Mr. BERRY, of Prince George's, submitted
the following as a modification of the order,
" Ordered, That a committee to consist of
nine members of the convention, beappointed
by the president to wait upon his excellency,
Governor Bradford, and respectfully request
him to ascertain from the proper authorities,
and report to this convention at his earliest
convenience, the number of recruits, both
white and black, that have been received
into the service of the United States from the
city of Baltimore and several counties in the
State respectively, since the beginning of this
war, also the number that have been credited
to the said city and counties respectively,
and if possible to have the enrolment so re-
vised and corrected, as to give the said city
and several counties a credit for all the re-
cruits famished by them as aforesaid, also
take such steps as may be necessary, to have
credited to said city and counties all persons
who may have been enlisted by military of-
ficers in the employ of the United States,
under the pretended authority of the govern-
ment, and transferred by them and credited
to any of the States of the Union."
Mr. BERRY, of Prince George's, said: The
object is first of all to furnish data to the
convention before they act upon the resolu-
tions offered by my colleague, as to how many
have been received into the service of the
United States in the various counties and
the city of Baltimore, and to see whether
they are correctly credited to the several
counties from which they came or have been
enlisted. The other inquiry is to ascertain
how many have been taken and enlisted in
the State of Maryland for other States in the
Union, and to try to have the draft credited,
or the enrolment list so revised and corrected
as only to require of Maryland her proper
quota. At the time the enrolment was made
in my county, there were at least 4,000 or
6,000 capable of bearing arms 'more than
there are at the present time. The quota to
be furnished by my county, and I take it
for granted that the same principle applies to
nearly all the other counties of the State, is
predicated upon the old draft of 1862. Since
that time more than one-half the able bodied
persons of our county—I speak particularly
of the colored persons of our county—have
been either taken away and enlisted by officers
of the United States service, or have gone
away, and their masters have not been able
to reclaim them. They therefore do not form
a part of our population. To do justice to
our county, or to any other county of the
State, the quota ought to be fixed upon the
present inhabitants capable of bearing arms.
It is with that view that I add that portion
of the order which differs from the order
which I submitted yesterday.
I have made the committee to consist of nine
members to be appointed by the chair, with
the view that we may to-morrow go and see |
the governor and converse with him freely ',
and I am sure he will give us all the infor-
mation now in his possession; and if neces'
sary he will go to Washington and claim the
right there to procure such information a»
may be necessary to place before the conven-
tion before it acts upon the resolution of my
colleague. This was admitted on all hands
yesterday to be necessary belore we could
act intelligently upon the subject. I cannot
imagine how any gentleman can eppose the
passage of this order, because it is a mere in-
quiry which I am sore the governor of the
State will be very happy to answer; and 1
am sure it will facilitate in every way the
proposed apportionment of the draft among
the several counties of the State and the
States. But it is no more than an inquiry
for information I am sure he will willingly
give us.
Mr. BELT. I wish to state in connection
with the proposition of my colleague, what
action hag been token by the authorities in
our section of the State in reference to the
draft. I will mention one instance, as an
illustration how the matter was arranged
with as. Aboat last November there came
into our county, whence I have not been able
to understand, or by whose authority, a de-
tachment of forty soldiers, under the com-
mand of an officer, to the county seat, Upper
Marlboro'. They located themselves in a
house that did not happen to be occupied,
where they remained until near the time for
the meeting of this convention. They suc-
ceeded by various inducements, in getting
away to Baltimore and other districts, almost
every able-bodied man. Great efforts were
made by our leading citizens, by approaching
the military authorities of Baltimore ana
Washington, to throw some light upon the
question by whose order these men came
there; but no military man was able to in-'
form us. They did not know they were
there, who sent them, or for what purpose.
They stayed, and succeeded in robbing
the whole county of its able-bodied labor.
W here did they go? It was not credited to
the county or the State. We were willing,
if we could get the credit of these two or
three thousand able-bodied men, after the
county was free, to let the rest go to the
credit of the whole State, to relieve the white
population. Not so, The truth finally leaked
out, not in the way of absolute, demonstrative,
legal proof, but with sufficient moral
evidence to satisfy us about the fact, that
these men were sent there by the colonels of
their regiments, and came there to recruit
negroes, and were paid for doing it, in order
to relieve certain parts of the States of New
York and New Jersey. And one of the moral
evidences of the fact, was that fifty and one
hundred dollar New Jersey bills were just as
common as leaves on the trees, in the hands
of these soldiers. That is one of the abuses |
