illegal votes to be given, (and if a governor,
senator, member of the house of delegates or
judge,) that I will not directly or indirectly
receive the profits or any part of the profits
of any other office during the time of my
acting as —, and that I owe paramount
allegiance to the constitution and govern-
ment of the United States, any law or or-
dinance of the general assembly or State
convention of Maryland to the contrary not-
withstanding; that I will defend the said
constitution and government of the United
States to the last extremity, against every
enemy, and that since the commencement of
the civil war and rebellion, I have never in
any manner either directly or indirectly by
word or deed given aid or encouragement to
those in rebellion against the United States,
that I have never sympathized with them, for
desired their success, but have uniformly
and at all times denounced them not only as
rebels against and traitors to their country,
but as enemies of the human race."
Mr, STIRLING had submitted the following
amendment to the amendment, which was
the pending question:
Strike out all after the word "that," in first
line of amendment, and insert :
"That I will. to the best of my skill and
judgment, diligently and faithfully, without
partiality or prejudice, execute the office of
— according to the constitution and
laws of this State, and that since ——
I have not in any manner violated the provi-
sions of the present, or of" the late constitu-
tion, in relation to the bribery of voters, or
preventing legal votes or procuring illegal
votes to be given (and if a governor, senator.
member or we house of delegates, or judge,)
that I will not directly or indirectly receive
the profits or any part of the profits of any
other office during the term of my acting as
—; I do further swear or affirm that
I will bear true allegiance to the State of
Maryland, and support the constitution and
laws thereof, and that I will bear true alle-
giance to the United States, and support, pro-
tect and defend the constitution, laws and
government thereof, as the supreme law of
the land, any law or ordinance of this or any
State to the contrary notwithstanding; that
I have never directly or indirectly by word,
act or deed given any aid, comfort or encour-
agement. to those in rebellion against the
United States or the lawful authorities there-
of, but that I have been truly and loyally on
the side of the United States against those in
armed rebellion against the United States;
and I do further swear or affirm that I will,
to the best of my abilities, protect and defend
the Union of the United States, and not allow
the same to be broken up and dissolved, or
the government thereof to be destroyed under
any circumstances, if in nay power to prevent
it, and that I will at all times discountenance
and oppose all political combinations having |
for their object such dissolution or destruc-
tion."
Mr. THURSTON. When the amendment of
the gentleman from Baltimore city was of-
fered, there seemed to be so many objections
made to it that I felt it my duty to examine
it particularly; the result of which convinced
me of its great fitness for the purpose for
which it is intended. If gentlemen will
examine it critically they will find that there
is nothing unusual in it when we consider the
circumstances in which we are now placed.
It is usual and customary to prescribe quali-
fications for persons holding office. What
are the qualifications prescribed by this sec-
tion, which are so objectionable? The first
part of the oath prescribes "that I will to the
best of my skill and judgment, diligently and
faithfully, without partiality or prejudice, exe-
cute the office of— ;" "that I have not in
any manner violated the provisions of the pres-
ent or of the late constitution in relation to bri-
bery of voters," &c; which are the customary
provisions. If will be necessary also to adopt
the following clause, that "1 will not direct-
ly or indirectly receive the profits, or any
part of the profits of any other office during
the time of my acting as—." To that
part of the oath I think there can be no ob-
jection.
Then we come down to the portion at
which gentlemen seem to take great umbrage :
" I do further swear or affirm that I will
bear true allegiance to the State of Maryland,
and support the constitution and laws there-
of, and that I will bear true allegiance to
the United States, and support, protect and
defend the constitution, laws and government
thereof, as the supreme law of the land, any
law or ordinance of this or any State to the
contrary notwithstanding,"
Certainly this part of the oath is entirely
consistent with the views held by the major-
ity of this house with regard to paramount
allegiance. Gentlemen. who look to States'
rights of course will not agree with that
point; but the States' rights doctrine is in-
consistent with our government, and it seems
to me to be the most preposterous thing in
the world. It is destructive, and no govern-
ment in the world can ever maintain a firm
position with the doctrine of States' rights in
it. In the argument we have bad here on
both sides of the house, gentlemen have been
unable to agree. But we start from dif-
ferent stand points. Some look at this from
the States' rights view of the question and
base their argument upon that, and look to
that always as an end to be accomplished.—
Those upon our side of the house acknowl-
edge our paramount allegiance to the Union ;
it is that paramount allegiance which we hold
first and above all, and wish to secure. We
think in this way we secure the safety and
happiness of the people of our own State, and
secure the national government by holding it |
