of it would appear. I can state without fear
of contradiction that Prince George's county
has furnished for the service of the United
States, able-bodied men enough to fill the
quota of our congressional district under all
the drafts that have taken place. And why
is it that we are not credited with these men
who have been mustered into the service of
the United States? It is because there is no
person to take an interest in it with a view of
seeing where they have been received into the
service, and to what State, or to what dis-
trict of this State, they have been credited.
Now General Birney, in his camp on the
Patuxent had upwards of 10,000 able-bodied
negro men recruited for the service of the
United States. He was acting under the au-
thority of the government of the United States,
And I am not here to say that he was not au-
thorized, or that the government was not au-
thorized to take them for military purposes.
A large number of those negroes, or the ma-
jority of those negroes then mustered into the
service 'were from Charles, St. Mary's and
Prince George's counties, and many were ta-
ken from the eastern shore. But the major-
ity of the whole command were taken from
those three counties. And I understand that
the whole number credited to Prince George's
county although there were upwards of two
thousand taken from it, were seventeen. And
there were other cases cited by my colleague,
In November of last year, there was awhole
New York company came to our town and
took up their station there and remained un-
til April. They had wagons going constantly
from our town to Bladensburg, and they
were constantly taking off our servants. The
officer who was in command stated that he was
there recruiting under the authority of the Uni-
ted States. He got about one hundred and fifty
men in our neighborhood; all whom he could
induce to enlist, by any inducement he could
offer, he prevailed upon to enlist. We took
it for granted he was acting under the au-
thority of the United States government, and
no hindrance was offered by the people to his
recruiting. He went about the neighbor-
hood, saw the negroes, talked with them,
and offered them inducements to enlist, and
many of them did enlist. About the time he
left in April, not having up to that time fur-
nished certificates to parties whose servants he
had enlisted, he was called upon to give them
certificates. His excuse was that he had not
the necessary forms, but would procure them
and hand them over to the various owners.
He left there, and Major Lee, of my neighbor-
hood, three of whose servants had been en-
listed by him, went to Washington to see
about the certificates. He was there informed
by the proper authorities that this New York
officer had been there without the authority
of the government. These men were placed
to the credit of New York.
And I have heard of other instances where |
men were thus enlisted and placed to the credit
of Massachusetts and other northern States.
They come in our midst and take our ser-
vants, pretending they were acting under the
authority of the United States government,
and we take it for granted that those men will
be placed to the credit of Maryland. And
when it is too late for us to notify the gov-
ernment and have it stopped, we find that
they are credited to other States of the union.
Now, is it not right, is it not just, that an'
inquiry should be made into the matter? And
an inquiry made under a resolution passed
by this body would have a force greater than
any inquiry of any set of men from any one
of the counties of the State would have with
the authorities at Washington.
Our servants have not only been taken
away in this manner, but they have been draft-
ed in our county in the last two draft;. And
1 do not think that there are fifty able-bodied
men in our county now, either white or black,
who have not been drafted; and I suppose the
September draft will take the balance of them.
That state of facts exist; we have furnished
more able-bodied men for the service of the
United States than has been the quota of our
whole congressional district, bad they been
properly credited .to our county. Let gentle-
men reflect upon this, not come to a hasty
conclusion that this is an effort on the part
of the minority of this convention to accom-
plish some end that they do not understand
at this time; let them reflect upon this state
of facts. And then I ask them if there is not
a great deal of justice in appointing the com-
mittee contemplated by this resolution.
I would not advocate such a resolution in
this body, if I had not precedent for it in the
action of this body upon other subjects. But
we have precedent after precedent in resolu-
tions offered upon the other side through the
whole session of our body. And therefore
the majority will not oppose it on that ground.
If they want to accord justice to us, if they
are willing that we should have right accorded
to us, I think there is not a sensible man in
the convention who will hesitate to vote for
this resolution. There is nothing secret,
nothing bidden in it. It is a simple inquiry
with a view of arriving at some means by
which this wrong can be remedied, and justice
be done to every part' of the State.
1 find that in the draft that is to take place
in September our congressional district is put
down for upwards of three thousand, a larger
number than any other congressional district
in the State. And I will venture to assert that
our district now has a smaller population
than any other district in the State. I ask
gentleman in fairness to look at this question,
lo give us this inquiry, and let us have the
advantage of the inquiry emanating from this
body; because in doing that we may accom-
plish some good to the State much more read-
ily than if a number of gentlemen were to |
