sovereignty from one government and invest
them in another, just to suit their purposes.
In the manner prescribed by them in the
Constitution, if the people saw proper, if they
thought that the State governments were
overborne by the General Government, that
the General Government was too strong, too
powerful for the proper working of the State
governments, they could call a Convention
and divest the General Government of a part
of its powers, and re-invest them in the State
governments.
But the Union is the great casket in which
the people of the United States have lodged
their jewels, among which is the first and
greatest jewel, the sovereignty of the people.
And here let me say that where the treasure
is, there will the heart be also. That is as
true now as of old. The people have invested
their greatest treasures in the good old
Union, symbolized in the flag that floats over
us from the dome of this capitol. And our
hearts are there because our treasure is there,
and there is our allegiance due.
There is another reason why it is very fit-
ting that the people of Maryland should engraft
this provision upon their bill of rights. It is
sneered at here, because it is novel, because
no other State has it. And least of all did I
think the gentleman from Anne Arundel (Mr.
Miller) would have gone to Massachusetts in
search of a model. But he did, and because
be does not find such a declaration in the bill
of rights of Massachusetts he concludes that
it would not be good for Maryland. The
people of Massachusetts doubtless looked upon
its being understood as a matter of course;
that nobody would doubt it. They have free
schools in Massachusetts; the people are all
educated there; and there is no need there
for a ten days' discussion to prove where a
man's allegiance rightfully belongs. [Laugh-
ter and applause,]
Now, with aview to show what our fathers
thought on this subject, I will read the pre-
amble of an act passed in 1777, before the
Constitution of the United States was formed.
It begins in this way:
" Whereas, in every free State allegiance
and protection are reciprocal, [mark the
words,] and no man is entitled to the benefit
of the one who refuses to yield the other;
[that is very logical;] and as every inhabitant
of this State enjoys the protection and benefit
of the Government and laws thereof, and it
is reasonable that every person should give
testimony of his attachment and fidelity to
this State and the present government thereof
as now established."
That is the way they reasoned about it;
that, as the Government protected them, they
were bound to obey it, and not only to obey
it, but to give some manifestation of their
attachment.
Now, on that theory, Maryland, of all the
States, ought to adopt this article in her bill |
of rights. While the storms of war are surg-
ing all around us, devastating whole districts
of country, what but the arm of the Govern-
ment of the United States has saved our fields
from devastation, and our towns and cities
from destruction? We scarcely know prac-
tically that there is any war in the land. The
giant arm of the Government of the United
States has been thrown around this State,
and has shielded it from harm, notwithstand-
ing all the efforts of State rights agitators in
and around it. If those gentlemen had had
their way—not that they meant it at all; I do
not mean to insinuate that; [laughter,] because
they all profess to be good Union men, and
we must take them at their own valuation—
but the legitimate consequence of their
teachings is, that the States have the right
at any time to throw off the control of
the General Government. And bad they
done so, there was an army on our frontier
ready at any moment to march across and
lay waste the country, and cut the throat of
any man who dared to speak a word in favor
of the flag of his country. And instead of
.gentlemen being here to-day discussing
whether we should put this or that article in
the bill of rights or in the Constitution, we
should have been, if left alive, in some dun-
geon, some Libby prison. And shall we,
who owe everything we have to the protec-
tion of the General Government, who in con-
sequence of that protection have been enabled
to rest as quietly and peacefully as an infant
sleeping upon its mother's breast, without
thought of danger, or fear of harm, shall we
be told that it is sycophantic and beneath the
dignity of a sovereign State to put in the
bill of rights the declaration that we have re-
ceived this protection and owe allegiance to
the Government that has given it to us?
Shame on the man who receives so great a
favor, and then refuses to make a grateful
return for it. [Loud applause.]
Yes, sir, it is the strong arm of the Gov-
ernment of the United States that has pro-
tected us, and we owe allegiance to it for that
reason, if for no other; for "allegiance and
protection are reciprocal," and go hand in
hand. And when my honored friend from
Howard (Mr. Sands) said the other day that
we owed our safety to the people, if he had
just qualified it bysaying, ' 'the people that
came down with General Butler,' 'I would
have believed every word of it, [Applause.]
It was to them that we owed our safety. For
the people of Maryland, the people of Anne
Arundel, and their neighbors, destroyed your
locomotives, tore up your railroad tracks, cut
down your telegraph poles; and they did the
same in Baltimore. And if they had had
their way, instead of your being a proud sov-
ereign State, as gentlemen say we are, to-day
we would have been dragging at the tail-end
of the Jeff. Davis Confederacy; a spectacle
to excite the derision and ridicule of the |
