for this matter. I believe that was their
duty.
Mr. HENKLE. And because our county has
not sent emissaries down to buy up their
quota, instead of filling it up in a proper
manner, gentlemen are to vote against a reso-
lution which they must acknowledge is a
matter of justice, to give us simply a corrected
enrolment.
Mr. AUDOUN. Allusion has been made to
Baltimore city receiving more men than she
was justly entitled to. Baltimore city through
its mayor and city council, has offered large
bounties for the purpose of assisting the gov-
ernment. The difficulty I ascribe to the
counties Is just this, that there is no disposition
on the part of persons in the counties
to fulfil their responsibility, and to assist the
government. Hence, this difficulty that they
call upon us to relieve them from.
Mr. BERRY, of Prince George's. I will ask
the« gentleman whether every county of the
State did not pay ten cents on the one hun-
dred dollars, to pay the bounties appropriated
at the last session of the legislature? I know
that every man in my county did. We offered
no objection to paying it.
Mr. MAYHUGH. I am in favor of the reso-
lution as perfected by the adoption of the
amendment of the gentleman from Allegany
(Mr. Hebb.) I should have voted for the
amendment of the gentleman from Calvert
(Mr. Briscoe, ) but as he has denounced the
very authorities from which he seeks favor, I
must vote against it. I think it is proper
that Maryland men should take care of the
rights of Marylanders. If there is no power
in the State of Maryland to take care of our-
selves, then the whole resolution is out of
order. But I know in my experience in my
own county, that dead men have been drafted;
that men who went into the confederate
army have been drafted; that men who en-
listed for the sake of the bounties in other
States have been drafted. These things have
been enacted in 'our midst, and we have
been negligent about it. It has occurred a
thousand times in our county; and yet our
quota stands. But I have no objection to re-
ceive the information. It is but just and
right that we should receive it. I shall
therefore vote for the resolution as amended ;
but I must oppose the amendment of the gen-
tleman from Calvert.
Mr. BRISCOE. I enunciated my Opinions
about the mode in which the draft should be
made. I recognized the doctrine that it
should be left to the States themselves to pro-
vide the number of men required, upon a
requisition made upon the governor in the
constitutional mode. I say that the Presi-
dent of the United States should have made
a requisition upon the States for their quotas
and the quota would have been provided
from the States by the State authorities. If
that proceeding had been adopted, instead of |
the mode that has been adopted, I believe
that it would have more successfully operated
to bring forth the men of the country to
fight its battles,
As to the political question, I simply state
now that I do regard it as an unconstitutional
proceeding upon the part of the government
to call directly upon the people of the States
without the interposition of the State govern-
ments for the men to go into this war. That
is offered as an individual opinion. That is
my opinion of the constitutional powers of
the State and of the general government. As
to the actual mode in which this draft has
been made and carried practically out, I have
Simply to say that I believe the President of
the United States has already declared to the
governor of Maryland that these acts have
been done without, his authority. I know
very well that officers and men in the uniform
of the army of the United States come there,
with assumed authority from some quarter,
and perpetrated these outrages upon us. We
denounce them coming from any quarter.
It is a matter of great astonishment to me
that although a gentleman upon the other
side recognizes the wrong perpetrated, and
thinks there is injustice being done to some
portions of the State, and even to his own
section, he is unwilling, because I have under-
taken to express my opinion as to the consti-
tutional question, to vote for that which he
conceives to be right. If the gentleman is
prepared to take that position, he may have
the benefit of it. I know very well that the
practical operation of this thing, so far as it
affects my section of the State, has been an
unmitigated outrage upon it. I did not
charge the government of Maryland with it.
I did not denounce the governor of Maryland
for it. But I said that helpless and insignifi-
cant as we were in this conjuncture of circum-
stances, I did not see that any practical good
could result from the whole thing; but if any
good was to result I thought the amendment
I proposed was the most efficient mode of
reaching it.
I care very little whether this convention
adopts it or not. I care very little whether
they vote it down or not. I simply desire so
far as I am concerned, by my vote to do what
I can to protect our rights. I think we
should not undertake to ask through the State.
My mode of doing it, if I stood in the major-
ity here, would be to go and demand it, and
to tell them when they put their hands on us,
that they are violating their oath, that they
are perjurers. That ie my mode of doing it.
I would have no half way mode of doing it.
I would demand it as the representative of
the majority of the people of Maryland.
I simply propose that amendment because I
think it would be the most efficient mode of
reaching the object of the gentleman from
Prince George's (Mr. Berry. ) |
