will faithfully execute the office of President
of the United States, and will to the best of
my ability preserve, protect and defend the
constitution of the United States."
He is not only to protect and preserve,
bat to defend it. Will any gentleman say
that there is no necessity for delending the
constitution? Has not the very life-blood
of the constitution and of the government
formed under that constitution been stricken
at by the vile traitors who have gone off
and plotted treason while getting their pay
as members of the government, sitting under
their oaths to maintain and defend the con-
stitution? Yet when the President of the
United States attempts to preserve and de-
fend that constitution, for the good of the
whole country, these gentlemen become great
sticklers for technology, and want the Presi-
dent to obey the rules of construction laid
down by the supreme court, according to
their own private views of what is the con-
stitution and what are the laws made in pur-
suance of that constitution. That is what
the gentlemen are sticklers for.
One gentleman did, in his speech upon this
question of allegiance, entirely ignore the
supreme court, and said it was an usurpation
whenever it proposed to set aside the State
rights they were contending for. I say that
the President to-day is to defend the govern-
ment from the traitors who have broken every
provision of the constitution and gone off.
He is in the position of the man on the high-
way when the robber assails him with his
dagger; but you say he shall not take the
means of self-defence and kill that man, or
you will have him indicted for slaying the
robber, although his own life is at stake.
No, sir; he is to defend it. As President of
the United States he is commander-in-chief
of the army and navy of the United States
and of the militia of the several States when
called into the actual service of the United
States. Has the President no discretion as
to the means which he shall adopt in defend-
ing this constitution ?
I say that every power that the President
has exercised has been guaranteed to him,
either in the direct or the implied construction
of the constitution. There is a sentence here
which says that the powers not specially grant-
ed which are necessary to carry the constitu-
tion into full force and effect are implied. Yet
we have beard a great deal about the habeas
corpus; when the President has the authority,
and we find it written in the constitution
that in case of invasion or insurrection, or
the public safety may require it, the privilege
of the writ of habeas corpus shall be
suspended. I say that this provision gives
the President the discretion, and I say he
has only acted in a wise discretion which the
people of this land have justified, and will
justify, I believe, by placing him in the chair |
again by a triumphant majority. He has
not violated this provision,
But suppose he bad violated it. Are there
no ways of getting at the President? Has
not the supreme court the authority and the
power to decide in such cases? But gentle-
men do not want to take that tedious pro-
cess. They do not want to leave it to the
supreme court to decide whether any act of
the President is in pursuance of the constitu-
tion or of laws made in pursuance thereof;
but they assume to set up their own private
judgments and to judge for themselves
whether it is in pursuance or not. And be-
cause we want to make them say that they
will sustain the government until the su-
preme court shall decide that these laws
which are presumed lo be in accordance with
it are not in accordance with it; that is the
point where they flinch. That is where the
shoe pinches.
It is the government—that is the word
these gentlemen object to. They will have
as many oaths put to the voters and office-
holders as you please, provided yon say
merely, defend the constitution of Maryland,
and the constitution of the United States, and
the laws made in pursuance thereof. They
are willing to do that, because it allows their
private judgment as to what laws are made
•in pursuance thereof. But as soon as yon
add the government, and embody not only
the laws as made, but the law-executing
power, the law-judging power whose deci-
sions they must abide by, gentlemen are not
willing to agree to it.
They point out to us Abraham Lincoln as
the government of the United States, because
as President of the United States be is exe-
cuting the laws. We have heard it again and
again from every side of the house, from the
gentlemen of the minority, that it is a usur-
pation, that he has violated every law of right
and every provision of the bill of rights of
the constitution. These are mere declara-
tions without any proof. Why not go into
the courts of the land and try the question
Whether he has violated these rights or not ?
These are mere allegations upon the part of
gentlemen; and they content themselves with
allegations.
The gentleman from Kent (Mr. Chambers)
says the reason for all that is that we do
not want these men to hold office. .So
far as that goes, he has hit my opinion ex-
actly. I do not want any man to hold an
office in the State of Maryland who is not
loyal to the government of the United States,
who is not willing to swear that he will sup-
port and defend the government of the United
States to the very extent of his ability, I do
not want any man to vote under this con-
stitution, or to hold office, who indulges in
his heart a secret preference for Jeff. Davis
and his government, and who, as soon as he
had the power, would aid by all means in his |
