ELECTIVE FRANCHISE.
Mr. CHAMBERS, of Kent, moved that the Convention
take up for consideration the report of
the committee on the Elective Franchise, irre-
spective of any further proceedings had thereon
in committee of the whole.
And the question having been taken, it was
Determined in the affirmative.
The report having been read—
Mr. CHAMBERS, of Kent, moved to amend the
first section, by striking out in the fourth line,
the words "Howard District."
Mr. CHAMBERS said, the second section was
one on which a great deal had been said. It
involved all the various propositions that had
been designed for the protection of the ballot
box from corrupt influence. His own opinion
was that it might be materially curtailed with-
out injuring its practical effect, but these expres-
sions had been deliberately inserted, and at this
stage of the session he would not suggest an al-
teration. The provisions in the third and fourth
sections would, he thought, be found to be so
minute and so much in detail, as to be quite ob-
jectionable. He had prepared a substitute for
the oath set out in the bill, which would be
found quite as comprehensive in substance, and
in fewer words and which would serve as an
oath for all officers of every grade, thus superse-
ding all other and special oaths of office. The
fifth section he proposed should remain as it is
with a single verbal alteration.
He believed by these amendments the Con-
vention would secure the objects, which in their
former action on this bill they had decided to
adopt. With this explanation he would submit
his amendments and leave them to the direction
of the Covention.
The question was then taken on the amend-
ment which was agreed to.
Mr. FOOKS moved further to amend the first
section, by inserting after the word "held," in the
seventh line, the following :
"After having taken an oath, (if not conscien-
tiously scrupulous, and in such case, affirmation,)
that he has not received and will not receive any
fee or reward for his vote at said election, and
that he has not given or offered to give and will
not give or offer lo give directly or indirectly any
fee or reward or bribe, or assist in bribing or
influencing any voter at said election or to in-
duce any person not to vote at said election."
Determined in the negative.
Mr. FOOKS demanded the yeas and nays, which
were not ordered.
Mr. STEWART, of Baltimore city, moved to
amend the first section, by striking out from the
word "ballot" in the eighth line, to the end of the
section.
Mr. STEWART, of Baltimore city, observed that
he had made the motion to strike out, because
the section thus amended would better harmonize
with the refusal of the Convention to district the
county or the city of Baltimore. That was now a
settled question; the amendment intimated by his
friend from Carroll. (Mr. Parke,) would be per-
fectly gratified by the success of the motion to
108 |
strike out. The only effect of the section as reported
was in regard to the division of the State
into Congressional districts, and it was only be-
cause of its onerous and restrictive operation upon
his constituents, that he (Mr. S.) opposed its adoption
and made his motion to strike out. The
Convention were fully apprised of the great
number of monthly tenantcies which existed in the
city of Baltimore; that mode of renting was so
general as to have almost the character of a local
usage—the humble occupants of small houses
selected their residences in view of their conti-
guity to their places of business and employment;
and it was the bounden duty of the Convention to
protect their rights, as much as the rights of those
occupying more elevated positions in the community.
Among these rights, their right of suffrage
had been on all hands proclaimed as of inestimable
value; and yet the section as reported,
tended to embarrass the exercise of that right so
as to amount virtually to a denial of the right itself.
Take this instance: suppose a mechanic has rented
a house in the western part of the city, because of
its convenience to his business—after a residence
of two or three months, the necessities of his oc-
cupation induce him to go to Canton, in the eastern
section of the city. Is he to be compelled to
travel some six or seven miles, in all, to cast his ,
vote for a representative in Congress, who repre-
sents the city, whether he come from one section
or the other? Wherever he might vote, be would
vote for a representative of Maryland In the Con-
gress of the United States; and inasmuch as the
Convention had justly thrown every impediment
in the way of fraudulent voting, it would be seen
that the voter would be put to inconvenience
without any equivalent public good. As the
Convention had wisely determined to regard Bal-
timore as an unit, and not to cut her up and
divide her into sections, it would be oppressive
and unjust to trammel the voter by the provisions
of the section referred to.
It was our republican theory, that the right of
suffrage should be as free as the air we breathed,
and he (Mr. S.) would never consent here or
elsewhere to adopt any course which would pre-
vent the theory from being carried out in practice.
He spoke not for Buncombe—that shadowy and
mysterious power, to whose oracular responses
some were disposed to listen. It was not included
in the peculiar locality from which he came, but
he spoke in his representative character to guard
his constituents from the manifest injustice con-
templated by this section, to vindicate one of
their most precious rights, and to claim for then
from a Maryland Convention, what was granted
to all other citizens out of Baltimore, and which
could not be withheld without a violation of re-
publican doctrines.
Mr MCLANE desired to suggest, rather than to
make an objection to the insertion of this clause
as a part of the Constitution. He regretted very
much that he had not had an opportunity earlier
of making that suggestion; but he believed the
chairman who had charge of the committee,
would give it the same importance that he [Mr.
McL ] did. He had heretofore said that be con- |
