NOV. SESS.
1804. |
APPENDIX——RESOLUTIONS.
shall decree, and the balance, if any, to be paid to the said complainants,
or such of them as the said court shall decree; provided,
that no interest be allowed on such balance as may appear to be due,
after the application aforesaid; and the treasurer of the western
shore shall, (if it should be so decreed,) deliver to the parties respectively
their bond aforesaid, and pay such sum of money as shall
be decreed by the court of chancery. |
Relative to amendment
proposed
by Massachusetts
to constitution
of U.
States. |
No. 17.
The resolutions purporting to be the " doings of
the legislature
of the state of Massachusetts," having been laid before the legislature,
by the governor of Maryland, and due deliberation having
been had thereon, RESOLVED, That in the opinion of the legislature
of Maryland, the amendment to the constitution of the United
States, proposed by the commonwealth of Massachusetts, ought
not to be adopted. |
Unwise to diminish
principle of
representation,
&c. |
No. 18.
RESOLVED, That the state of Maryland, by the principle
of representation
adopted by the constitution of the United States, having its
full influence in the councils of the union, it would be unwise to
diminish or relinquish it. This principle ought not to be a source
of
clamour or complaint in any state where a mixed population doth not
exist; in those states where it doth exist, they are subjected to additional
taxation, as taxation is apportioned according to representation;
the principle of representation was the result of a spirit of
accommodation and mutual concession; it is one of those fundamental
parts of the constitution which ought not to be invaded. The
amendment proposed, in the opinion of this legislature, is calculated
to shake the union, an event that cannot be too much dreaded.
That patriotic and able statesman, the revered Washington, has
emphatically recommended the inviolable preservation of the union.
He observes, " towards the preservation of their government, and
the permanency of their present happy state, it is necessary that they
not only discountenance irregular opposition to its acknowledged
authority, but also that they resist, with care, the spirit of innovation
upon its principles, however specious the pretexts." " One
method of assault," he proceeds, " may be to affect, in the form of
the constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the
system, and thus undermine what cannot be directly overthrown."
Warned by so great an authority, although we acknowledge the
propriety of amending when experience discloses defects, it behoves
the people of the United States to touch, with awful caution, their
great charter, more especially those peculiar principles contained
therein, the effects of which were fully seen, and carefully deliberated
on, before they were ingrafted into the constitution. When
a full, fair and successful experiment of the wise, energetic and salutary
provisions of our constitution has been made; when the administration
of the government is so ably conducted in its various
departments; when tranquility, safety and happiness, are diffused
throughout the union, equal rights protected, and the real interests
of all eminently promoted and preserved, it would highly impolitic
and unwise to put them to hazard, by sanctioning a measure
which can be productive of no advantage to the people of the United
States, but may tend to weaken the bonds of the union, introduce
national discord and a final subversion of all government. |
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