. 



m 



MARYLAND. 



493 





itements of receipts and expenditures be published 



in the newspapers of the canal counties. 



The session came to a close on the 5th of 

 April, being limited by law to ninety days. 



The Republican State Convention for the 

 choice of delegates to the National Convention 

 of the party was held at Frederick on the 6th 

 of May. There was a sharp division between 

 those who favored James G. Blame and those 

 who preferred General U. S. Grant as the can- 

 didate for President. A conflict over the or- 

 ganization of the Convention resulted in favor 

 of the Grant men, but a resolution was adopted 

 by a vote of eighty-nine to fourteen, declaring 

 the overwhelming sentiment of the Republi- 

 cans of the State to be in favor of Mr. Blaine, 

 and requesting the delegates to use all honor- 

 able means to secure his nomination. A resolu- 

 tion expressing unalterable opposition to the 

 nomination of any person for a third term was 

 tabled by a vote of eighty-one to twenty-seven. 

 No platform was adopted. 



The Democrats held their convention in Bal- 

 timore on the 9th of June. Delegates to the 

 Cincinnati Convention were chosen, and can- 

 didates nominated for electors. A resolution 

 in favor of the " two-thirds rule " was adopted, 

 together with the following declaration of prin- 

 ciples : 

 The Democratic Conservative party of Maryland, in 



State Convention assembled, declares that 



1. It firmly adheres to the principles which have 

 guided and controlled the policy of the National Demo- 

 cratic party since the formation of the Federal Con- 

 stitution. 



2. It recalls to the recollection of the people of this 

 State the events of the Presidential election in No- 

 vember, 1876. The decision of the people of certain 

 of our sister States lawfully expressed at the ballot- 

 box was reversed after the polls were closed, by fraud- 

 ulent counts deliberately planned and executed. The 

 ^Republican party, instead of repudiating this great 

 wrong, kept the advantage thus unlawfully gained. 

 Being in possession of the military power of the Gov- 

 ernment, it left to the great majority of the people of 

 the United States, upon whom this wrong had been 

 inflicted, no choice, except between civil war and such 

 form of arbitration as the representatives of the .Re- 

 publican party in Congress might see proper to devise. 

 These representatives, in providing a tribunal for such 

 arbitration, so formed it and molded its proceedings 

 as to secure by a partial judgment the fruits of an 

 unlawful success. An offense was thus committed 

 against a whole people, which ought never to be forgot- 

 ten or condoned. 



3. The Republican party, during its tenure of power, 

 has used the public money and the public lands in 

 fostering great monopolies. It has filled the public 

 Treasury by means ot tariffs intended to promote the 

 advantage of particular manufacturers and communi- 

 ties, at the expense of the producing States. It has 

 created a system of laws under which the national Ex- 

 ecutive may unduly and directly influence both Fed- 

 eral and State elections. It has increased the number 

 of its officers until they form in every State an im- 

 mense civil force, governed by and dependent upon its 

 will ; and it has used that force to promote its politi- 

 cal designs. It has employed the Federal army as a 

 means of increasing its political power. It has cen- 

 tralized the Government, and inaugurated an imperial 

 system of expenditures. The people of the United 

 States, brought more than once to the verge of bank- 

 ruptcy by the legislation and policy of the Republican 

 party, owe their returning prosperity only to the bless- 



ings of God and to their Own increased economy and 

 untiring labor. 



4. The Democratic Conservative party of this State, 

 faithful to the supremacy of the Constitution of the 

 United States, rests its construction of that instru- 

 ment upon the express words of the tenth amend- 

 ment, adopted in 1791 : "The powers not delegated to 

 the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited 

 by it to the States, are reserved to the States respec- 

 tively or to the people." 



5. We declare our belief that the National Demo- 

 cratic Conservative party will maintain the equality of 

 all citizens before the law, and uphold and enforce 

 their constitutional rights ; that it will check the pres- 

 ent extravagance in the expenditure of the public 

 money, and restore the practice of economy in all de- 

 partments of the Government ; that it will reform the 

 injustice and inequality of existing tariffs, and again 

 build up the commerce of the United States ; that it 

 will maintain, absolutely, the supremacy of the civil 

 over the military power, and that it will check the 

 progress of centralization ? and keep the Executive and 

 Congress within the limit of the powers confided to 

 them by the Federal Constitution. We, therefore, 

 commend the candidates whom it will nominate to the 

 approval of the good people of this State. 



6. This Convention, confiding in the goodjudgment 

 of the delegates from the State of Maryland to the 

 Democratic National Convention, gives them no in- 

 structions. It declares, however, its sense of the dis- 

 tinguished ability and services of Thomas Francis 

 Bayard, of Delaware. His unblemished public and 

 private character command the confidence and respect 

 of the people of the United States. 



There was no State election this year. The 

 vote for Presidential electors was in the aggre- 

 gate 172,221, of which 93,706 was for the Dem- 

 ocratic, and 78,515 for the Republican candi- 

 dates. The majority in favor of Hancock for 

 President was therefore 15,191. 



The tobacco merchants and exporters have 

 united in requesting a more thorough inspec- 

 tion of repacked tobacco, and in petitioning the 

 Legislature for a board of arbitration between 

 buyers and sellers. 



The population of the State of Maryland, as 

 shown by the first official report of the United 

 States Census Bureau for 1880, is 934,627, of 

 which 462,003 is male and 472,624 female; 

 851,980 native, and 82,647 foreign; 724,714 

 white, and 209,913 colored. The following 

 tables present the statistics by counties : 



