had, at the former election, voted for Mr. Adams; and it was confidently believed that at the ensuing election two or three districts would vote in like manner. About the end of the session of the Legislature, the contest between Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson had become more animated; and it was understood by both parties that the election would be very close, and probably decided by two or three votes. In this state of affairs, the Legislature of Virginia passed a law requiring the Electors to be chosen by a general ticket; thus securing to Mr. Jefferson, past dispute, the entire vote of that State, and depriving Mr. Adams of the two or three votes upon which his friends had confidently counted. When this fact came to the knowledge of the Maryland Federalists, they determined, if possible, to counteract it, and, as Maryland was a federal State, to give to Mr. Adams the entire vote.

The Maryland Legislature had adjourned, and the district law could not be altered without calling an extra session of the Legislature. This would have subjected the State to an expense which could hardly be justified in a mere party question relating exclusively to the general Government. If it had been called, and a general ticket substituted for the district system, I do not know how it would have resulted. I think it would have been very doubtful; for, although a great majority of the counties were in favor of Mr. Adams, the vote of Baltimore City was very large, and

the numerical majority in favor of Mr. Jefferson a heavy one.

The leaders of the party, however, I believe, were very confident that they could carry the State by a general ticket. I was too young and too little accustomed to electioneering calculations and tactics to have any opinion about the matter; but, judging from subsequent counts, I think the leaders of the party in Maryland were always too sanguine, and that, in this instance, a general ticket would have gone against them. But, however that may be, a general ticket in the then state of public feeling was out of the question. The political power of the State was in the hands of the counties, and the population of the counties was agricultural. They were very jealous of the growing influence of Baltimore, and unwilling to give the commercial interest any increase of power, fearing it would be used in a manner that might prove injurious to the landed interest. And if a Legislature composed of a majority of Federalists, had passed a law by which the majority in the counties might be overwhelmed by a sweeping majority in town, they would have been inevitably ruined in the counties, and lost all influence in the State Government. We now elect our Governor by general ticket; but, at the time of which I am speaking, nothing could have induced the counties to consent to it.

Under these circumstances, the gentlemen who were

at the head of the Federal party determined to put it to the people, at the approaching election, to say whether the Legislature should not elect the Electors, so as to secure the entire vote for Mr. Adams, and in that manner counteract the movement in Virginia. In this way it was put to the people as organized in the State Government, and not to the numerical majority.

Who first suggested this plan, I do not know. It was brought before the public in a pamphlet signed "A Bystander," which was avowedly written by Robert Goodloe Harper. He had become a resident of Baltimore only a few months before, and hence the signature he adopted. Although he had but recently come among us, he was well known to the people of the State from the distinguished rank he had held in Congress as a Representative from South Carolina; and he was personally and intimately acquainted with most, if not all, of the Maryland statesmen who at that time took the lead in public affairs. I take for granted he consulted them, and received their approbation before he acted. I, of course, was too young, and had too little influence in the State, to make it necessary to send to Calvert to consult me. Indeed, I was not personally acquainted with Mr. Harper at that time, and his pamphlet, which I received through the post-office, was the first intimation of the contemplated movement. It was sent to many gentlemen of

the county, and soon became a subject of conversation. The pamphlet was written with all the force and eloquence for which Mr. Harper was distinguished in public life and at the bar. It convinced me; and I at once openly took ground in favor of the measure. Some of the Federalists objected to it; and it was, of course, vehemently attacked by the friends of Mr. Jefferson. But the great body of Federalists throughout the State supported the proposed change, and adverse tickets were formed in Calvert and in every other county upon that issue. But the relative merits of Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson were also necessarily involved in the controversy, and votes for one ticket or the other were, in many instances, undoubtedly influenced by the voters' preferences for the Presidential candidate.

The ground constantly pressed in opposition to the plan was that it took away the rights of the people. And I am satisfied that some men, who wished for the election of Mr. Adams, voted against a legislative choice of Electors on that ground. For myself, I did not see the force of this objection. So far as the voter was concerned, his intention would be as fully carried out by Electors chosen by the Legislature as by an Elector voted for immediately. His vote for the Electors, or for members of the Legislature, designated the person whom he wished to be President; and his share of the sovereign power was equally

exercised, whether he accomplished his object by voting immediately for the President preferred, or appointing an agent or several agents to execute his wishes.

I was the only speaker on the Federal ticket, and supported and defended the legislative choice of Electors upon these grounds and those herein-before stated. During the canvass, I addressed three or four meetings of the people, and we went into the election very confident of success. To our surprise, we were beaten. It was a close vote, so close that we elected one of our candidates. But I was among the defeated; and when the news came in from the other counties, we found that many of them, upon which we confidently counted, had gone against us, and that the Federalists, who were two to one in the House of Delegates of 1799, were in a minority in that of 1800. The majority against us was a large one, and the power of the State passed from the hands of the Federalists, and was in the hands of the Republican party.

The unpopularity of Mr. Adams no doubt contributed greatly to this result. The Federalists of Maryland had lost confidence in him. The letter of General Hamilton, which was published on the eve of our election, increased their dissatisfaction with Mr. Adams, and he was supported from necessity, in order to prevent the general Government from falling into the hands of the opposing party. Indeed, I