best terms which may be obtained for the
same." That, by proper construction, must
mean "other works" than the Washington
Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
and cover all the other works of internal
improvement in the State. I move to recon-
sider, in order that the language may be so
changed that it shall mean what the gentle-
man from Baltimore county designed it to
mean. I think gentlemen will see that the
language is open to the objection I make.
Mr. RIDGELY. I do not think the section
is liable to that criticism. It will be observ-
ed that the section refers to three classes of
public works; first, that class of public works
is to be sold, the proceeds of the sale of which
can be converted into a like amount of the
public debt. All others, the proceeds of the
sale of which cannot be converted into a like
amount of the public debt are to be sold for
the most that can be obtained for them. The
first class is that which can be sold for a cor-
responding amount of the public debt, and
they are to be sold and the proceeds so ap-
plied, the Washington Branch of the Balti-
more and Ohio Railroad excepted. All others
that cannot be sold for a corresponding amount
of the public debt are to be sold for the most
that can be obtained for them. Nevertheless
if the language be taken to be obscure I am
perfectly willing that the section shall be so
amended as to be free from all obscurity.—
But I do not think it is necessary to reconsider
it for that purpose. A proposition may be
offered which will attain the end without
reconsideration. I think the phraseology
of the amendment is sufficiently clear.—
I think it is free from the ambiguity and
obscurity ascribed to it by the gentleman
from Baltimore city (Mr. Stockbridge.) If
not, I have no objection to any amendment
that will make it so. But I think if we once
get this section reconsidered, we shall have to
review all the ground which hag been gone
over in this debate. The proposition of the
gentleman from Baltimore city (Mr. Thomas)
and the proposition of the gentleman from
Prince George's (Mr. Clarke) will then come
up for consideration. The whole ground is
reopened, and the house has to pass over the
game course of debate occupied on last Satur-
day, and which consumed the whole day.—
If the proposition is not reconsidered, all these
propositions are necessarily rejected. I noti-
fy the house that that will be the state of
things, if there is a majority of the house
in favor of the proposition I had the honor to
submit, if there is a majority of the house in
favor of confiding this trust to the governor,
comptroller and treasurer of the State, in-
stead of devolving it upon the legislature, as
most of these other propositions do, I warn
them that if the question is opened by amotion
to reconsider, we have that subject before us
again, and we shall have to rehearse the ar-
guments indulged in on Saturday last touch- |
ing the advisability of conferring the power
upon the legislature, it seems to me that my
friend from Baltimore city can attain his end
of perfecting the section at some other period,
when we come to the third reading of this
bill, if there shall then be deemed to be ob-
scurity in the last clause of this section, it can
then be freed from ambiguity without involv-
ing us in what appears to me to be the prob-
able condition of things upon a reconsidera-
tion.
Mr. THOMAS. For the very reason given
by my friend from Baltimore county (Mr.
Ridgely,) lam in favor of the reconsideration
of that vote. I confess, so far as I am con-
cerned as one of the representatives of Balti-
more city, I am opposed to every proposition
which has been offered for the sale of the
State's interest in the public works. The
proposition which I offered yesterday, I offer-
ed for the reason that I thought it was the
best I could do, if the convention has made
up its mind to sell the State's interest in the
different public works within the State, in-
cluding canal stocks, bank stocks, &c. I feel
as deep an interest in the welfare of Baltimore
city as the people of Western Maryland do
in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. If. the
people of Western Maryland feel such an inter-
est in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, that
they are unwilling that we should part. with
a dollar's worth of our interest, I will tell them
that the city of Baltimore has an interest of
more than eight millions of dollars in the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad company; and
my fear is that if the State's interest gets into
the hands of private stockholders, the eight
millions of dollars of Baltimore city will be
lost and her trade and business ruined.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE (interposing.) I will sug-
gest to my colleague that the question be-
fore the convention is reconsideration.
Mr. THOMAS. It is for these reasons, to test
the sense of the convention, and to appeal to
the justice of the convention in a thorough
discussion of the subject, that I desire the
question again to be opened. Suppose it takes
a day to settle it. There are millions upon mil-
lions of dollars involved in this thing, Twenty-
four hours is a very short time to dispose of
the State's interest in these public works.
Give us a chance before the thing is disposed
of, to put ourselves on the record, so that we
can show hereafter what position we take in
relation to this subject.
Mr. STIRLING. It seems to me that there is
an additional reason for reconsidering this.
It seems to me that the meaning of the first
proviso is liable to doubt. It says: "Pro-
vided, however, that the power hereby con-
ferred shall only be exercised when the pro-
ceeds of such sales can be converted into a
like amount of the public debt," That seems
to me to mean an amount of the public debt
equal to the proceeds of such sales. The idea
I supposed the gentleman to intend to arrive |
