ing of the maps which had just come to hand,
and which he had not yet an opportunity to ex-
amine, he would move to postpone the further
consideration of this subject until Saturday
next.
Mr. CHAMBERS. We can never have a better
time than the present to consider this subject.
Mr. BLAKISTONE. Some of us will have to be
unavoidably absent, if this question is postponed
as indicated by the gentleman from Frederick.
Mr. THOMAS, I move to commit the whole
subject to a committee of five members, or if the
House pleases, one from each county, and I ex-
press the hope that my colleague will have the
kindness to lake that as his motion.
Mr. JOHNSON withdrew his motion to postpone
the further consideration of this subject.
The PRESIDENT. The motion to commit is not
debateable.
Mr. THOMAS I certainly am not going to
debate the proposition. I move that a committee
of one from each county and the city of Balti-
more be appointed, to whom shall be referred the
map and accompanying documents, that have
been prepared for the use of this Convention,
and who shall take into consideration the pro-
priety of districting the Slate of Maryland, so as
to select one delegate only, from each district in
the State.
Mr. BOWIE. I hope the subject will not be
referred at all.
Mr. BRENT, of Baltimore city. I have a pro-
position germain to this subject, which I would
like to have referred. I will read it for infor-
mation.
Mr. B. read his proposition as follows:
"It shall he the duty of the legislature at its
first session after the adoption of this Constitution
to pass a bill for taking the sense of the qualified
voters of this State, at the next ensuing general
election of delegates, touching the basis of repre-
sentation in the House of Delegates, and provid-
ing that at such election the voters shall vote for
or against "population as the basis;" and if a
majority of the votes as then cast shall be for
population as the basis, the legislature at its next
ensuing session, shall proceed to re-apportion the
representation in the House of Delegates upon
the basis of population according to federal
numbers or upon gross population, so as to elect
delegates upon such basis by general ticket in
each county and the city of Baltimore; and if a
majority of the ballots cast at such general elec-
tion shall have inscribed on them, the words
"district the State," then the legislature shall di-
vide the whole State into contiguous and compact
districts equal as near as may be to each other
in respect to population."
Mr. DAVIS. I rise to ask a question—whether
the motion of the gentleman from Frederick to
refer this question to a committee is not, inef-
fect, to defeat the very vote of this morning to
take up this proposition ."or the purpose of con-
sidering it?
The PRESIDENT. The motion to commit is a
privileged motion.
Mr. DAVIS. I only desired to call the atten-
• |
tion of the Convention to the "act that this mo-
tion will in effect, defeat the very thing we
agreed to do this morning,
Mr. CHAMBERS, of Kent. I rise to ask if we
cannot regard this quite as much a test question
as any other?
Mr. TUCK. Do I understand the gentleman
from Baltimore city as offering his proposition
now?
Mr. BRENT, of Baltimore city, I do, for the
purpose of having it referred to the committee
proposed to be raised by the gentleman from
Frederick. If the motion for a committee is not
agreed to, I will offer it as an amendment.
Mr. TUCK, Do I understand the gentleman
to offer it in the nature of instructions to the com-
mittee?
Mr. BRENT, of Baltimore city. If instructions
are to be given. I will offer it as a basis of in-
structions. If instructions are not to be given, I
desire my proposition to be referred to the com-
mittee, if it is raised.
Mr. TUCK. When I vote on the motion to
commit, do I vote at all, in any sense, in any
way, to any extent, upon the proposition of the
gentleman from Baltimore city?
The PRESIDENT. The gentleman has moved
to instruct the committee. The proposition of
the gentleman has not yet been read by the Sec-
retary.
Mr. BLAKISTONE. Are the instructions moved
by the gentleman from Baltimore city, in or-
der?
The PRESIDENT. These instructions are not
moved as specific instructions, and therefore, are
not to be received.
Mr. BRENT. of Baltimore city. My proposi-
tion is to instruct the committee to report an ar-
ticle of that kind.
Mr. MERRICK. No committee has yet been ap-
pointed, and no instructions are in order for a
committee which does not exist.
Mr. BLAKISTONE. I rise to a question of or-
der. I understand that there are certain privi-
leged questions, and amongst them is a motion to
commit. Now is it competent for the gentleman
to move instructions, to take away from the Con-
vention the exercise of a privileged motion, and
throw the whole question open for debate?
The motion to commit is a privileged question,
so also is a motion to adjourn, but if you couple
with these questions any other propositions, most
unquestionably they become questions of debate.
is it competent to submit any propositions to in-
struct the committee it is proposed to raise ?
The PRESIDENT. If the Convention determines
to commit this subject to a committee, it will
then be competent for the body to give instruc-
tions to that committee. The Chair thinks a
motion to instruct the committee is not now in
order, because the Convention has not yet deci-
ded that they will refer the subject to a commit-
tee.
Mr. BRENT, of Baltimore city. I understand
the proposition of the gentleman from Frederick
to be this : that the specific proposition introdu-
ced by the gentleman from Kent, together with |
