property to the value of £30. The old sol-
dier replied—"I was when I started from
home this morning; I had then an old mare
which was worth £30, but she has died on
the way." "Then," replied the judges, "you
cannot vote." "Ah !" said the old soldier,
"it would seem that the right of voting was
not in me, but in the old mare;" and with
that he departed.
Now we have heard a great deal about pro-
viding in the Constitution to have judges of
election to serve away off somewhere out of
the State, in Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana,
wherever any citizens of this State may be
serving as soldiers of the United States, and
allowing those soldiers to vote there. Not
upon that principle, I am sure, did the old
Convention of 1776 act. And the proposi-
tion is open to so grave objections on account
of inconvenience, and the liability to fraudu-
lent practices, that I apprehend this Con-
vention will hardly entertain seriously any
proposition of that sort. Now I desire to
read to this Convention an extract from this
book, with the view of showing the adherence
of the Convention of 1776 to one of the fun-
damental principles of English liberty, the
absolute preponderance of the civil over the
military authorities; and the ideas that they
had on the subject of soldiers voting. I read
from page 185:
"Resolved, That no person holding a com-
mission or office in the regular forces of this
province, shall, during the time of his hold-
ing the same, be eligible as a representative
aforesaid; nor shall any person who shall
hereafter accept of any commission or office
on the land or sea service, or shall enlist in
the regular forces raised, or to be raised for
the continental service, or the service of this
or any other colony, be eligible as a repre-
sentative as aforesaid, or hold any office or
place in the civil department, or have a
right to vote at any election, during the
time he shall hold such commission or office
in the military forces, or being therein en-
titled as aforesaid."
Now that is strong evidence of their desire
to keep the civil administration apart from
all military authority, and to keep the mili-
tary authority subordinate to the civil ad-
ministration, even in those times of revolu-
tion. In some parts of the State there were
very considerable divisions of sentiment upon
that question at that time. The patriotic
county of Prince George's undertook to nul-
lify that provision, and indeed did disregard
it in the election which they held. And
when the Convention assembled, the Com-
mittee on Elections reported—page 211,
"That Walter Bowie, Luke Marbury, [the
grandfather, I believe, of my worthy friend
here now representing Prince George's
county,] Osborn Sprigg, and Thomas Sim
Lee, Esqrs., are returned by Jeremiah Magruder,
Humphrey Belt, and Thomas Boyd, as
duly elected for Prince George's county. |
"That the inhabitants of the county agreed,
that every taxable man bearing arms being
an inhabitant of the county, had an un-
doubted right to vote for representatives at
this time of public calamity; that the judges
appointed declined lo act, and that they ap-
pointed the judges who made the return as
aforesaid."
On page 214, it will be found, that the
Convention, with but one dissenting voice,
"Resolved, That the election for Prince
George's county, not being held agreeable
to the directions of the last Convention, is
void, and that an election for the said county
be held by the judges appointed at the last
Convention, on Thursday, the 22d inst.,
[August, 1776,] at the court-house of the
county, and that the members returned be dis-
charged from further attendance in this Con-
vention."
And that was also done in some districts in
other parts of the State. So much for the
right of suffrage as fixed by the Convention
of 1776, which framed the original Consti-
tution and form of Government for the State
of Maryland, It was found afterwards that
the Constitution which was adopted, express-
ly prescribed as a qualification for the
right of suffrage, the possession of fifty acres
of land, or property of the value of £30
sterling; in very nearly the same terms pre-
scribed by the original Convention. There-
fore in adopting the article of the Bill of
Rights which declared that poll taxes as un-
derstood and practised previous to that time,
especially in Great Britain, I believe, were
grievous and oppressive, and ought to be
abolished, the Convention had no reference
whatever to the question of the right of suf-
frage.
This section I presume is intended to con-
fer upon the Legislature of the State the
power of taxation for necessary State pur-
poses; that I presume is the object of it.
The right to confer that power exists in the
people at large; and they must confer it
upon their agents before it can be exercised.
They may limit the grant of power, if they
please; and in this section it is limited very
materially, although the limitation is not
expressed in very precise and exact terms.
The section reads:
"That the levying of taxes by the poll is
grievous and oppressive, and ought to be
abolished."
That might lead to very grave litigation
upon many taxes that are usually laid by
governments.
"That paupers ought not to be assessed
for the support of the Government."
That I presume will not be open to ques-
tion; for if they have nothing with which
to pay the tax to be collected by the Govern-
ment, then I cannot conceive very well how
they can be subjects of taxation.
"But every other person in the State, or
person holding property therein, ought to |
