance, henceforth and for ever,
was at an end. By whose agency this was accomplished,
let your records show. As for myself,
[said Mr. C.,] I wash my hands here, in your
presence, where the deed has been done; I wash
my hands from every stain of guilt. Not one
drop of the blood of my countrymen rests on these
skirts of mine. I have lifted no suicidal hand
here. No, Sir, not one atom of political power
has been lost to my Shore by any vote of mine.
I have struggled and argued and entreated, but in
vain, to maintain it in all its integrity, and to
lessen the extent of encroachments upon it.
Other gentlemen, delegates from the Eastern
Shore, have pursued a different course. They
have doubtless acted with as pure a purpose as I |
have. They have been assisted, too, by some
whose sympathies we once expected to receive
(looking to Mr. Jenifer's seat.) The deed if done.
We are prostrate—stript bare; stript to a degree
that, perhaps, would make it more prudent to ask
in mercy, in pity, for forbearance from further aggressions.
But while I have a voice to raise, that
voice shall be heard in vindication of the political
power and influence of my Shore, in the effort to
maintain them unimpaired and unabridged. That
is my response to the quasi question of the gen-
tleman.
Mr. THOMAS. I made no question.
Mr. JOHN DENNIS rose, and said he concurred
in moat of the sentiments just advanced by the
gentleman from Kent (Mr. Chambers), Let us,
[said he,] refresh our memories by looking a little
into the history of this matter, And here he
would not imitate the example of the gentleman
from Frederick, (Mr. Johnson,) who carried us
back a few days ago to the Proprietary Govern-
ment existing in Maryland antecedent to the Re-
volution, and to which he seemed so anxious to
return as the beau-ideal of a Republic, but would
content himself with a reference to what look
place at the organization of the present govern-
ment.
The people of the Eastern Shore agreed to the
formation of this government upon certain terms
and conditions, without which they never would
have entered into the compact. One of these
conditions, and the one upon which they chiefly
relied for their protection, is to be found in the
fifty-ninth article of the fundamental law of the
land. What is that article? I have not the book
before me, but will quote from memory. Mr. D.
here quoted the fifty-ninth article of the Constitution
in the following words: "This form of gov-
ernment and the Declaration of Rights, and no
part thereof) shall be altered, changed, or abolished,
unless a bill so to alter, change, or abolish
the same, shall pass the General Assembly, and
be published at least three months before a new
election, and shall be confirmed by the General
Assembly, after a new election of Delegates, in
the first session after such new election; provided,
that nothing in this form of Government, which
relates to the Eastern Shore particularly, shall, at
any time hereafter, be altered, unless for the alter-
ation and confirmation thereof at least two-thirds
of all the members of each branch of the General
Assembly shall concur." It will thus be seen
that they would nut agree to commit themselves
and their posterity to the guardianship and con-
trol of a mere majority. No, Sir, but as wise
and prudent statesmen, looking through the vista
of the future, and foreseeing that the period,
when the state of things that now exists, would
arrive, they prepared for it, and demanded pro-
tection from the encroachments which experience,
the mother of wisdom, taught them to know they
might expect from that majority. Surrounding
circumstances and transpiring events proclaim
their sagacity. They were in a minority then, and
knew, from the very nature of things, that they
must continue so forever.
Deriving lessons of instruction from the fate
of nations, of all complexions. Democratic, |
