bear, as a proper response to the very kind
indulgence which I have experienced at the
hands of the Convention.
The terms supreme and sovereign have been
much contested. I have drawn up am amend
ment in the form of a substitute, in order to
give my views in brief upon this subject, I
it is the intention to acknowledge in a proper
place, at a proper time, and under proper cir
cumstances—as I have perhaps not less than
a dozen times sworn to respect the authority
of the United States, its laws and everything
else done in pursuance of the Constitution—
I have not the slightest objection to express-
ing it in such terms as may not be capable of
misconstruction. Call it obedience, call it
acknowledgment of sovereignty, call it alle-
giance or what you please, I acknowledge in
the broadest terms my obligation as a citizen
of the United States and a citizen of Mary-
land. I acknowledge my obligation to obey
every article, every provision in the Consti-
tution of the United States, and every article
and every provision in every law passed in
pursuance of the Constitution, and ex gratia,
any order or proclamation or anything else,
which that Constitution or those constitu-
tional laws authorize the administrators of
the government to issue.
There is one other consideration why this
article should not be inserted. What is its
object? If we are to judge from the speeches
which have been made, it is to strengthen
the arm of the government. Complaint has
been made on all hands that we do not cheer
the government, that we do not cheer the
troops, that we do not oppose and abuse Jef-
ferson Davis, that we do not oppose and abuse
the rebels. We are not here for any such
purpose. When gentlemen go out and get
upon the stump, and talk to their friends, to
induce them to shape their course in a certain
way, it is all very well. But that is not our
province. I was not sent here to eulogise
the General Government or any of its
branches. I was not sent here to denounce
or to abuse by harsh epithets or mild, the
enemies of the government. I am here to
pass constitutional provisions which are to
regulate the actions of posterity, not to de-
fend the conduct of those who are now upon
the theatre of action. That is not our busi-
ness,
But the gentleman says, if I understand him,
that this is to strengthen the arm of the Gov-
ernment. Does the Government want more
strength than it has exhibited? Is not this
Government now strong enough for the taste
of any freeman? Does this Government,
meaning the President, want its arm made
stronger by this body or any other? I
thought we lived in a day when the Govern-
ment had exhibited a potential action that
never mortal man had dreamed of. What
was it that we complained of king George
for? His government was too strong. He |
acted without warrant of law. Our Consti-
tution denounces all such action as utterly
irreconcilable with the notion of liberty.
What do we see every day around us?
Citizens who have lived among us, enjoying
our highest offices and our highest respect,
taken by day or by night, hurried off, con-
fined for months, and then told it was a mis-
take. No charge is made against them. All
this for what? What says the Constitu-
tion? "No man's property shall be taken
except for public use, and then not without
compensation." There is not a man here that
does not know that article of the Constitu-
tion is violated, " No man shall be tried but
by his peers, by indictment, and in the county
where the offence was committed." I should
insult the information of any gentleman here,
were I to suppose him ignorant of case after
case, where men have had their persons and
their property arrested, and themselves char-
ged, tried and punished, without regard to
these provisions. Take the case of my friend
over the way from Queen Anne, (Mr. Brown.)
A party of soldiers, said to be under the com-
mand of a Methodist preacher, who was both
a chaplain and a captain, at least for the time,
took possession of his house, stables and corn
house, and from day to day sent out a party
to levy contributions on whom they would,
and for what they would, under pretence of
paying for an old dilapidated building not
worth at the extent $500, which somebody
yet unknown and undiscovered, is said to
have burned. For this offender the grand
jury of the county had in vain made diligent
inquiry, yet these soldiers there quarter them-
selves on this family until the sum of five
thousand dollars is levied, of which sum they
charged at first $600, and afterwards gra-
ciously reducing the amount $400 to this
family who had entertained them—a family
as quiet, as free, as any in the State, from
any act of disloyalty or violation of law—
and every dollar of these contributions would
have been exacted but for the active and
commendable interposition of the Executive
of the State, who, to his honor be it said, has
had the injury arrested before consummation.
This is the Government that wants strength-
ening. Sir, it is strong enough tor me, and
perhaps for other people. I may have to
answer for the liberty I am now using, for
aught I know.
I do not think, therefore, that this article
ought to prevail. I have heard a great deal
said about these terrible scoundrels, Jefferson
Davis and his crew. I do not mean to say
anything about that. But those gentlemen
who have been most elaborate and most
earnest in their denunciations of slavery, are
gentlemen who have derived their notions
elsewhere than in Maryland. They are from
Pennsylvania, from Connecticut, or from
some other State, where in their early lives
they have been imbued with principles |
