many who are members of the Society of Friends
who do fight, who are not opposed to fight-
ing, I do not wish to deprive the militia of
the advantage of the services of those who are
willing to fight. Bat I think we should re-
lieve those who are conscientiously opposed to
bearing arms. I shall with great pleasure
give my vote for this amendment to the sec-
tion, and I hope the convention will view it
in the same light.
Mr. AUDOUN. I have but one question to
ask; and that is, while this country is shak-
ing to its very foundation, will these gentle-
men come into this convention and ask to be
excused from assisting that government which
has given them protection from their infancy
up to the present day? That is the only ques-
tion I have to ask them.
Mr. STIRLING. I merely wish to cite the
law. The last act of assembly, certainly
without intending to do so, departed from
the language of the code, which is simply in
these words:
'' Except ministers of the gospel, &c., and
all persons conscientiously scrupulous of bear-
ing arms, who shall produce to the captain or
commanding officer proof of being so consci-
entious."
That has been the law ever since the origi-
nal militia law passed; certainly thirty or
forty years.
Mr. SANDS. My very excellent friend from
Carroll (Mr. Ecker) and some other gentlemen
seem to have misunderstood my remarks so
far as to construe them into an unwillingness
to exempt the Friends. I expressly declared
that I was in favor of their exemption from
military duty. All I desired was that the
phraseology of this amendment might be such
as would prevent other classes from taking
advantage of it. Therefore I shall give my
vote for the amendment as amended on the
motion of my friend from Baltimore city (Mr.
Stirling,) by striking out the disjunctive "or"
and inserting "and," I shall vote for it with
the greatest pleasure.
Mr. PUGH. I wish to answer the gentleman
from Baltimore city (Mr. Audoun) as to their
coming into this, convention and asking to be
exempt. It Is only that certain members of
this convention desire to keep the record now
as it always has been. I wish to call the atten-
tion of the convention to the fact that it does
not make a particle of difference what we do ;
for this class of people have suffered all their
lives, and will continue lo do so rather than
violate their principles. We shall only be
putting ourselves in the anomalous position of
endeavoring to enforce a law which has never
been enforced. Whenever their conscientious
convictions come in the way, they simply die
That is their whole history. They simply
die; and have always done so. That is their
whole history.
Mr. GALLOWAY. I would say to those who |
seem disposed to oppose this amendment, and
who seem to think that no other men are re-
quired for this war than those who are to bear
arms, that there are almost as many men re-
quired to aid in putting down this rebellion,
or in relieving the suffering occasioned by it,
without bearing arms, as are required for
bearing arms. I will state one fact, which 1
hope may assist in passing the amendment of-
fered by my colleague (Mr, Russell ;) that af-
ter every hard fought battle within reach of
my neighborhood, the Friends in that county
have been the first who have gone to aid suf-
fering humanity. After the battle of Gettys-
burg, where there was so much suffering, not
only of our own forces but of those of our en-
emies, the Friends of our neighborhood went
there as nurses, and provided everything cal-
culated to relieve their sufferings. They were
the first to start in the march to that place.—
They are conscientiously opposed to bearing
arms; but they are not conscientiously opposed
to relieving the wants of the suffering. 1
hope the convention will pass the amendment
of my colleague; and I assure the convention
that it will give votes to the constitution in
•my county.
The amendment was adopted.
Mr. TODD moved that the convention do now
adjourn.
Mr. WOODEN demanded the yeas and nays,
and they were ordered.
The question being taken, the result was—
yeas 15, nays 34—as follows :
Yeas—Messrs. Audoun, Carter, Cunning-
ham, Davis, of Washington, Dellinger, Holly-
day, King, Negley. Nyman, Parker, Sands,
Scott, Smith, of Worcester, Sneary, Todd
—15.
Nays—Messrs. Goldsborough, President;
Abbott, Annan, Baker, Cushing, Daniel, Earle,
Ecker, 'Farrow, Galloway, Greene, Hatch,
Hebb, Hoffman, Hopkins, Hopper, Keefer,
Kennard, Larsh, McComas, Mullikin, Murray,
Pugh, Purnell, Russell, Schley, Stirling, Stock-
bridge, Swope, Sykes, Thomas, Valliant, Wick-
ard, Wooden—34.
When his name was called,
Mr. TODD said: I wish to say that I did not
expect to come here to-night, as I was suffering
from indisposition; but I came in order that the
convention might not be retarded in its work
from the want of a quorum, on account of my
absence, when my presence would constitute
a bare quorum. I am now suffering and oth-
ers are suffering. I hope the convention will
adjourn. If not, there are some of us who will
be obliged to leave.
The convention accordingly refused to ad-
journ
No quorum having voted,
Mr. SCHLEY moved acall of the house.
The motion was not sustained,
On motion of Mr. STIRLING,
The convention adjourned. |
