You tell me that I owe paramount alle-
giance to a Government that in time of
peace can afford me at my home no sort of
protection, not even for the enjoyment of life,
liberty and property; that has not an organi-
zation, it court, or an officer to whom I can
appeal for protection when my rights are in-
vaded. Where have the citizens of Maryland
from 1776 down to 1860—for I do not intend
to allude to the unfortunate difficulties that
have occurred since that period, any more
than may be absolutely necessary, as I do not
look upon the exciting topics which have
been touched upon by other gentlemen as
growing out of this subject, or as appropriate
to this discussion—where have they looked
for protection to life, liberty and property?
if I were the owner of ships engaged in com-
merce upon the high seas, and my rights had
been invaded by foreign nations, I should
look to the Federal Government for protec-
tion; and why? Because that Government
has been instituted by the authority of the
sovereign State of Maryland, and has had
powers delegated to it by Maryland and other
States, for these external purposes, to demand
redress of foreign nations, and protect me in
the enjoyment of my rights as a citizen. I
am taxed to support that Government; and
it owes me protection because of the delegated
powers which the State of which I am a citi-
zen has given to it.
Gentlemen talk. about restrictions being
placed upon the States. Who placed the re-
strictions upon the States? Will any gentle-
man tell me that any authority outside of the
State has placed restrictions upon the State of
Maryland? She put' the restrictions upon
herself, in adopting the Constitution of the
United States, freely and voluntarily, by the
vote of the people. She never acknowledged
the right of any other power, since she sepa-
rated from King George, to hind her in the
least, beyond what the sovereign people of
the State have agreed upon and plighted their
faith to uphold. There is no tie, no bond,
no sanction, that requires any obedience on
the part of the citizens of the States to any
other government, except what has been eon-
ceded and agreed to by the people of the
States in their adoption of the Constitution
of the United States.
We have a State government clothed with
full authority to afford protection to life, lib-
erty and property. We have an executive;
we have a judiciary extended throughout the
State; we have civil officers, sheriffs, and all
that are necessary for a perfect government,
with full powers delegated to it by the peo-
ple. It was to that government and to those
officers, that during the period to which I
have alluded, prior to 1860, the citizen
looked for protection, if their lives had been
assailed, the law of the State of Maryland
was vindicated by the punishment of the of-
fender. If property was invaded, they looked |
to the jurisdiction of the State of Maryland
to put them in possession of it. If real
property, or personal property, or personal
reputation, were invaded, they looked to the
State government to protect them. The Fed-
eral Government was powerless to do it. In
all those home privileges involving, life, lib-
erty and property, they looked to the State
government. It was only in the case of a
ship upon the ocean, and for protection
abroad, that the Federal Government afforded
the slightest protection to the citizen of Mary-
land since the formation of the Constitution.
When a citizen thus lives under the protec-
tion of his own State, does he not owe alle-
giance to that State? Can it not command
him, and all that is his, whenever the public
exigencies require it?
Mr. SANDS. If the gentleman will permit
me, I will ask him this question. Does he
agree to the statement that the slave property
of the State of Maryland was worth fifty mil-
lions of dollars? To whom did you look for
the protection of that species of property, to
the State or Federal Government, in case it
took wings and flew beyond the limits of the
State? Who returned' it, the State or the
Federal Government?
Mr. JONES, of Somerset. For any invasion
of the right to that or any other species of
property within the State, we looked to the
State government for protection and for re-
dress. When that property escaped and went
into the free States, we looked to the Federal
Government, under the sanction of the Con-
stitution that Maryland herself had adopted,
and looked to the good faith of the North
plighted to her that it should be restored.
Mr. SANDS. That is, you looked to the
General Government.
Mr. JONES, of Somerset. And whether the
North has kept the faith she plighted, I sub-
mit to the gentleman.
Mr. SANDS. As the question is submitted
to me, I will say—
Mr. JONES, of Somerset. There will be an-
other occasion for comparing notes with the
gentleman upon that subject, as I do not pro-
pose to touch upon it now. It is in a differ-
ent article of the Constitution, and when that
comes up we will talk about it.
Mr. SANDS, Very well, sir.
Mr. JONES, of Somerset, resumed: My col-
league (Mr. Dennis) this morning gave the
history and assigned the true reason why the
States were not named in the Constitution.
But I intended to give the reason for the
incorporation into the Constitution of this
provision, that "this Constitution and all
laws which shall be made in pursuance
thereof, and all treaties made or which shall
he made by the authority of the United States,
shall be the supreme law of the land." Be-
fore the adoption of the Constitution of the
United States, the States had Constitutions
and laws conflicting with the powers that |
