human reason to escape the conclusion that
this report goes beyond them both.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. Will the gentleman ex-
plain to whom he refers, who bad not the
right to vote, and may vote now ?
Mr. MILLER. The soldiers in the field.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. How is that?
Mr. MILLER. I say that it is by another
section of this report. The gentleman from
Baltimore city (Mr. Stirling) tried by act of
assembly to provide for allowing soldiers to
vote; but by a very large majority in the
senate, after a full discussion of the subject,
it was decided that under your preseat con-
stitution yon could not allow the vote of the
soldier to be taken outside of the State of
Maryland. They must come back: into the
State, into the county, and into the precinct
or election district, where they resided, before
they could vote. That was the decision of
the last legislature of the State It was at-
tempted to be incorporated into this very con-
vention bill, that the soldiers might vote ;
and it was voted down. I may be mistaken
in saying that it was attempted to be put
into this bill; but there was an act allowing
your soldiers to vote upon the question of
calling this convention or not, and the
legislature voted it down because they had
no constitutional power to pass it; and they
could not have incorporated it into this bill,
because it was the decision of the legisla-
ture at that time, clear and unquestioned
upon the law. The supreme court of Penn-
sylvania had decided the same thing in ref-
erence to the provisions of their constitu-
tion. The supreme court of Connecticut had
decided the same thing with reference to (heir
constitution, and in New York the same thing.
They had to amend their constitution before
they could allow the soldiers out of the State
to vote.
(The allotted time, twenty minutes, having
expired, the hammer fell.)
Mr. SANDS. I feel it my duty to say a word
or two in respect to some things that have
been announced on this floor, both as matters
of fact and as matters of law. The gentleman
from Kent (Mr. Chambers) made a most effec-
tive appeal to this body on the subject of his
personal connection with those who were in
armed hostility to the United States. I think
from my personal knowledge of the circumstances
in that case, I can safely appeal to the
gentleman from Kent, and ask him whether
ever a prisoner of war was more humanely
and kindly treated than his relative; if ever
those who were discharging the functions of
government and who were its friends, showed
more disposition to give access to a prisoner
by his friends, and in every way and manner
possible to conduce to the comfort and wel-
fare of such a prisoner ?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I have not said one word
to the contrary. On the contrary, I take
pleasure in saying that those with whom I |
have conferred, officers to whom I have ap-
plied, invariably treated me with the utmost
respect. They have not permitted me, but
they have permitted members of my family to
go and see this man, and have allowed me to
furnish means of aiding and comfort ing him.
Mr. SANDS. That is the truth he has spoken,
to the honor and credit of the government of
the United States and its authorities, its treat-
ment of its prisoners of war has never been ex-
ceeded in kindness and liberality, and all that
is noble and ennobling. It may do to talk
about the gibbets being erected for our friends)
when they are working for a particular view ;
but when they are called upon for the truth of
the fact, out of the months of those most
interested you have the truth. I thank God
to-night that the government and its agents
have been pre-eminently humane, kind, and
liberal. I am sorry that the facts of to-day
do not show that those who are in the control
of the rebellion are acting in a like spirit of
Christian charity and kindness. The World
knows the facts; and I do not choose to con-
sume any more time in talking about them.
But I want it plainly and distinctly under-
stood that I listen with no degree of patience
whatsoever to appeals, however eloquent, that
set up the spectres of the gibbet between the
grandfather and the grandchild, when it is
but a spectre • when it is but the shadow of a
shade; when it has no foundation whatever
in reality.
Nor need the gentleman or any of his friends
indulge in one moment's anxiety or apprehension
that they are to be excluded from the
ballot box because by the permission of the
government and its authorities and through
its agents, they have ministered to their
friends. That is not adbering to, giving aid
and comfort in its legal sense, or in the sense
in which it stands embodied in this report.
The gentleman knows that. It is a different
thing from that. It is a secret, persistent,
active sympathy and aid giving, not to the
personal relative or the personal friend, which
is aimed at. It is the energetic and persis-
tent giving aid and comfort to rebellion, which
is to disqualify; and I say under the law,—
1 say it to my friend who addressed this house,
under the strict letter of the law, that is a dis-
qualification from voting. The gentleman
can find it in the very language that has been
read. In this oath that was to be put by tine
judges of election, what do you find? This
is the language, for a few words cover it all :
—' ' or has either directly or indirectly given
aid, comfort, or encouragement to those in
armed rebellion against the government of the
United States."
Does the gentleman say that in these words,
the conveying of intelligence useful to the
public enemy and hurtful to the public cause,
is not included? He can hardly make such
a declaration as that here as his recorded
opinion. |
