requires that the sternest justice should at
once be meted out to those who persistently
refuse to obey the laws, and the active
and dangerous class be separated from
the pea cable and loyal, by the exer-
cise of the undoubted power of the govern-
ment to arrest and detain dangerous persons
during times of war;
"Therefore resolved, That this convention,
on the part of the loyal people of Maryland,
demands of the Government of the United
States that all adult citizens of this State, who
shall refuse lo register on oath their allegiance,
submission and obedience to the United States,
and thus persist in the position of public ene-
mies, and all persona who shall be proved to
have taken part with or openly expressed
their sympathy with the recent invasion of
the State, shall be banished beyond the lines
of the army, or imprisoned during the war..
"Resolved, That the president of this con-
vention transmit certified copies of this pre-
amble and resolutions to the President of the
United States and to the commanders of the
military departments in which Maryland is
embraced."
We protest against, the pretension of the
said delegates, that in this matter they had
any authority to represent the people of Ma-
ryland, or liny part of them. The delegates
to this convention were elected under a law
of the State, to form a new constitution of
civil government to be submitted to the peo-
ple, and not to invite the inauguration of an
unlimited military despotism in the State.
The convention had already maturely con-
sidered and adopted a declaration of rights,
setting forth the fundamental principles of
civil liberty, and of republican government,
among which are the following, viz :
"We, the people of the State of Maryland,
grateful to Almighty God for our civil and
religious liberty, and taking into our serious
consideration the best means of establishing
a good constitution in this State for the sure
foundation and more permanent security
thereof, declare:
"That the people of this State ought to
have the sole and exclusive right of regula-
ting the internal government and police
thereof.
"That the inhabitants of Maryland are en-
titled to the common law of England, and
the trial by jury according to the course of
that law.
"The doctrine of non-resistance against ar-
bitrary power and oppression is absurd, slav-
ish and destructive of the good and happiness
of mankind.
"That the legislative, executive and judi-
cial powers of government ought to be forev-
er separate and distinct from each other, and
no person exercising the functions of one of
said departments shall assame or discharge
the duties of any other,
"That no power of suspending laws or |
the execution of laws, unless by, or de-
rived from, the legislature, ought to be exer-
cised or allowed.
"That no aid, charge, tax, burden or fees
ought to be rated or levied, under any pre-
tence, without the consent of the legislature.
" That no man ought to be taken and im-
prisoned, or disseized of his freehold, liberties
or privileges, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any
manner destroyed, or deprived of his life, lib-
erty or property, hut by the judgment of his
peers, or by the law of the land.
"That no person except regular soldiers,
mariners and marines, in the service of this
State, or militia when in actual service
ought in any case to be subject to, or punish-
able by martial law.
"That in all cases, and all times, the
military ought to be under strict subordina-
tion to, and control of, the civil power,"
We protest that the said order and resolu-
tions are in direct conflict with every article
of the declaration of rights above quoted.
The "losses and spoliations" referred to,
whatever they may have been, were occasioned
by the acts of the public enemy of the United
States, with whom the United States are at
open war, and against which it was the duty
of the Federal and State Governments to have
protected all their citizens. There is certain-
ly nothing in the constitution and laws of the
United States which fan authorize the Presi-
dent, and still less his military subordinates,
to-make such assessment as is requested by the
said order. On the contrary, the exercise of
any such power would be an unprecedented
and unparalleled outrage upon every princi-
ple of justice, and .every maxim of civil liberty
and constitutional government.
Since the war began the Congress of the
United States and the general assembly of
Maryland have been composed of an over-
whelming majority of so-called Union men;
have held repeated sessions, and passed laws
to punish every offence, which it was suppo-
sed possible to be committed by those who
are amenable to their respective criminal juris-
dictions. In those' criminal laws is to be
found full authority to punish "with due
process of law," every violation of those laws,
and surely, with the unlimited power now
exercised by the President in the employment
of provost marshals, spies and detectives,
there ought to be no lack of evidence, if the
facts exist, to convict "those who persistent-
ly refuse to obey the laws." The constitution
which the President is solemnly bound "to
preserve, protect and defend," declares that
ill all criminal prosecutions the accused shall
enjoy the right t'i a epcedy and public trial by
an impartial jury of the State and district
wherein the crime shall have been commit-
ted, &c."
We protest that the constitution and laws
have not required private and peaceful citi-
zens of this State "to register on oath their |
