That was the response of the Legislature to
that petition. And it is one of those rare
cases in the bistory of nations, people, and
individuals, where a negative can be proved
I say the time has not come to write the his-
tory of that Legislature. The passions of
the hour are raging; the strong hand of force
rules. Law has ceased for the time being to
exist; because martial law is no law. Mili-
tary law, which now domineers and rides
over this land, prostrating every right, break-
ing down every liberty, outraging every re-
lation of society—that is not law; it is the
absence of all law. It is the exercise of
brute force; it is the power of the bayonet
Law is not found in the steel and in the
sword; but it is to be found in the sover-
eignty of the people expressed through the
ballot-box. And I venture the prediction
that, though the voice of reason cannot now
be heard, the day will come when the name
of the martyr Wallis will be held in venera
tion and regard, because he had the courage
and manliness, in the face of and in defiance
of power, to utter bold truths, to prefer truth
rather than the favor of power.
Mr. BARRON. Will the gentleman inform
us why the Legislature went into secret ses-
sion?
The PRESIDENT. The gentleman from Bal-
timore city (Mr. Barron) is not in order.
Mr. SMITH, of Carroll. I propose as briefly
as I can to address myself to the consideration
of the question before the Convention, which
is one that has not only excited elaborate
eloquent and instructive debate here, bat has
engaged the attention of some of the greatest
minds in this country for the last half century
While I do not flatter myself that I can en-
lighten the minds of this Convention or of
any part of it, I feel that I should not be
thoroughly discharging the trust reposed in
me by a confiding constituency, if I did no
upon this occasion represent their views. .
had fashioned out in an unmethodical way a
plan of argument; but it has been almost en
tirely superseded by my friend from Somerset
(Mr. Dennis.) He and I have run upon par-
allel political lines in several respects. We
were both electors for Bell and Everett
There were inscribed on the banner which we
bore aloft, visible throughout the State from
Worcester to Allegany, three distinct propo-
sitions—"The Union, the Constitution, and
the enforcement of the laws." The latter
branch my friend in his political changes has
entirely forgotten; but it is the most im-
portant of them all; for a Union and a Con-
stitution without the power somewhere to
enforce the laws. would be a mere chimera
The doctrine propounded in this arti
cle is that we owe a paramount alle
giance to the Government of the United
States. Argument, bistory, and author-
ity, all convince my mind that this is no
a new question. My friend has said that |
Maryland stood as a sponsor at the baptism
of this Constitution, She did so, in times of
peace, quiet and prosperity, when our fore-
fathers looked out upon the future with hearts
of hope, when their eyes were gladdened with
the prospective scene of happiness which
opened up before them. Maryland to-day
stands sponsor to the same Constitution,
though she is being baptised in blood and fire
for her regeneration and purification. She has
never changed, whatever her sons may have
done. Maryland from the beginning has
stood firmly, unalterably devoted to the Con-
stitution and the laws of the country.
I have very few authorities to quote. Au-
thorities have been presented here in im-
mense number, and will be again presented,
of the history of the confederation and of the
adoption of the Constitution, in my mind too
conclusive to admit of a single doubt. The
very first words of the articles of confedera-
tion look to a perpetual Union. The gentle-
man from Somerset has male an argument
against the right which we are contending
for, upon the ground that the delegates from
the different States signed the Constitution as
delegates from the different States, Mr.
Everett puts that matter entirely at rest in a
very few words;
"THE DECLARATION or INDEPENDENCE RE-
COGNIZES A PEOPLE.
"But this all-important principle in our
political system is placed beyond doubt, by
an authority which makes all further argu-
ment or illustration superfluous. That the
citizens of the British colonies, however di-
vided for local purposes into different govern-
ments, when they ceased to be subject to the
English crown, became ipso facto one people
for all the high concerns of national exist-
ence, is a fact embodied in the Declaration of
Independence itself. That august manifesto,
the magna Charta, which introduced us into
the family of nations, was issued to the
world, so its first sentence sets forth, because
"a decent respect for the opinions of man-
kind requires " such solemn announcement of
motives and causes to be made, "when in
the course of human events it become neces-
sary for one people to dissolve the political
bands which have connected them with an-
other." Mr. Jefferson Davis, in his message
of the 29th of April, deems it important to
remark that, by the treaty of peace with
Great Britain, " the several States were each
by name recognized to be independent." It
would be more accurate to say that the
United States each by name were so recog-
nized. Such enumeration was necessary, in
order to fix beyond doubt which of the An-
glo-American colonies, twenty-five or six in
number were included in the recognition.
But it is surely a far more significant circum-
stance, that the separate States are not named
in the Declaration of Independence, that they
are called only by the collective designation |
