power in the Legislature." The district from
which I have the honor to come, is left behind
"longa intervallo." To the Western district it
gives twenty-seven delegates; to the Southern
district but sixteen, and to the Eastern district
twenty.
This calculation seems to be rather against the
proposition advocated as a compromise by the
gentleman from Allegany, and gives a good rea-
son fur its rejection. If the fact, that it gave to
these three divisions nearly the same power in
the legislature, would be good cause for its adop-
tion, certainly the fact, that it does not, is good
cause fur its rejection. Various other statistical
views of population, wealth and so forth, have
been presented by the gentleman from Allegany,
in support of this proposition.
There is, however, one statistical view and
one interest which he seems to have overlooked.
It is an interest of the greatest moment to the
southern counties, and is perhaps the only one in
the State, which is not in common to every part
of it—I mean the slave interest. Representing
with my distinguished colleagues, the largest
slave holding county in the State, in proportion
to her territory and white population, there
claim that this interest should be amply and ful-
ly protected, This protection I do not discover
in the proposition of the gentleman from Wash-
ington, To that portion of the Slate where there
are 72,727 slaves, it gives but thirty-three dele-
gates. while to the other, where there are but
17,628, it gives forty.
The ratio is such that in the large slave-
holding portion of the State there will be no in-
crease of representation. All the increase will
be in that, where the slave population is gradual-
ly diminishing, if not disappearing. It is said,
that this interest has already been fully guarded
by the Convention in an article which they have
unanimously adopted. If there was any guaran-
tee for the future, that it would stand as a part
of the fundamental law of this State, we would
have no fear This guarantee cannot he given.
In these times Constitutions are easily changed.
They are altered, abolished and amended with
the utmost facility. Another Convention may
be called, in the course of a few short years, to
reform the Constitution which we are now ma-
king. That Convention, like this, will be con-
vened upon the basis of representation as then
existing in the Legislature. Your Constitution.
containing this very guarantee, will be at their
mercy, and it may not be worth the parchment
upon which it is written. The protection is too
vague—too uncertain.
Adopt the proposition of the gentleman from
Washington, and you are bringing a danger upon
this interest, which in time to come may utterly
destroy it. I entertain no fear of any part of the
State of Maryland now upon this subject. Her
soundness cannot be questioned. It is not so
much for the present as for the future, that we
ask protection. In the progress of time things
may change, and it is against this change that we
desire to guard. The views of the counties bordering
upon non-slaveholding States, and of Bal- |
timore, with her immense population and power,
may undergo an entire revolution. The situation
of Maryland, us a kind of BORDER=0 State in refer-
ence to this interest of slavery, is a peculiar one.
It is upon her that the fanaticism of the north is
directed in all its fury. It will leave no means,
fair or foul, untried, to crush within her BORDER=0s
the institution, against which it is waging a war
that has already shaken the pillars of the Union.
We are not willing to abandon any check, which
will enable us in time to come, to protect our-
selves and our property against it.
As I have said, it is the only interest which is not
in common to the whole Slate. There is no interest,
however, in the BORDER=0 counties which is
not common also to the southern counties They
are cultivators of the soil—their pursuits are the
same, and they have no institutions or system of
laws which we have not. To Baltimore city we
cannot be hostile. Every part of Maryland must
regard her prosperity with pride. Her enter-
prise and commerce have carried the name of
this good old State into almost every port, where
trade and commerce are known. Almost every
county has contributed to her population some
favorite son. She is our market for the produce
of our soil, and sends us in return many of the
necessaries and luxuries of life. Her prosperity
is interwoven with ours, and every consideration
prompts the desire for her advancement. These
portions of the State have no interest which we
could injure without at the same time inflicting
an injury upon ourselves. Our condition is a
different one. That interest, which we regard
with so much jealousy and which forms so large
a portion of our wealth, might be stricken down
and destroyed, and the wealth of other parts of
the State scarcely feel the shock. Give to us
such a representation as will be able to protect
it, not only in the Legislature of the State, hut
in any Convention that may be hereafter called
to remodel your Constitution. It is an interest
which must have the power to protect itself. This
power the large slave holding counties now
claim at your hands. It is a power inestimable
to them, and which cannot injure the other por-
tions of the State. Justice demands, that in
compromising this question, their rights, I mean
the rights of the slave holding counties, should
not be disregarded, and this interest left hereaf-
ter to ask for protection as a boon of mercy.
We but claim the power to secure the enjoyment
of our property in peace and safety, I cannot
and will not support any system of representation
in which this protection is not given. Were I
to do so, I should feel that I was not only recre-
ant to my own sense of right, but had betrayed
the confidence which a generous constituency
reposed in me, when they sent me here as one
of their delegates.
Another objection, to the proposition of the
gentleman from Washington, is that it is based
upon federal numbers. The gentleman from
Baltimore, (Mr. Gwinn,) who advocated federal
numbers as a just basis, has claimed that it is re-
cognised in the Constitution of 1836, and calls
upon us to stand by it as one of the compromi-
ses then agreed upon. This is indeed a strange |
