|
|
|
reverend gentlemen. He was in favor of confining this
class strictly to the line of their duty and profession.
Mr. Pleasants thought the section went too far, and
would propose, as a substitute, a section taken from the
constitution of 1851, which would exclude the most un-
worthy of that class, the only ones who would desire to
enter.
Mr. Barry said that a sentence had fallen from the lips
of his friend from Baltimore (Mr. Brown) that the worst
demagogues of the country were among the lawyers. He
denied this. He asked what lawyer had stood up in the
pursuit of his profession, in any court of judicature, had
called on his friends to subscribe money to buy Sharp's
rifles, who had assailed and struck down the constitution
of their country, who had fostered dissensions and dif-
ferences between the two sections of the country? The
very chaplains in Congress, instead of lifting their voices
for peace, cried out daily for blood and vengeance against
their fellow-countrymen.
Mr. Mitchell could not see that a solitary word was
wrong in this section, and was therefore opposed to strik-
ing out any of it. There had scarcely been a Congress of
the United States that ministers from New England have
not been the most active disturbers of that peace which
they profess to preach.
Mr. Hayden replied to the arguments of Mr. Brown.
Mr. Kennedy said the object of the committee in re-
porting this section was to exclude a class of people, the
mischievous effects of whose admission to legislative po-
sitions had been seen in the New England States. This
had also been the settled policy of the State for nearly a
century, and they saw no reason for opening the door to
a class who would produce nothing but strife or turmoil.
Messrs. Jameson and Stoddert argued in favor of the
section as reported.
Mr. Stoddert referred to the conference at Staunton,
Virginia, in 1860, and said that he understood that Judge
Bond was the author of the protest threatening to secede
from the Methodist Church North on account of its on-
slaught on slavery.
260
|
|
|
|
 |
