duties to the officers of the State of Maryland
which the Constitution of the United States
assigns to its officers, places the State of Mary-
land in conflict with the Government of the
United States, then the Government of the
United States must be in conflict with the
Constitution of the United States.
Mr. SANDS. If my friend will ask me a
question, instead of simply making an argu-
ment, I will try and answer it.
Mr. CLARKE. If a clause of the Constitu-
tion of the United States, inserted in the Con-
stitution of the State of Maryland, puts the
State of Maryland in conflict with the Gov-
ernment of the United States, does it not
follow, logically, that the Government of the
United States must be in conflict with the
Constitution of lire United States?
Mr. SANDS. My distinct opinion is. that
nothing the government of the United States
has done in this matter, is in conflict with
the Constitution of the United States.
Mr. CLARKE. There the gentleman flies off
the track. We are not discussing what the
government has done, but whether the clause
I propose to have inserted here is in conflict
with either the Constitution or the government
of the United States. I know of no gentle-
man who will undertake to say that the State
of Maryland is in hostility to the Constitution
of the United States or the laws of Congress
passed in pursuance thereto. I recognize the
distinction between the government as ad
ministered, and the government as organized.
And I will say this much for them, that it is
not yet so clear, although the gentleman says
a great deal about the government at Wash-
ington, if be means the administration there
—it is not yet so clear that be is quite as close
to it in the views which he holds and the ideas
which he wishes carried out in the next four
years, as we might suppose. I do not know
to which party the gentleman belongs,
whether he is a Lincoln man, a Chase man,
or a Fremont main.
Mr. SANDS. I do not belong to any body.
I am a freeman.
Mr. CLARKE. One of the gentleman's leaders
in this State is said to be for Chase or Fre-
mont. I do not know which one it is.
Mr. SANDS. I do not think the gentleman
does know.
Mr. CLARKE. At all events the future will
show how close the gentleman stands to the
government as administered. I will say this :
that the State of Maryland always has been,
and is now, true to the Constitution of the
United States, and the laws passed in pursu-
ance thereof.
Mr. SANDS. I believe so, too.
Mr. CLARKE. Now in regard to these ar-
rests. The gentleman says it is very incon-
sistent to arrest men because they do not vote.
I think so, too. And it was moat astonishing
to toe how gentlemen should resort to such a
mode for carrying out their scheme. And I |
believe the President of the United States said,
when this thing reached his ears—''Why,
what fools those gentlemen are, to arrest men
who will not vote; they ought to have ar-
rested them for voting, if a tall; if they had
arrested those who voted in the district
around Washington, or if they all had be-
lieved as these gentlemen did who did not
vote, the result would have been another
member in Congress in support of my admin-
istration."
Mr. SANDS. I understand the gentleman
endorses the President so far as this was con-
cerned.
Mr. CLARKE. I do, in so far that I regard
the course pursued by the military officers in
Maryland at the last election, as a most in-
consistent one to carry out their ends. And
I do not know but I may endorse the Presi-
dent about some other things. The President
is for compensated emancipation. Now if
we must have emancipation here, I think it
ought to be compensated emancipation, I do
not know whether the gentleman endorses
the President there or not. And I do not
know whether, if Mr. Lincoln is renominated,
and somebody else of the party is also nomi-
nated, the gentleman will be found to support
him.
Mr. SANDS. I am for Old Abe.
Mr. CLARKE. I do not want to vote for
McClellan, for he arrested the Legislature of
Maryland. I may have to vote for Mr. Lin-
coln myself as the best one among all the
candidates which may be presented.
A VOICE. Vote for Butler.
Mr. CLARKE. I would bewilling to vote
for Franklin Pierce, or for Seymour, of Con-
necticut, or some other peace man. The gen-
tleman has called upon us here to sustain the
administration in all that it wanted to do.
Now, I will not pretend, at this stage of the
discussion, to go into these matters. But I
announce it here as my solemn and candid
conviction, that if the resolution passed im-
mediately succeeding the first battle of Ball
Bun—the Crittenden resolution, which was
adopted unanimously—had been adhered to
in the posecution of this war, without dotting
an "i" or crossing a"t," the stars and
stripes ere this would have floated over a
united and happy and glorious confederacy.
I believe that the departure from the spirit of
that resolution and the views upon which the
war has been waged have brought about all
our troubles. Had the resolution been strictly
adhered to, I believe every man's heart in the
land would have throbbed louder and more
free, and that the result would have been
the restoration of the stars and stripes over
this broad land. No man can behold with a
sadder heart the present progress of events,
the war being carried on, as I humbly con-
ceive, for the overthrow of the rights of the
States and the rights of the people, tending,
unless the band of peace comes in to stop this |
