printing and reporting both—at a cost of $6,500,
and yet the committee had contracted to give
$8000 for reporting and printing sketches; and
now, after the lapse of a few months, it was pro-
posed to give two thousand dollars additional to
the reporter, and in a short time, no doubt, the
printer would ask an additional sum, for so he
had been informed' by the chairman of the com-
mittee, He voted for it, and why? Because the
gentleman from Kent, [Mr. Ricaud,] one of the
committee, had stated, at least he understood him
so, that the printing would not cost over $2700,
which would thus leave $1300, and that it would
not absorb the whole $4000. Then taking the
$1300 from the $2000 which they were about to
allow to the reporter, and it would only make an
additional sum of $700—that was, $8700. But,
in place of this, he now found that the printer
come in and asked an extra allowance, which
should certainly he allowed.
He concurred entirely with the gentleman from
Allegany, [Mr, Smith,] and was willing to pay
liberally, and what it was worth. When the
statement was made that the printer would not
absorb the $4000, the chairman of the committee
sat silent, and gave them no details. The gentle-
man from Kent (Mr. Chambers,) bad given them
an argument on courts of justice, and had said
that the people being the jury that were to de-
cide upon their acts, it was right that they should
have the evidence submitted to them. But Mr.
S. thought that the evidence would go before the
jury after the case had been decided, because the
speeches which were delivered on the twenty-
first of March, were not printed until the tenth
day of April. Thus the speeches delivered on
the twenty-first of April, could not be published
until the tenth of May.
Mr. BOWIE. That is the fault of the printer,
not of the reporter.
Mr. STEWART desired to know what was the
use of reporting without having them printed ?
Who could read them ? The argument used to
get this enormous sum was, that it was a science
that could not be understood without great trou-
ble. After they had adjourned, and after the
constitution had been submitted, and either re-
jected or ratified, then, and not till then, would
the people get the reports of the debates from
this time out. He could demonstrate it. Sup-
pose they should sit until some time in May.
The Constitution was to be submitted on the first
of June. The printing was twenty-two days be-
hind. Now it was evident, that if the Convention
should sit till the middle of May, which he be-
lieved would be the case, the people would not
get the debates until after they had either rati-
fied or rejected the Constitution; then the evi-
dence would not be worth paying for as evidence,
though supposing that it would be worth paying
for as evidence, which he believed it would be,
were the debates printed in time.
The gentleman from Kent, (Mr. Chambers,)
had alluded to the people of Caroline, in a hand-
some and complimentary way, for which, on the
part of that people, he tendered him their sin-
cere thanks, and he felt grateful that a gentle- |
man of so much distinction had acknowledged the
character of that people to be fair and respecta-
ble, and worthy of the greatest admiration. He
had said that there were an independent class of
people in Caroline. Now, he must say, that he
did not believe in their character and their habits,
their economy, intelligence and industry, they
were surpassed by any portion of the country.
They were a people who paid as they went.
They did not indulge in extravagance at others
expense, and it might well be that his colleagues
thought it was an enormous sum lo give a man thir-
ty or $40 a day, when he must toil from morn-
ing till night, and then at the end of the year have
a few bushels only of corn to sell. Yet, he would
venture to say, there was not a county in Mary-
land, where the people were more independent
than in Caroline. It might be something strange
to lawyers what he was about to relate, which
was this: That he had been practicing law for
some six years, and had never had occasion to
put his pen to paper in order to charge a fee.
What did that speak? Why, that when they
employed a lawyer, they paid him, and they did
not engage his services unless they needed them.
When the delegates from Caroline and Washing-
ton counties came here, they did so with a de-
termination to protect the treasury of the State,
and give reform to the people of the State. He
regretted to say, that in their efforts to do so they
were not met in this Convention, by fair argu-
ment. So strenuously had the delegates from
Washington, insisted on proceeding with the bu-
siness of the Convention, with economy and dis-
patch, that they had been styled by the gentle-
man from Kent, [Mr, Chambers,] the Washing-
ton county screw, alluding, he supposed, to the
call for the previous question. He wished that
we had more screws of the same kind here. He
wished that the people had a screw and a lever
in their own hands, and then this Convention would
have found a screw that would not have permit-
ted many things to have gone on here. [Laugh-
ter.] But it had been said that we should pay
the reporter. He would have no objection to
that—none in the world; but he knew it might
be said that he was going to make capital for the
people of Caroline—for Buncombe. [A laugh.]
Ah! but that charge was not made when he
voted for the basis of representation that was
adopted.
Now; he knew it was said in private, if not
here, that he would ruin his popularity at home,
And yet, notwithstanding that warning, he fol-
lowed the bent of his own sense of right and
justice; and he trusted that what he now said
would not beregarded as for Buncombe, or intend-
ed to tickle the ear of Caroline county—for he had
no motive in doing so. He would say, then, that
if they had been more prudent, more cautious,
more attentive to business, there might have
been some show of plausibility to give the re-
porter the proposed sum. Why, he asked, was
he in favor of employing a reporter? Because
he saw here men of talent, of ability, and of
standing, who would, in all probability, en-
lighten the people on many subjects, and furnish |
