always took the stand that they had the right
of secession. They regarded that as the con-
stitutional right of Massachusetts; but I fine
that when any of her sons come South, they
change their tune. They do not think it is a
constitutional right here in Maryland. It Is
to the great State of Massachusetts that that
right is reserved. Their oath is :
"I. A. B., do truly and sincerely acknowl-
edge, profess, testify, and declare, that the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts is, and of
right ought to be, a free, sovereign, and inde-
pendent State; and I do swear that I will bear
true faith and allegiance lo the said Common-
wealth," &c., and nowhere in it is there any
one clause in which they swear to support
the Constitution of the United States.
Turning to our own Constitution, yon re-
collect that the second article of the bill of
rights is in these words :
"Article 2. That the people of this State
ought to have the sole and exclusive right of:
regulating the internal government and po-
lice thereof."
And the 42d article of the bill of rights
says ;
" Article 42. This enumeration of rights
shall not be construed to impair or deny
others retained by the people."
These illustrate the guarded attempts which
appear in nearly all the States of the Union
in the formation of their organic law, to keep
separate and distinct the powers of the State
governments from those of the Federal Gov-
ernment. Instead of saying, we owe para-
mount allegiance to the government of the
United States, we say we owe paramount al-
legiance to the State of Maryland, looking to
the federal head as our agent to carry out the
purposes for which it was organized, and we
are obligated, as citizens of the Confederacy,
to give all necessary aid and protection to the
federal head.
When I took the floor I intended to occupy
the attention of the Convention but avery
short time; but this is certainly a question
which opens a very wide field of argument.
The more you look at these questions, and
the more you think of them and present them
to the test of reason, the wider becomes the
field of reasoning upon them; and instead of
taking an hour to argue such a question, days
and days might be profitably occupied in
considering a question of so vital a character.
My friend from Baltimore city, who last
addressed this Convention, (Mr. Kennard,)
made a very pretty little effort indeed. I en-
joyed that almost as much as I did the speech
of his colleague, (Mr. Cushing.) But he is
just as wild and erratic, and goes just as
much out of the record; and he seems to
have his own peculiar notions. He asks se-
riously where we got State lights from? Let
me ask the gentleman where the powers of
the government of the United States came
from? Were not the State governments |
formed before the federal head? Did not the
Federal Government derive all the powers it
now claims, or that we can accord to it, from
the States? Do gentlemen intend to put the
created above the creator? Is that the wis-
dom of our government? Was that the pur-
pose of the framers of our Constitution? Is
that the spirit of liberty which I say was in-
fused into the Constitution at its very incep-
tion, from the minds of those great men who
framed it? I would rather my arm were
palsied than that I should dot an i or cross a
t in that instrument. I hold it too sacred.
We are not in a condition or frame of mind
now to do it, no matter what the necessities
are. We are acting for the present occasion ;
for the present emergency, as the gentleman
says. What is the wisdom of action, if it is
not the resalt of cool deliberation, if it is to
be excited by passion or prejudice? I defy
the gentlemen upon the other side to raise
themselves above the scenes which are passing
around them, the interest which they must
necessarily feel in all these objects, and to
look to the true interests of the government
and to feel a deep and abiding interest in the
future. We are now in the midst of a revo-
lution such as was never seen in any other
country, such as has afflicted no other people.
The very Constitution and government are
in peril, and liable to be toppled down at any
moment. Let us?, instead of detracting from
the strength which should be brought around
this government as its shield and protector,
come together as brothers, not incited by
violence, not incited by prejudice or passion.
Let us look to the true interests of the peo-
ple of the State. Let us look to the future,
and "let the dead bury the dead." "Suffi-
cient to the day is the evil thereof."
I would that I could say something to
bring the gentlemen to reason. I would say
to them, "Come, let us reason together;"
but they shake their heads. They will not
reason with me. They say, We have got the
power and we will exercise it, and we will
put you down.
"Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again."
Mark me, " truth is mighty and will pre-
vail," and after all, our rights, though now
trampled upon and sought to be taken from
us, will be secured to us in double strength,
and will have an efficacy when the gentlemen
who are now using the weight of their ma-
jority will have lost their power forever. I
do not expect, however, to bring the gentle-
men to the standpoint of reason. They have
gone offwild, erratic, with all the powers of the
majority, to do and exercise it at their will.
I stand not suppliant here, but as a peer, as
one who dares to hold and assert his opin-
ions, and the rights of the people of his
State. Would that I could bring gentlemen
to reason. Would that I could bring them
to a full appreciation of the importance of |
