gross, and will be immediately so represented.
Upon what rule of logic or reason is it that
you say that the negroes shall not be counted
in the basis by which the people of Maryland
are represented in their own legislature?
All free people in fiee governments are al-
ways counted in the basis of representation
Why do you exclude the free negro? He is
not excluded now. The free negro now, in
the magnanimity of the slaveholders of the
State, a policy which they have always pur-
sued to their own cost, and in many cases to
their own ruin, from the time he is emanci-
pated, is represented in the general assembly as
fully as .you or 1. Free negoes like free white
people form a portion of the acknowledged
basis on which representation is apportioned.
Why should they form a part of it and not
the negroes that you are going to set free?
Where is the rule or reason? How do you
draw the distinction? I think that the fact
that the free negroes are now a part of the
basis and that the very minute you get the
slaves free they will by public law become a
portion of the federal basis, is conclusive
against any attempt here to exclude them in
reference to the representation of the counties;
and shows that the attempt is based upon no
other theory and no other principle whatever
except the desire to crush out the proper politi-
cal power to which certain counties are enti-
tled in the general assembly of the State.
Mr. RIDGELY. I will suggest to the gentle-
man that the emancipated negroes will form
no part of the federal basis until the next cen-
sus is taken. The present representation will
continue until that time.
Mr. BELT. Until it is rearranged, neces-
sarily,
Now I come to a narrower circle, to the ques-
tion of Baltimore city, I dismiss from my
mind the idea. of the possibility that giving
to a large city enables them to exercise an in-
fluence against the counties, and must continu-
ally be guarded against. I know of no in-
telligent people who entertain any such school-
boy jealousy as that with regard to Balti-
more city, Baltimore city is as much ours,
as any other part of. the State. We rejoice
in her prosperity. We will do anything in
a legislative way, or in any other way to ad-
vance her interests against her competitors.
We are bound to do it. A feeling of pride
and interest and pleasure in her welfare, will
induce us to build her up.
But when you come to arrange these ques-
tions as between Baltimore city and the coun-
ties, and the proposition is made here to give
Baltimore city twenty-one members, I place it
in this light. Suppose yon grant to that city
this immense representation, twice as great as
anybody has had the hardihood to claim for
her heretofore, the danger is this: Suppose
that with that weight in the lower house and
with the three senators that yon propose to
give her, she chooses to make a bargain with |
the eastern shore, where is western Maryland,
and where is southern Maryland then? Sup-
pose she makes a bargain with western Mary-
land; where is southern Maryland, and
where is the eastern shore?
On the other hand, while every section of
the State is put in imminent peril by granting
this power to Baltimore, lest she should com-
bine with some other section against the rest
of the State, Baltimore city is not in the same
danger There cannot be successfully the
same combination against her; because she
exercises under this Constitution, and under
any Constitution you are likely to frame, a
certain degree of power in this State in other
directions and in other respects, enabling her
to hold her own under all circumstances. Bal-
timore city elects the governor. Baltimore city
elects at least one judge of the court of ap-
peals. Her political power is immense. Her
control in the community is immense. She
is the common agent of the people. She is at
the head of the financial operations of the
State. She exercises from day to day and
from hour to hour, over the remotest sections
and corners of Maryland, an influence that
we all feel and know, the supremacy of which
we are obliged constantly to acknowledge.
With her voting population she controls the
whole politics of the State. Therefore she is
able, as a general rule, to protect herself
against combinations likely to do her any in-
jury, although a section comprising five or
six small counties of the State is not able to
protect itself.
Another controlling consideration in my
mind—for I shall not undertake to argue the
question elaborately, and should have pre-
ferred that the discussion had been brought on
and conducted in that quiet, easy and digni-
fied manner in which I hoped questions of this
sort would be considered—is the consideration
which was referred to at length by my col-
league (Mr. Berry,) the author of the minority
report. We are situated in the position of
being a small State with a large city.
There is no sort of analogy between the re-
lations of New York city to the State, or of
Philadelphia to the State of Pennsylvania.
No such relation subsists here. In the State of
New York, there are Albany, Troy, Buffalo,
and a dozen or two cities, and as many towns
which we in Maryland would look upon as
cities. And in addition to these heavily popu-
lated cities and towns, there are counties, and
districts, sections of the State which are al-
most as densely populated as any of our
towns. They can afford in New York, if it
be a fact, to have a representation according
to population without injury to anybody.
The State overbalances the city,
In Maryland we have a small State; and
by no means a wealthy State. The popula-
tion in the rural districts is sparse. And we
have a city embracing within ilself more than
one-third of the total population, and nearly |
