it make his judge? It simply demands of a
man loyalty to the land of his birth, and it
makes him the judge of his own loyalty, and
there comes in that infallible rule of scrip-
ture: if our own hearts acquit us, we shall be
acquitted; but if our own consciences con-
demn us, God, who is greater than our con-
sciences, will condemn us also. And I say that
under this proposed oath any man whose con-
science is deal of disloyalty to his govern-
ment and to his country, every man whose
conscience is clear, can come with a clear face
and bold front to the ballot-box and deposit
his ballot there.
An oath is a solemn thing. It calls God to
witness the act. And it is solemn only because
it does call God to witness the net. And when
the act is a true one, where is the hardship of
requiring it? Why should a man hesitate to
do it, if God bears witness with his conscience
that his oath is true, and not false ?
And what is this provision meant to meet?
I am speaking now of the general spirit of the
report of the committee; for I leave my friend
from Baltimore city (Mr. Stirling) to advo-
cate his own peculiar amendment, embodying
his own peculiar views. I ask then, what is
the end and object of requiring the citizen of
the State to take an oath of loyalty to the
State, and to the United States? Is it to pro-
mote strife? Is it to stir up war? Is it to
bring desolation upon the land, or to widen
it, being here? Not one whit. It is to
keep strife and war and desolation out of the
.State, God willing, and to keep peace in it.
That is the object. Is it not a good one ?
There are evidences all around us every-
where of the terrible curse of war, of dis-
loyalty, of secession, or, if you please to give
it another name, of rebellion. I know that
at this day there is a movement on foot in the
land, and you know it, and every one else
knows it, which professes to be in the inter-
est of peace. How? "Peace on any terms"
is to be the watch-word. Only think of it,
Conditional loyalty ! Did you ever hear of a
man that was conditionally honest) or of a
woman that was conditionally chaste? I
would not give much for that honesty, and
that chastity, which was conditional. And I
would give just as much for that loyalty that
was conditional. When honor ceases to be
unconditional, when chastity ceases to be un-
conditional, above suspicion, when loyalty
ceases to be unconditional, above suspicion,
loyalty to your government and your constitution,
no matter who at the time may be administering
that government, then that loy-
alty, and honor, and chastity and everything
else are of but little worth, are of but little
value.
There is a .great deal of significance in the
present movement. A clique of interested self-
ish men, of whom I heard a senator last win-
ter, one of their own number, say that their
crime was unpardonable. set aboat disrupting |
the country, disintegrating it; crying on all oc-
casions, as Mr. Clay said they would, "the Con-
stitution ! " " the Constitution!" when all that
they meant was their own construction of the
constitution. They tried to divide the coun-
try. The masses of the people of the country
arose and said—"You shall not do it. " And
the people, inspired with patriotism and love
of country, have been fighting them for near-
ly four years, to prevent the destruction of
this country. Those men have tried to ac-
complish its destruction by arms; they have
failed. And now it is to be done by policy.
And bow? By false appeals to the people;
by setting up specious party platforms; by
telling the people they are for peace, and not
telling them how. And if the people are so
unfortunate as to trust them now, as in 1852,
they will soon let the people understand upon
what terms they are for peace; they will again
betray the people as they did then.
Now I say, come these efforts in what shape
they please, in bullets or ballots, in lead or
paper, I am opposed to them. And ballots
may be made as dangerous as bullets. They
began with ballots, or pretended ballots, and
where have they ended? In six hundred
pounders. And are we to go on, in this State
of Maryland, allowing those who, by their
preaching and teaching, have sent away hun-
dreds and thousands of our youths to die
upon battle-fields, or to languish in filthy,
noisome prisons; are we to allow them to
carry on their old game of betraying, deceiv-
ing, misleading and ruining the people?
There is a great deal of sympathy for gentle-
men, who are in casemates at Fort Lafay-
ette, Fort Delaware and elsewhere. Why,
sir, they are not the tithe of the prisoners
caused by this war; they are not a hundredth
part. Your poor bearless boys, your uned-
ucated masses, innocent of any wrong act, or
word, or deed toward your country, they have
languished and died in prison by the thou-
sand. I saw some men who had come out
of Fort Lafayette and Fort Delaware; and
they walked the streets of Baltimore just as
strong and hearty as I was, and rather above
speaking to common people. And I have
seen others by the score who came out of Libby
and Other prisons, hobbling along upon
crutches, emaciated, and the least human in
appearance that I ever saw in my life. 1
have seen them from those dungeons perishing
of starvation. But there is not a word of
sympathy for them; they are only a part of
the masses. There is plenty of sympathy for
the leaders, plenty of sympathy for those who
went about talking of the right of secession
and the necessity of revolution; when no such
right and no such necessity existed. There
are plenty of them in the State of Maryland
to-day, hale, hearty men. Go out to your
grave yard here. I never pass it without
feelings that I cannot express. There they lie
in their lone prison house, hundreds and |
