men in the State, especially among those who
own slaves, and I have not one word for them
except a brother's word of hearty greeting.
I want gentlemen to understand that when I
say rebels I mean rebels; and they need not
get up in this hall to defend themselves.
There are men whom I denounce, and whom
I have a right to denounce, as guilty of the
worst of crimes. I want gentlemen hereafter
to understand that when I speak of rebels I
mean those who are rebels, and have no per-
sonal allusions to which they may feel called
upon to resent.
Now, in regard to the arguments urged here
against this reconsideration. My friend from
Somerset (Mr. Jones) has insinuated that it
was the bad faith upon the part of the gov-
ernment that has put its currency where it is,
at 2 50 in the money market.
Mr. JONES, of Somerset. That was not my
statement. I said that our action here of bad
faith in preserving theguarantees of the con-
stitution upon this subject was calculated to
impair the public faith in the government. 1
did not say that the effect of it had been to
depreciate the currency. There have been
other causes for that.
Mr. SA.NDS. I understood the gentleman to
argue that the failure of the government to car-
ry out the fugitive slave law, and other things,
was the cause why a dollar in gold was worth
two and a half dollars in greenbacks. Now,
if bad faith on this side of the government has
depreciated our currency to this extent, what
under heaven must have been the character
of that faith upon the other side of the Poto-
mac which has carried it down to twenty and
thirty for one? It is not that which affects
the currency of the government; or of course
down below there their paper would demand
a premium in gold. For are they not the
pink of all that is honorable? Do not they
live up to all their constitutional obligations
down there? Has not every body got his
rights down there? Is any body banned or
molested down there? Of course not I And
the legitimate conclusion is and must be that
down there, their paper currency is at a pre-
mium, because it rests upon the faith of
plighted obligations, which are immortal,
unchangeable, eternal, never to be broken.
Now one word more in reply to the gentle-
man from Charles (Mr. Edelen.) He wants
me to vote for this proposition, of the gentle-
man from Baltimore city (Mr. Stockbridge,)
or to declare, if I do not do so, that he (Mr.
Stockbridge) and those who voted with him
are dishonorable men. Certainly not. Is it a
rule that because gentlemen differ in their
views and their ideas of duty, of course the one
side or the other must be dishonorable? That
is the first time I ever heard such a doctrine
announced. We all have our own ideas of
our duty, and all that any man can do in this
world, however conscientious and good a
promise-keeper he may be, is to live up to his |
idea of duty. Now I doubt not the gentle-
man from Baltimore city (Mr, Stockbridge)
has lived up to his idea of duty; and I do not
say be is dishonorable, or dishonest, or that
he has done anything that a gentleman should
not do. I know him to be a man of the purest
honor and integrity. But it does not follow
that because he and I separate upon a propo-
sition before this body, either he or I are do-
ing a dishonorable thing.
There are other reasons why I oppose the
proposition embodied in this section. It does
discriminate, and discriminates in favor of a
class of persons who, in my humble opinion,
have the least claim to discrimination. I
voted yesterday for the proposition embodied
in the preceding section; that the legislature
should have power to pass all laws necessary
for the distribution of any grant in land,
money, or securities that the government of
the United States might tender the citizens
of Maryland, to-be distributed according to
the terms of the grant. There was my vote
declaring simply—and it received the unani-
mous vote of this convention with a single
exception—that I would be glad, if the gene-
ral government felt itself in the condition, if
it had the right and power to do it, to have
it done. Most of my friends and relatives are
people who are interested and have been in
that species of property. I have many warm
personal friends who are interested in the in-
stitution, Would I stand in the way of re-
pairing any fortune of their's that had been
impaired, if a party having the power to do so
was willing to do so? Certainly not; most as-
suredly not.
But I know that in my part of the State, as
a class, those who are interested in this species
of property, are not persons who, by their
conduct, and their votes, and their voice,
have been supporting and sustaining the
government. In the congressional election
which resulted in elevating Mr. Calvert to the
Congress of the United States, in the evening
when the polls were closed, and when I knew
there was a large majority of ballots deposited
for Mr. Calvert, as I was passing away from
the court-house I saw one of our good, earn-
est Union men sitting upon the steps of the
court-house. I said to him: "Well, Sam,
what is the matter? It is all right; Calvert
has a tremendous vote.' ' Sam studied awhile,
and then said: "I have no doubt about that,
but it is not all right." Now Sam is as good
a man as lives in Maryland to-day, though
not a very elegant or highly-polished gentle-
man. I asked him why it was not all right?
Said he: "I have voted here for years and
years; and this is the first time I have ever
seen the line drawn between slaveholders and
non-slaveholders." There were but two per-
sons in the first-named class in the whole dis-
trict that came up that day and voted what
we called the Union ticket.
Mr. BERRY, of Prince George's. Was not |
