crime compared with which the men in your
penitentiary are innocent and angels of light.
They have not been convicted; yet the fact is
as well known as if you had had the verdict
of a thousand juries; and being known shall
there be no punishment?
I am not willing, I do not believe the people
of Maryland are willing that these men should
come back here and exercise the rights of cit-
izens, It is unjust and wrong. It is an act
of justice, and not of prejudice, to exclude
them from the right of voting.
Mr. STIRLING. My colleague has so well ex-
plained this matter that it is not necessary for
me to do so. But so far as regards striking
out the part about the President's amnesty
proclamation, I have simply to say this: that
the President's amnesty proclamation is appli-
cable to an entirely different subject-matter
from what this is. He has endeavored to re-
claim men in actual service in the rebel army
by telling them that he will grant them a par-
don from any prosecution for what they have
done. I do not dispute the right or policy of
doing that; but that does not affect the ques-
tion how far it is proper for us and safe for us
to allow them to vote, it is well known that
one effect will be for men to get pardoned and
come back and remain merely as a precaution
of safety, without the slightest change in their
sentiments or feelings. Nothing in the world
can be more certain than that to allow such
men to come back here and exercise the right
of voting will keep up a continual disturbing
element in the community so long its they shall
live.
The only way to prevent civil war is to re-
quire those who engage in it to abide the re-
sults of their own conduct. I have put in a
provision that in case the general assembly
by a two-thirds vote shall indicate its judg-
ment of the propriety of doing so, they may
restore these people to the right of voting.—
It can never be dome as a partisan measure ;
but must be done by such a vote as to evince
a deliberate judgment upon the part of the peo-
ple of a State that the time has arrived when
it will he perfectly safe in view of the changed
circumstances of the State, to allow them lo
vole. If these people cannot be content to
await the action of the legislature of their own
State, they must lie so fair gone that they can
establish their right nowhere with any pros-
pect of success.
Mr. EDELEN. The gentleman from Baltimore
city, who immediately followed me
(Mr. Stockbridge.) said that my remarks had
surprised him. His remarks have more than
surprised me. I can only account for the
manner and substance those remarks by
referring it to the mood or the temper in
which the gentleman arose to address the
house. I have seen a good deal of that ge n-
tlemen since I hive been upon this floor, and
1 had given him credit for a great deal of
good sense, instead of answering the points |
that I had made or thought I had made, the
gentleman flew right off the handle, and in
the language of Shakspeare, "as quick as
meditation and thoughts of love," we find
him travelling to Chambersburg, Cumber-
land and Gettysburg, and following the con-
tending armies of the country. He did not
meet one single point, that I attempted to
make.
Now, I put this question to the gentleman
from Baltimore city. He rose to advocate
the amendment of his colleague (Mr. Stir-
ling.) That amendment stands, I appre-
hend, upon a little different ground, and is a
little different in its meaning from the sec-
tion, which it is proposed to amend. I ap-
prehend that a gentleman like my friend
from Baltimore city (Mr. Stirling,) introduc-
ing' a long amendment covering three or four
sheets of paper to amend a certain proposi-
tion contained in eight lines of this printed
paper, means something by it. I regret to
see at this stage of the proceedings an attempts
made to bring this matter to the con-
sideration of the house. I regret the ab-
sence of the chairman of the committee on
the elective fr anchise, my friend from How-
ard county (Mr. Sands,) who is not here to-
day. I apprehend the gentleman had some
reason in putting in this section, and I con-
clude that be has changed and stands here
in a different position from that in which he
stood yesterday in the discussion in this
hall.
But I propose to ask my other friend from
Baltimore city (Mr. Stockbridge,) who rose a
little while ago, did he propose that those
men who had taken up arms against the law-
ful authorities of the government of the
United States should be at once remitted to
their original rights and privileges as citizens
and as freemen? I was opposing the
amendment of the gentleman from Balti-
more city, and insisting before the house that
section two as it stands reported from the
committee by the chairman (Mr. Sands, ) and
by the gentleman from Cecil (Mr. Si oil,) the
:.gentleman from Harford (Mr. Russell, ) and
the gentleman from Carroll (Mr. Ecker,)
ought lo satisfy every gentleman upon this
floor, It( is in these words :
" Sec. 2. No person who has at any time
been in armed rebellion against the government
of the United State's or the lawful authorities
there, of, or who has been in any way-
or manner in the service of the so-called
'Confederate States of America," shall ever
thereafter be entitled to vote at any election
to be held in this State, or to hold any
office of honor, profit or trust under the
laws thereof, unless such person has been
pardoned by the President of the United
Sales, and has fully complied with the re-
quisitions of said pardon,"
Did anything I contended for, or one word
that I advanced upon this floor go to the ex- |
