allegiance, submission and obedience to the
United States," and that "to banish beyond
the lines of the army, or imprison during the
war," persons who shall not have been duly
tried and convicted of some offence, to which
such punishment is affixed by law-, and to
carry into effect the said order, would be
a palpable and despotic usurpation of power,
would endanger the security of the life, lib-
erty and property of our citizens to the cer-
tain injury of every material interest of the
State thus threatened with all the horrors of
anarchy,
In behalf of the people we represent, and
of all the peace-loving and law-abiding peo-
ple of Maryland, and in behalf of all the
fundamental principles of civil liberty and
constitutional government, we enter this, our
formal protest against the said action of the
said delegates to this convention.
E. F. CHAMBERS, FENDALL MABBURY,
SPRIGG HARWOOD, THOMAS J. DAIL,
THOMAS LANSDALE, WM. B. BOND,
D. C. BLACKISTON, JOHN C. HORSEY,
JOHN LEE, ISAAC D. JONES,
JOHN BROWN, DANIEL CLARKE,
GEORGE S. HOLLYDAY, E. J. HENKLE,
GEORGE PETER, C. S. PARRAN,
E. P. DUVALL, ALWARD JOHNSON,
OLIVER MILLER, WASH. A, SMITH,
R. H. EDELEN, JAMES U. DENNIS,
JOHH W. MITCHELL, A. J. CRAWFORD,
P. DAVIS, THOMAS J.HODSON,
EDWARD W. BELT, PERE WILMER,
S. H. BERRY, GEO. W. MORGAN,
JAMKS T. BRISCOE, JOHN F. DENT,
JOHN TURNER, CHAP. BILLINGSLEY,
W. H. GALE.
Mr. CHAMBERS, after reading the foregoing,
said:
I have nothing more to say, except to move
that it be ordered that this protest be entered
upon the journal.
Mr, SCHLEY. This paper is discourteous to
this body. I therefore move to lay it upon
the table, and be entered neither upon the
journal, nor upon the debates.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Is that motion cognate to
the one I have submitted? Must there not
be a motion to amend, or to substitute, to
supersede the vote upon the order I have sub-
mitted? I hope the house will vote upon the
motion I have submitted.
Mr. CLARKE. I would raise this point,
that the motion to lay upon the table of itself
presupposes that the matter to be- laid upon
the table has been received by the convention.
Now is it competent for this house to receive
this protest and make any disposition of it,
without permitting it to go upon the journal ?
The PRESIDENT. Being a part of the pro-
ceedings of the house, it would go upon the
journal, as a matter of course, unless the
house otherwise directs. In the present case
the gentleman from Kent (Mr. Chambers) |
presents a protest. The presentation and re-
ception of that protest would carry it upon
the journal, unless some other direction is
made by the house. The gentleman from
Frederick (Mr, Schley) moves to lay the pro-
test upon the table. That being a privileged
motion, the question will be first taken
upon it,
Mr. PUGH. The motion of the gentleman
from Kent, being in the nature of a request
of the convention that this paper be entered
upon the journal, if that motion belaid upon
the table, is that not a practical denial of
the request ?
Mr, STIRLING. As I understand the propo-
sition of the gentleman from Kent, it was
simply submitting to the convention the ques-
tion whether they would permit a certain
protest to go upon their journal. And the
question now is—shall this protest be entered
upon the journal?
Mr. CHAMBERS, The gentleman is under a
misapprehension. The chair announced that
orders and resolutions were in order. I then
distinctly moved that it be ordered that this
paper be put upon the journal. I have no
objection to having that order laid upon the
table, for that of coarse accomplishes the
only purpose I have in view.
The PRESIDENT. The chair so understood
the gentleman.
Mr. SCHLEY. If that is the attitude of the
subject before the house, then I will with-
draw my motion to lay upon the table, with
the understanding that the question is wheth-
er it shall be entered upon the journal or
not.
The PRESIDENT. This is in the character
of a privileged communication. Any mem-
ber has an unquestioned right to have his
views entered upon the journal, unless the
house shall consider that what is contained
in the paper is improper to go upon the jour-
nal. That is a matter for the house to de-
termine. Of course the motion of the gen-
tleman from Kent, that this paper be entered
upon the Journal will bring up the question
directly before the house.
Mr. SCHLEY. I will then withdraw my
motion to lay on the table.
The PRESIDENT, I presume the gentlemen
in the opposition desire simply to place their
views upon the journal ?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is all.
Mr. DANIEL. Would not those views go
upon the journal as a matter of course, and
would it not be necessary by a direct vote to
exclude it from the journal, if it is desired to
keep it from the journal ?
Mr. RIDGELY. I look upon this question
precisely in the respect in which the chair
has stated it to the house. It is in its nature
a question of privilege which attaches to
every member of a deliberative body. Each
member has a right to ask that his views may
be put upon the journal. |
