10

unwilling, and could not consent to forbear urging the fur-
ther prosecution of the inquiry by summoning and examin-
ing under oath, other witnesses who were supposed to be per-
fectly impartial and worthy of all credit, lists of whose names
they presented to the Committee to the number of nineteen ;
nine of whom they had been advised were some time members
of the order, and some of them said to have attained to the
highest degrees in it, but who had withdrawn from it;—and
ten of whom, they had reason to believe were, and are still,
distinguished and leading members of said order—all of them
residents in the city of Baltimore, and whose attendance
could therefore have been easily, speedily and cheaply ob-
tained. But the majority refused by a distinct vote to order
them, or any of them, to be summoned, Messrs. Kennedy,
Hall and Goldsborough voting in the negative, and Messrs.
Merrick and Smith in the affirmative.

At the next meeting of the Committee, which took place on
the 8th of February, after some conversation between the
members, a sketch of the substance of which will be found in
the journal of the proceedings of the Committee hereto ap-
pended, and a distinct and explicit statement by the three
gentlemen composing the majority of the Committee, that
the platform published by the Convention held in the city
of Philadelphia, in June, 1855, (a copy of which was pro-
duced, marked, and is hereto appended,) contained a true ex-
position of the principles of the " American Party," and that
they and their party associates acknowledged themselves
bound by each and every one of the principles and doctrines
contained in that platform,—Mr. Hall offered the following
resolutions :

"Resolved, That the Governor in his reply to the Com-
mittee of investigation, clearly points out, and identifies the
American Party of the Philadelphia Platform, published
in June, 1855, as the object of his animadversion, which was
unanimously assented to.

2d. " Resolved, That the Committee deem the summoning
of witnesses before it to prove the statement or description
of the principles, objects and purposes of the American
'Party of the Philadelphia Platform, published in June, 1855,
as an insult to the intelligence of a large majority of the
people of Maryland, through their representatives." Upon
this resolution the vote of the Committee stood: Affirmative,
Kennedy, Hall and Goldsborough. Negative, Merrick and
Smith.

3d. "Resolved, That this Committee, in the investigation
of the principles, objects and purposes of the American