lation, and which are to be prescribed by the
State Legislature.
Mr. PUGH. I agree with the gentleman
from Prince George's, (Mr. Clarke,) in a
considerable portion of his remarks. I be-
lieve that this article only applies to the sol-
diers of the State of Maryland. I believe it
would be absurd for us to attempt to manage
the quartering of the slaves of the General
Government. I so understood the subject
when I said that I understood the, amend-
ment to be substantially the same as the words
here written. The reasons why I support the
article as reported by the committee are two-
fold; firstly, because it is report of the com-
mittee selected by this Convention; secondly,
because there was no minority report against
it, and consequently it stands here as the re-
port of the whole of that committee. We
are to accept or reject this report, under-
standing it to be the sense of the whole of
that committee, both the majority and the
minority, there being no adverse report upon
it. For these reasons, in the absence of any
good reason whatever for altering it, I am in
favor of adopting the article just as it
stands.
Mr. MILLER. The gentleman from Cecil,
(Mr. Pugh), is mistaken with regard to their
being no minority report upon this subject.
If the gentleman remembers the report which
the minority of the committee made, he will
recollect that the minority said in their re-
port that there were several changes in mi-
nor particulars made by it, the report of the
majority, about which they did not deem it
necessary to make a special report, but in
the necessity for which changes they did not
concur. It does not come, therefore, as a full
and unanimous report of the committee in
those respects in which it differs from the old
bill of rights.
The argument which the gentleman from
Prince George's, (Mr. Clarke,) has made, seems
to me to be perfectly conclusive. If gentlemen
will turn to article 28, just passed over, they
will find that there is a necessity for keeping
this article as it is in the old bill of rights,
for the sake of conformity. That article de-
clares standing armies to be dangerous to
liberty and that they ought not to be raised
or kept up without the consent of the Legis-
lature, What does that mean? Has it any-
thing to do with the power of Congress to
raise standing armies to provide a navy, or
anything of that kind? It has no applica-
tion at all to the powers of Congress or the
General Government, but only to the State
of Maryland. It would bedangerous for the
executive authorities of any branch of the
Government to raise and maintain astanding
army without the consent of the Legislature
or the law-making power. Article 30 pro-
vides the same thing in reference to the sol-
diers, the militia of the State, which may at
times be called out by the executive, as he has |
the right to do so. An emergency may arise
in which it shall be done. This is intended
to provide that if such a thing should occur,
the quartering of soldiers upon private citi-
zens without their consent, should only be
done in such a manner as the Legislature,
the law-making part of the government,
should direct. I think if we do not restore
this language, it will be in conflict with arti-
cle 28th of this Declaration of Rights; I am
therefore in favor of the amendment which
makes it correspond with the 28th article of
the old bill of rights.
Mr. THOMAS. It appears to me that the ar-
ticle as reported by the committee is correct.
If I understand the gentleman from Prince
George's, (Mr. Clarke), one of the reasons
which he urges against the adoption of this
article, is that the word " soldier " only ap-
plies to the soldiers of the State.
Mr. CLARKE. The State only has control
over its own soldiers.
Mr. THOMAS, I say that soldiers are raised
by the State every day for the General Gov-
ernment. As the gentleman from Prince
George's, (Mr. Clarke), has already intimated
the Adjutant General is now engaged in rais-
ing State troops. But they are all put under
the control of the General Government, the
law of Congress is to make provision for
quartering the troops in the United States
service, and no law of Maryland can go be-
hind the law of Congress. Where is the ne-
cessity of keeping out of the Declaration of
Rights an express prohibition on the part of
the Legislature to pass any provision of law
in relation to the quartering of the United
States troops and State troops in the Uni-
ted States service? I say that the pro-
vision as reported by this committee is in
harmony with the section which has been
under consideration by the Convention for
the last three or four days, and which has
been postponed until next Thursday. For
that' reason it should be passed by the House.
I am therefore in favor of the adoption of
this article as reported by the committee.
Mr. CLARKE. "No soldier shall in time of
peace be quartered in any house." That
does not mean a soldier raised by the State.
I undertake to say this: that a soldier raised
by the State, and passing under the federal
authority, ceases any longer to be tinder the
State control. But this provision applies to
the soldier so long as he is under the State
authority. I do not pretend to say that the
State does not raise troops which then pass
under the authority of the General Govern-
ment, It is to provide for the intermediate
period. Those troops being raised now un-
der State authority are not now under the
United States authority. But when raised,
when the act of Congress is complied with,
when the State is ready to pass them over,
and when that act is complete, when they
pass under the control of the Executive from |
