1856.]           OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES.           523

which her population, wealth, intelligence and patriotism entitled
her to, in common with other parts of the State. To remedy;
this crying evil, and to avoid dangerous sectional legislation, the
Constitution was changed in 1836 and 1837, laying off Guberna-
torial districts from which the Governor should alternately be
chosen by the people. This wise and just provision so com-
mended itself to the inherent sense of political justice in the
State, that it was, engrafted upon the new constitution, which has
been adopted by an overwhelming majority of the people, and is
thus commended to our favorable consideration as a precedent by
an authority which none dare disregard. In analogy to the prac-
tical regulation respecting the selection of Governor, the act of
1809, chapter 22, was passed; in relation to the selection of Uni-
ted States Senator, and which in its practical operation has been
pregnant with the same evils, and if possible, to a more alarming
extent. For the fact is indisputable, that for about three score
and ten years, the Senator for the western shore has been chosen
exclusively from the city of Baltimore and Bay counties, and that
in all this period the counties of Baltimore, Harford, Howard,
Carroll, Montgomery, Frederick, Washington, and Allegany, have
each and all been denied a participation in that honor. And the
undersigned feels constrained to add, there is no reason for any
well grounded hope of change for the better, unless it can be ac-
complished by law. And whatever may have have been the orig-
inal circumstances which may have excused the choice from such
a restricted locality—all must admit that the reason for it no lon-
ger exist; for those counties have now grown to a degree of pros-
perity in wealth, population, intelligence and agricultural impor-
tance, which may justly challenge a comparison with any part of
the State, Nevertheless, they are still excluded—and in the
opinion of the undersigned, the occasion calls loudly and imper-
atively for reform, and the bill submitted to them ought to pass
with an amendment or additional section providing that in all fu-
ture elections of United States Senator, the incumbent shall be
chosen from the Gubernatorial districts alternately, as directed in
the Constitution—and as there are two Senators and only three
districts, this will enable the Legislature to elect a faithful Sena-
tor two terms in succession from the same district, making twelve
years in all—a period sufficiently long to consist with the theory
of republican government.                                                           

The undersigned therefore recommend that the title of the bill
be amended by adding the words "and to provide for the selec-
tion thereof from the Gubernatorial districts alternately"—and at
the end of the bill add the following section:

"And be it enacted, That in all future elections for the office of
United States Senator by the Legislature, the Senator shall be se-