20               The Maryland Constitution of 1864.            [366

notwithstanding; that I will at all times yield a hearty and
willing obedience to the said Constitution and Government,
and will not, either directly or indirectly, do any act in
hostility to the same, either by taking up arms against
them, or aiding, abetting, or countenancing those in arms
against them; that, without permission from the lawful au-
thority, I will have no communication, direct or indirect,
with the states in insurrection against the United States,
or with either of them, or with any person or persons within
said insurrectionary states; and that I will in all things
deport myself as a good and loyal citizen of the United
States. This I do in good faith, with full determination,
pledge, and purpose to keep this, my sworn obligation, and
without any mental reservation or evasion whatsoever."
Thirdly, it was ordered that judges of election refusing to
carry out this order were to be reported to headquarters.

As General Schenck and his officers had openly advo-
cated the election of the Unconditional Union ticket, this
order was, aside from all expediency, most unfair to the
loyal citizens in the Conditional Union and Demo-
cratic parties. It was naturally greeted with a storm of
protests by them, and execrated from one end of the state
to the other. The radical Union men, aside from political
influences, generally endorsed it, urging that the import-
ance of the full support of the Union by Maryland was
far more important than any matters of local liberty and
freedom.

Governor Bradford, a man of undoubted loyalty, who
had courageously upheld the Union cause without com-
promise, and was in personal and friendly communication
with the military authorities, had received no intimation
in regard to the order.²² This was rather bad treatment,
for the chief magistrate of the state certainly deserved at
least the courtesy of a proper notice that the state laws
were to be superseded by military direction, especially since

²² Governor's Message, Senate and House Documents, 1864.