that we shall have the power of declaring
the punishment of treason. I want that
these innocent ones shall have the benefit of
this principle that no conviction shall of ne
cessity work forfeiture upon them, I wan
it to he made so as not absolutely to take from
the wife and children who are innocent, their
right of succession. I want that so in the
Constitution of Maryland, and I want gen-
tlemen to understand that it is not because I
'concede that the Legislature of Maryland
may not of right forfeit his property or any-
thing that is his. If a man abjures his alle-
giance to the State of Maryland, if he com-
mits treason against the State of Maryland,
he utterly and forever, so far as he is con-
cerned, abandons its protection of life and
estate, no matter what that estate is, I want
the Legislature hereafter to have the power,
if, in its belief, the wife and children are in-
nocent; and, if in its belief, it would beggar
them unjustly, to say that the conviction
shall only of necessity work during the life
of the party convicted; and that the State of
Maryland, in its magnanimity and its gene-
rosity, or whatever you choose to call it,
shall have the right, if they see fit to exer-
cise it, to clothe the children with the pos-
sessions of the father. That is exactly, if I
understand my friend from Baltimore city,
(Mr. Stirling,) the construction which he
gives to this article.
Mr. STIRLING. Certainly.
Mr. SANDS. That is exactly the construc-
tion I understood him to give it, and that is
certainly a construction upon which I shall
vote for the amendment as he places it before
this Convention.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Without intending any of-
fence to the Convention, I wish to say that I
cannot submit to allow to pass unnoticed the
remarks which the gentleman over the way,
(Mr Sands,) has chosen to present to this
body, although he has surrounded himself
with a very filthy atmosphere, throwing out
language of which nobody knows the mean-
ing, and denouncing whole classes of people
as unworthy of the protection of the Govern-
ment and deserving of every species of pun-
ishment. I do not know to whom he refers.
As for myself, I am making a Constitu tion
for the people of Maryland; and they are an
honest people. They do not deserve to be de-
nounced as unworthy of protection, or chari-
ty, or any Christian feeling. The simple
question is, not whether the man acknowl-
edged to be guilty of a gross crime—a crime
which the State has abundant authority to
punish just as they please, to punish not only
by quartering, but byquartering the quarters
if they choose to do it, and declaring that his
posterity ad infinitum shall never be recog-
nized but as children or progeny of traitors,
for they have all that power—
Mr. SANDS, (interposing.) So I expressly
said in my remarks. |
{ Mr. CHAMBERS. This colloquial style of
t argument is not one which I wish to adopt,
f and I prefer not to be interrupted.
The Indian, in his aboriginal condition,
takes the life of every criminal, and has a
right to do it according to his law, That is
the law of the Indians, That is the original
law of mankind. We have abandoned that.
We have determined long since, ages and
ages past, that that is not the proper mode.
We have modified that. We have recognized
degrees of crime, and we have established in
consequence corresponding degrees of pun-
ishment. We adopt the law of God which
tells us that while sins are visited unto the
third and fourth generation, upon those that
continue in sin, mercy is shown to the inno-
cent children of guilty men. In a period of
less enlightenment, in a less Christian period,
children were made the victims of the crimes
of their parents. We did this after the death
of the parent. We have been habitually im-
proving. We have come down to an age
when we have said that the children should
not suffer for the sins of their fathers, by be-
ins; deprived of the property which, without
that crime, they would have inherited.
Shall we retract? Shall we retrace our steps?
Shall we approach the BORDER=0 of barbarism
from which we have been continually re-
tiring with the advance of literature, Chris-
tiainity and humanity. That is the question
now; not to be affected because there are a
great many very bald men in this State whom
the gentleman would be very glad to get hold of
and have hanged. Some men have been re-
garded as traitors whose names have been
handed down with pride to a subsequent age.
Champions of liberty have been traitors, and
have been the victims of that very system
which we denounce as utterly improper.
Your Sydneys, and Hampdens, and all sorts
of people, have been charged with being
traitors. We are making laws for those who
are to come after us, and who may or may
not be, with the exception of error of judg-
ment, error of opinion, however palpable,
censurable.
1 do not choose to be put in the category
of those who do not desire to have traitors
punished. Punish them. Take from them
every cent they have, every acre they have.
If you choose" to do it, take from them the
means of acquiring another. Dispose of them
as you like. Send them to the gallows,
Punish your traitor as much as you please.
I have made no complaint of that; I shall
make none. They ought to be punished.
No government can be preserved without
maintaining the allegiance of those who live
under it, I say that no man who lives under
a government ought to abandon it. I have
advocated that doctrine; and I mean to do it.
If I considered a government no-longer fit
to be supported, I would not maintain any
affiliation to it. I would clear out from it. |
