tleman's assuming that to be the state of
facts.
Mr. SCHLEY. I desire to ask the gentle-
man what political parties are in this conven-
tion?
Mr. BELT. I only know one of my own
knowledge.
Mr.SCHLEY. What one?
Mr. BELT. That 13 the party that is ordi-
narily called in the newspapers, the demo-
cratic party of the State. I prefer the name
of States rights.
Mr. NEGLEY. I would inquire where my
friend from Kent (Mr. Chambers) stands.
[Laughter.]
The PRESIDENT. The gentleman is not in
order.
Mr, BELT. All I desire to say, I can say in
a very few sentences, in the first place, this
question of the basis of representation is one
which it is difficult to discuss upon any phi-
losophical basis at all. There can scarcely
be said to be any principle involved in it.
There is no precedent except the precedent of
Great Britain from which we can draw any
principles at all; and there it has only been
confusedly and in a peculiar way, that there
is any principle upon which the people can
be said to be represented. It is the most ar-
bitrary of all systems ever invented upon
the face of the earth. We all know that
down to the time of the passage of the Reform
Bill in England, there were rotten boroughs ;
there were districts and counties which sent a
large portion of the representatives; and there
were others, as in the case of Yorkshire,
which sent none at all.
So that we cannot throw ourselves back
upon the only country which has ever pre-
ceded us in having representative numbers,
to .get any light in our present difficulties,
We cannot take advantage of the British pre-
cedents at all. I hold the true doctrine to
be that representation can only be satisfacto-
rily fixed for any community by a compro-
mise, or upon a principle which is purely ar-
bitrary; because there is no one principle
upon this subject, which has ever been ap-
plied to a free community with equal justice
to all.
If I were to indicate the true theory upon
which I think representatives ought to be ap-
portioned in Maryland, I should repeat the
views that I bad the honor to submit the other
day upon another question to the convention.
This State is singularly placed. In the first
place, we are split into two sections by the
bay—the eastern and western shores. Here
is the first division of interests. The eastern
shore is as a general thing homogeneous, al-
though I suppose there is some contrariety
of interest between the western and southern
portion of it. But when we come to the
western shore we find a division of interest
just as great as the difference between the
people of Louisiana and the people of Maine. |
There is the mining interest, the coal inter-
est, the mineral interest of the west; the
grain-growing interest of counties not so far
west; the tobacco interest of southern Mary-
land. Then Baltimore has an interest as a
corporation distinct from the counties; an
interest as a commercial emporium, an inter-
est in manufacture, an interest in finance.
All these separate interests in this State are
jealous of one another. The theory acted upon
in Maryland by our fathers in colonial times,
was to give to every interest just that strength
in the legislative councils as to enable it to
protect itself against undue encroachment
upon the part of the others. If a proposi-
tion were to be made here—I think it can-
not perhaps be truthfully said of the ma-
jority report—that should undertake to strip
the western shore of its political rights, 1
should resist it, and would stay here forever
rather than consent to it. I hold myself de-
voted to the principle of so arranging this
representative basis as to enable every sec-
tion of the State to support itself in the
councils of the State.
That being the proper principle to go on,
regarding the sectional interests of the State,
harmonizing the people and bringing them
together, giving no section an undue influ-
ence over the others, we come to the next
most important point which this majority re-
port discloses; and that is the white basis.
The singular theory is presented here that
nobody is to be counted in the representa-
tion, except the white population, the voting
population. I will not enter into all that
argument gone over in the federal conven-
tion. We all know that Southern men made
a very great compromise when they conceded
that only three-fifths of the negroes should
be represented, when the true principle was
the whole population. We can only say that
they did the best they could; they only
yielded as a matter of compromise; the whole
of them ought to have been represented.
Every element which adds to the prosperity
of a community ought to be represented in
the councils of the State. Bat I will not
go into that.
There is one consideration connected with
the white basis which to all intents and pur-
poses disposss of it; and it is this: The very
minute that slavery is abolished in this State,
eo instanti every negro living in the State
will become one of the basis upon which we
are entitled to be represented in the federal
Congress. The instant you abolish slavery,
the three-fifths rule holds no longer. It is
abolished. It falls with the institution.
There will be a re-arrangement of the repre-
sentation of Maryland in the Congress of the
United States, and I suppose the effect will be
to give us at least one more member. The very
moment you abolish slavery in Maryland,
the negroes are all set free, and become en-
titled to representation in the federal Con- |
