for who, when indulging in the wildest vagaries
of the most exuberant fancy, stretching o'er
land and sea, ever imagined that one-half of the
chimeras that have been mooted here would
have been submitted for the calm deliberation
of this most potent, grave, and reverend Con-
vention?
Sir, theories have been promulgated and doc-
trines announced, whose tendency, if carried
into practical operation, would necessarily be
to upset all the relations of life, lead to the
overthrow of all law and order, and plunge us
into the unfathomable abyss of anarchy and
confusion.
Exhaustless of reflection and fruitful of re-
mark, as from its gravity and importance it un-
questionably is, I will not dwell upon the theme.
The problem will soon be solved, whether the
sober-minded and reflecting yeomanry of the
land will take the reins into their own hands,
or remain in false security, insensible to the
dangers that impend over themselves and their
posterity from the machinations of agitators
and political adventurers. I have an abiding
confidence, when exercising the sound intelli-
gence for which they stand so proudly pre-emi-
nent, that rising in the majesty of their strength,
they will vindicate their own capacity for self-
government, and rescue the fair fabric trans-
mitted to them by the superhuman exertions of
their patriot sires from the impious touch of
those who would subvert it.
Methinks I see the venerable form of the
illustrious dead [pointing to the surrender of
Cornwallis to Gen. Washington after the battle
of Yorktown] appealing to the toil, the sacrifi-
ces, the streams of blood that flowed in eddying
currents through a seven years' war consecra-
ted to liberty, by their remembrance invoking
its perpetuity.
And now, sir, a word to our brethren of the
North. Triumph not, I pray you, too much
in the boasted superiority of your numbers.
Remember, the race is not always to the
swift, nor the battle to the strong. A shepherd
youth with the simple weapon of a sling and
stone prostrated the mighty leader of the Philis-
tines. Tax not our patience above endurance.
Lay some restraint upon this grasping wish for
power, ere you alienate the affections of some of
your most true and loyal citizens. There is a
point beyond which forbearance ceases to be a
virtue. Be cautious how you attempt to pass
that boundary, or a state of things may ensue
which you yourselves may rue. And I would
say to my friends of the Southern counties, there
is a Providence that shapes our ends—rough
hew then) how we may. Paired in honesty, and
sustained by truth, fight on—fight ever. A
brave and an ingenuous heart pursues the right,
and pauses not to speculate upon the chances of
success. Under the broad shield of reason and
of justice, you will deserve, if you fail, to conquer.
Whatever others may-do, it was not my pur-
pose to embark with you upon the smooth sur-
face of a summer sea—
Nor to forsake the ship, and make the shore,
When the winds whistle, and the tempests roar. |
And if, regardless of the history of the glorious
past, if unmindful of that beneficent legislation
by whose fostering care they have grown so
great, we are at last to be overwhelmed, (as
has been indicated,) by the hosts of the North
pouring down as an avalanche, threatening to
sweep us, as with the besom of destruction, from
the face of the earth, I trust in heaven, with our
banners unfurled, our colors floating in the
breeze, we shall be found, like the gallant little
band at the pass of Thermopylae, standing to
our arms to the latest hour of our dissolution.
Mr. GRASON said he had objections to the pro-
position of the gentleman from Frederick, (Mr.
Thomas.) The Committee on the Executive
Department almost unanimously concurred in
the opinion that the district system should be
maintained. His friend from Charles, (Mr, Jeni-
fer,) was the only member of the committee who
preferred taking the Governor from the State
at large. That had been his own opinion, when
the State was divided into districts in 1836, be-
cause he thought it easier to select a suitable
person from the whole State than from a par-
ticular district. But, after reflecting upon the
subject, that the selection of candidates from the
same section of the State, which must be done
under the district system, would prevent the agi-
tation of certain questions which might disturb
the friendly relations that now exist between
the Northern and Southern counties, it was
important for another reason, to take the Gov-
ernor alternately from different sections of the
State. Under the old system, he was selected
alternately from the two shores, and generally
from the middle counties of each; and the exe-
cutive patronage was more likely to follow in
the same direction. The effect of the present
arrangement, is to secure a more general distri-
bution of appointments among the people of the
State, and to draw the attention of the Govern-
ment to their various interests and pursuits.
He would now state his objections to a division
of the State into four executive districts.
The constitution originally secured to the
Eastern Shore certain rights, which had been
gradually taken away; and the amended consti-
tution of 1836 contained no provision for the
benefit of that section of the State, except that
of making it a separate district, from which the
Governor was to be chosen every third term.
It was now proposed to divide the State into
four districts, and still further to restrict the
local advantages conferred in 1836, Many per-
sons were under the impression that the Eastern
Shore was very limited in extent, but they would
find by consulting the map, that it forms one-
third of the territory of the State. As to him-
self, personally, he cared very little whether it
were entitled to the Governor every third or
every fourth term; but he was satisfied that the
people of the Eastern Shore would consider any
further attempt to reduce their relative influence
as rather ungenerous on the part of the Western
Shore counties.
He had now a remark to make to the gentle-
man from Kent, who seldom rose in the Conten-
tion without making some offensive allusions to |
