fession—how humiliating! And then, it this was
not done, "all the young men would grow up
Locofocos"
Well, the writer should have credit for his
candor in expressing his own views, but I do
not believe, Mr, President, that the young
Whigs of Baltimore are all justly liable to the
imputations of this modern political teacher. I
think I know them better. But if it be true of
the young Whigs of Baltimore, the same cause
does not produce the same effect upon the young
Democrats in the strong Whig counties, where
with no prospect of political honors or advance
ment to encourage them, they are still found at
their posts, doing battle for principles, without
the hope of fee or reward, save that of having
done their duty to the State and the nation. If
the true secret for districting the city of Balti-
more lies in reasons no more defensible than
these, to my judgment, it is one of the gross-
est attempts at the mere security of the
"spoils of office," over every acknowledged sen-
timent of political justice that ever disgraced
the most besotted faction that ruled its brief
hour by the "cohesive power of plunder." I do
not allege these to be the motives that prompt
the course of gentlemen on this floor. I have
no such intention. I speak only of the singular
coincidence made manifest by outside words
and inside actions. That's all I mean. The
pressure may not be so intense as I suppose it,
from the language of the quotation. But it is
intended to be felt, and Baltimore city to become
the atoning sacrifice to the rapacity of spoil
hunters. If that is the object, I shall not be
found among those to whom it can be said,
You help to put your Masters on your backs—
They like their seats—they ride you, sweat you,
curb you,
And yet with all your metal, you cannot throw
them off!
Sir, with my consent, they never shall get on.
The city which I have the honor in part to rep-
resent here, shall not become a mere thing to be
trafficed about, as men would of sheep in the
shambles, by any vote of mine; and I trust by
no majority vote of this Convention.
But we are told that the right of minorities
must be protected. How protected? As they
are shown to be by the past legislative history
of this State, in which minorities, through our
present unequal system of representation have
swayed the destinies of the State from time im-
memorial? How they have held the legislative
power and the purse strings of the State within
their own hands, and bid defiance to the repre-
sentatives of a majority of the people to dispossess
them of the power—turned a deaf ear to the
appeals of two-thirds of the people, when, time
after time, asking a redress of political grievances?
Are these the protections they desire to
perpetuate? If so, away with them. It has not
passed from the memory of all yet, how by concert
of action between the two houses, the elec-
98 |
tion of State agents was made now depends
on a concurrent vote of the General Assembly;
one party thereby securing to itself the immense
power and patronage of the internal improv-
ment companies over which the State has control.
Yes, sir, a great State work disbursing an
immense patronage, has by this means become
a great party machine. Are these the minority
rights sought to be further protected? With the
Senate, constituted as it now is, the minority
may keep this power to some extent perpetually.
And certainly so if the gentleman from Charles,
(Mr. Merrick,) is gifted with the true spirit of
prophecy when he says we shall never see the
day in Maryland when representation according
to population will be the rule of apportionment.
Sir, he may be a better prophet than I, who
make no pretentions to the art of divination,
but if I live so long, I shall be wonderfully mi-
prised and disappointed not to find this funda-
mental principle of republican government in
successful operation in less than twenty years.
I verily believe that this great heritage of the
freeman will be then, if not sooner, accorded to
him as a right too long and arbitrarily withheld.
Mr. President, I came to this Convention an
ardent Reformer. I have endeavored in my
votes to prove my sincerity, and if I have
failed in any particular it is not attributable
to a want of zeal in the promotion of sound
and judicious reforms in the organic law of
the State, but to an error arising solely in
judgment. I am now puzzled to discover what
the division of the city of Baltimore into ten del-
egate districts has to do with the subject of Re-
form, unless you include the whole State. Then
there might be "a loop whereon to hang a doubt"
of its impropriety, if we discard the important
consideration of the lateness of the session, and
the rapid approach of the final adjourment
which we have, I think, irrevocably set apart.
Members will not remain to accomplish so her-
culean a labor as districting, with proper lines
and limits, the entire State, But the Convention
is not willing to district the counties, and go no-
thing seems to be left as an alternative, but the
segregating the city of Baltimore from the rest
of the State, and to cut her into so many little
political communities, by which operation the
party politics will be nearly equally divided.
This is the question, and I am prepared, to vote
negatively upon it so long as that vote may be
required to put it to rest forever in the tomb of
partizan experiments Baltimore is devoted to
her party attachments. You cannot alienate her
from that good old republican track she has so
long and so successfully pursued. She clings to
her long cherished ties with almost fraternal fond-
ness.
You may destroy her unity— blot out her metes
and bounds—divide and subdivide her, and par-
cel her out to accommodate new-born schemes
or cunningly devised theories, yet in the language
of the poet—
Like the vase in which roses have long been dis-
tilled— |
