296 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [June 20,

Resolved by the General Assembly of Maryland, That re-
cognizing our relations to the Federal Government, we feel
that whilst we cannot do more, we can do no less, than enter
this, our solemn protest, against the said acts of the President
of the United States, and declare the same to be gross usur-
pation, unjust, oppressive, tyrannical and in utter violation
of common right and of the plain provisions of the Constitu-
tion.

Resolved, 2.—That the right of a State to secede, is not a
constitutional right, but an act of revolution, and any State
seceding does so at its own peril; neither do we believe that
the Federal Government has any power under the Constitu-
tion to wage war against a State for the purpose of subjuga-
tion or conquest.

Resolved, 3.—That prudence and policy demand, that the
war now being waged, shall cease, that if persisted in, it will
result in the ruin and destruction of both sections, and a
longer continuance of it will utterly annihilate the last hope
of a reconstruction of this Union; therefore we want peace,
and are in favor of a recognition of the Southern Confederacy
and an acknowledgment of its government.

Resolved, 4.—That we deem the Writ of Habeas Corpus,
the great safe-guard of personal liberty, and we view with the
utmost alarm and indignation, the exercise of the despotic
power, that has dared to suspend it in the case of John Mer-
ryman, now confined in Fort McHenry.

Said resolutions being upon their second reading,

Mr. McIntire moved a suspension of the rules to put the
preamble and resolutions "entire" upon their passage:

Which was not sustained.

The question then recurring upon the adoption of the reso-
lutions.

The first resolution,

Resolved by the General Assembly of Maryland, That re-
cognizing our relations to the Federal Government, we feel
that whilst we cannot do more, we can do no less, than enter
this, our solemn protest, against the said acts of the President
of the United States, and declare the same to be gross usur-
pation, unjust, oppressive, tyrannical and in utter violation
of common right and of the plain provisions of the Constitu-
tion;

Was adopted by yeas and nays, as follow: