Mr. JOHNSON complied, and withdrew the de-
mand for the previous question.
Mr. CHAMBERS, of Kent, made some remarks,
which will be published hereafter.
Mr THOMAS. I shall vote for the motion to re-
consider. I stand on the record voting with some
of my colleagues for districting the city of Balti-
more. I do not speak for others, but I never ill-
tended to give it as a substantive independent
vote. I voted for it because I intended after-
wards to append to it a proposition districting the
whole State. When the proposition is reconsid-
ered, I shall move, with the concurrence of my
colleague, the proposition which I withdrew this
morning. It will bring the House to a vote, and
we can then see whether a majority are for dis-
tricting the counties and the city of Baltimore.
If they are, we can put them together, and they
can vote against districting either, if separated.
Mr. BOWIE. It is a mere delusion.
Mr. THOMAS, The gentleman may so consid-
er it, but I differ with him very materially.
The question was then taken on the motion of
Mr. MCHENRY, to reconsider the vote of the Con-
vention adopting the first branch of the amend-
ment;
And it was agreed to.
The question then recurred on the adoption of
the amendment.
Mr. JOHNSON withdrew it.
Mr. THOMAS then offered the following as a
substitute for the proposition of Mr. CHAMBERS:
"In order that each and every portion of the
State may be fairly represented, and its various
interests protected in the Legislature, for the pur-
pose of electing delegates therein, the city of
Baltimore and each county in the State shall be
divided into separate election districts of compact,
contiguous territory, in the manner hereafter to
be provided in this Constitution; the qualified
voters in each of which districts shall, at the time
and in the manner in which delegates are chosen,
elect one delegate, who has, for one year next
before his election, been a resident of the district
from which he. shall be elected; and the resi-
dence in a district, requisite to give a right of
suffrage, shall be six months next preceding the
election , but in case any voter otherwise quali-
fied, shall have less than six months residence in
the district of his then residence, he shall not
thereby lose his right to vote in the district in
which he may have resided for six months next
preceding his removal."
Mr. THOMAS. I submit this amendment with
a view to ascertain the sentiment of the House.
I do not wish to dictate to any body, and if I did
I could not do it. I merely desire a vote on the
proposition, and then gentlemen can take it into
their own hands. My colleagues are unanimous-
ly in favor of the proposition, and I think the
gentlemen from Washington are, so far as I can
judge. I call the previous question.
Mr. PHELPS moved that the Convention do now
adjourn;
Which motion was negatived.
Mr. CHAMBERS, of Kent, said that he intended
to ask for a division of the substitute, so as to |
have a vote on districting the city of Baltimore.
Mr. THOMAS modified his substitute, by matting
it read, "each county in the State and the city of
Baltimore," instead of "the city of Baltimore and
each county in the State."
Mr. TUCK. I rise to a point of order. The
gentleman from Frederick offered his proposition
in this way, that the city of Baltimore and the
counties should be districted. He then called the
previous question, and after he had done so, he
changed his proposition by putting the counties
before the city. Does not that change the pro-
position very materially, else why did he make
the alteration ? My point of order is, that the
previous question does not apply, and that the
gentleman from Kent is entitled to the floor.
The PRESIDENT. If the gentleman from Fred-
erick changed his proposition after he moved the
previous question, he had no right to make the
change without waiving the demand for the pre-
vious question.
Mr. THOMAS. I ask consent to change it, and
I rise for the purpose of putting myself right.
Are we not a Convention of grave old men, form-
ing a Constitution ? I think we are. Well, I am
only going to say this: Does any gentleman sup-
pose that by any possible argument, that any of
us can make, surrounded as I am by intelligent
gentlemen, we can prevent an expression of the
views of this House. I desire a vote on the pro-
position to district the counties and the city of
Baltimore. If there is a majority against the
combined proposition, they can say so. I will
quarrel with no one for differing with me. I as-
sure gentlemen I will show no rebellious spirit
against the determination of this majority. I
shall vote for the Constitution, and submit it to
my people to decide whether Baltimore is or is
not to be singly districted.
Mr. CHAMBERS, of Kent. I ask the gentleman
whether his morning, I was not arrested in the
middle of an argument by the distinct concession
that we should take a vote, so far as the question
was concerned, first, on districting the city
of Baltimore, then on the number of districts,
then on the arrangement of the districts, and
then on districting the counties?
Mr. THOMAS. Yes, sir.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I ask if this alteration was
not to defeat that very object?
Mr. THOMAS. I will explain. My friend
from Frederick moved a proposition as an amend-
ment to that of the gentleman from Kent. I de-
sired long ago to get the sense of the House, and
to see whether it was in favor of districting the
city of Baltimore alone, or the city of Baltimore
and the counties combined. I appeal to my
colleague to say whether we would not get into
an awkward dilemma, and travel the circle
round, if we took up the proposition of the gen-
tleman from Kent and voted for it and then voted
upon the proposition of my colleague? He said
that he did not apprehend that, for he believed
that a majority of this House was going for both
propositions. Then I yielded, of course, to the
gentleman from Kent. But, said my colleague,
if contrary to my expectations, a majority shall |
