The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-06-15
toO''e$po"de"ce Of the Daily Erchangs
LETTER FROM FREDrp1CU

,f mencement of the session. The floor of the HON
was also occupied by very full representation
the grace and beauty of the "MOuntan City,
large constituency en pdssdnt-t0 the exclusion fro
their seats of a number of less ornamental repre-
: sentatlVes of the legislative dignity and gaantr
OF the State at large.
The preliminary legislation of the day was i'm
patiently disposed of and the order of the day-th
report of the Committee Federal Relations
taken up punctuallv at the appointed bour r,
general consent ofthe House the resolutions of r
Dennis, OF Somerset, which were yesterday reached
uhuer suspension of the rules were included in
the oruer, In order that the discussion might cove,
lhe whole ground involved in the subject under
consideration. ~
SPEECH OF S, TEACKLE WALLIS ESQ
VI, In mus extending the limits of the debate, Mr.
"a'l's s"a, IN his opening, that the House had
acted wisely for though the resolutions which wnre
yesterday the subject of discussion prssartod tbo
simple and restricted questions that the war which
Tue Administration was wagng against the Soulh
was unconstitutional, and that only bv arecooni
tion OF the Southern Confederacy could a t1pe Of
the re- obstruction of the Union be promoted yet
the gentleman from Washington county had rsnSed
over the entire held OF national politics. introducing
suoJects having no possible bearing upon the
| question at issue. He had commenced with John
banvan and ended with Jack Ketch. Laughter
| =, Aith0ugh the resolutions had expressly denied
the r1ght OF secession Constitutional right aud
asserted that it a right of revolution To ba ev
ercsed at the peril of those choosing to avail them
serves OF 1t, yet the gentleman bad directed the
he ivLt
vi secession, not only thus explicitly denied hat
wAlch had not so far an any action OF this BODY is
| concerned, been even indirectly asserted He had
IN lact, stolen the thunder of the gentleman from
Somerset Discussing the question of secession a I
TINS stage ot our national difficulties was Mr. Wal
| lis said, like setting men to discuss principIas of
chemistry and magnetism after their house had
oeen struck by lightning. and while its ruins were
| lallng around them. Two great sections were in
open and active hostility to each other Tho truu
| pet had sounded the aiarums of war. The soil Of
maryland was occupied by hostile forces and the
! pooa OF thousands of her children would certainly
De sheo In the impending conflict, vet the gentle
! man, instead OF meeting and dealing with SO mo-
mentous TACT was gravely discussing what the
| Hartford Convention did in 1872, and what Mr.
oaIhoun and Mr. somebody else said thirty years
| ago.
Ihe discussion was properly divided he said into
two branches-the action of this House in reference
| TO the Executive of Maryland and to federal af-
ialrS lie charged the Governor of MARYLAND in
| terms OF trenchant sarcasm, with initiating upon
petty scale, in this State the despotism aSd usur
patton pra ctised by the administration at Washing
ton towards the people of the South. Respectfully
! and properly called upon by the House-n co-or
dinate department of the govei nrnent-to saw what
ne had Gone to vindicate the honor and dignity of
Maryland against the unconstitutional and tyranni
| cli aggressions Of the general government. the
| Governor had replied that he had received no ofT
cial lntormatlono Of such aggressions; tha. he had
not been called upon to defend the rights of anv
citizen of the State, and that, "of course"
ne had done nothing to the end indicated
| in the inquiries of the Hnuse He was ra
| spect'uily asked to communicate this body the
precise character of his official correspondence with
| the general government; asked under a clause of
the Constitution which rendered his full response
| matter OF imperative duty; yet the GOyernor's
| reply was that he had communicated to the Housa
copies OF all the correspondence which be thought
| 1t proper they should receive. In this not ONLY
| had Gov. Hicks acted uncandidly-to use the mild
| est term-but he had violated his obligations to
| the citizens and to the State. He referred with
biting sarcasm to the Inconsistency presented by
the Governors eager credence-or pretended ere
dence-ln the ridiculous unofficial reports of an or
ganlzed plot to seize the Capital the 4th of
March, and to the Indifference with which be had
himself witnessed the arbitrary and unlawful arrest
OF a venerable member OF this House
he criticised with keen severity the comments of
Mr.. Fiery upon the arrest of Mr.. Winans dwellirr
with especial force upOn his qualification of the
honor due to the grey hairs of venerable age and
charged him with having read the Book of God on
ly to learn its maledictions. These frequent dis
regards OF his constitutional obligations bv the
Governor of Maryland; these fagrant trampinrs
under foot by the ashngton Administration Of the
hlghest ana dearest personal rights of the citizen
though termed but ''minor matters" !" bv tho COW
teman from Washington county, were neyertheIass
"t vital Importance to the existence of free poyern
ment. Mr.. w alls reviewed, in his sarcastic stvla
the actions OF the Governor since the commence
ment OF these unhappy national difficulties introdr.
clBg the letter of the latter to Mr.. Webstey of Har-
tord, and which would, he c0nended justify Rccor-
'ihS W thC IOSiC VI tHe gentleman from W ashinp-
ton county, the immediate arrest of the Govprn@r
his trial by drum-head court-martial and his
execution a traitor.
That the Governor of Maryland was a traitor, the
speaker did not believe. On the contrary he
believed him to be as true to the Washington Gov
ernment as any man could possibly be. TI.aurh-
ter Replying to Mr.. Fiery's assertion that the
memory OF Governor Hicks would be gratefully
remembered when the ''creatures of tbe bour,,
shall have passed away, Mr. Wallis said that if bi
unchrlstian and shocking speech of yesterday-in
which he expressed a wish that cne-half the Sc
ceded States might be swallowed up bv an earth
quake, in order that the remainder might be more
eftectuallv governed-if that speech of the GENTLE
man could be perpetuated, and post lerity coud be
Drought to believe 1t had been uttered by Legis-
latOr OF Maryland he had no doubt the anthor q f
such sentiments would live longer in the memorv
OF mankind than even Governor Hicks though the
remembrance, he was convinced, would not be of
an atfectOnate character.
The gentleman had again and apain token cara
TO impress uPon the House how entirely free he was
from all partisan influences; that he was on his
way to the Celestial City" with clean hands and
snou IN purity; 1t was remarkable characteris-
TIC OF the gentleman's argument, and of the policy
OF his party, that it offered no middle ground Ii
was either the Celestial CITY" to which he was
going or the other place, to which we who differ
rom @ hl!n are bound. And it suggested to his mind
comparisons between JEFF, Davis, T0ombs, Stevens
ana other "tallen angels'' of the South with Lin
coin, seward, Blair, &c-those seraphims and che
ruDims OF the White House-those wingless arch
The idea OF the gentleman from WASHINGTON
county, that a county had as much right to spcada
from State as State from the Union was
one OF the crumbs which Lincoln had cast unon rho
waters during bis journey to Washngton and
which the gentleman had found after MANY days
lie had thought, when the gentleman asked so
trlumphantly whether county can secede from
State, that the gentleman from Somerset (Denpis)
VINO, Ike him from Washington county, had been
a member of the Convention which framed the
ne" constitution ot the State, might have told him
OF proposition made there by one Holiday Hicks,
whose memory, according to the gentleman ia tn
be so much honored and insisted upon, that the
right OF the Eastern Shore counties to secede from
the state at any time they might desire to do So
should be inserted in the Constitution TIauuh
teri 1t was suggested to him that the gentleman
from Washington county had even voted for the
proposition.
Mr.. Fiery, interrupting, said he distinctly re-
memoered the proposition submitted by Governor
hicks, but voted against it, deeming it very sillv
Mr.. w allis Quickly )-There the gentleman and
myself entirely agree. Great laughter 1t had
become popular argument, in demonstrating the
utter absurdlty OF secession a right to ask what
government ever provided for its own destructionP
Does not the gentleman know that the basis prInci
pie OF the Declaration OF Independence is contained
IN the declaration that whenever any government
becomes destructive of the rights of life liberty
or the pursuit CT happiness, that it is the right OF
the people to ''alter abolish it and to institute
new government" Does he not know that the
Maryland Bill of Rights declares that the govern
meDt is compact with the citizen, to be abrogaed
whenever destructive of the ends for which it was
created?
If properly understood, there is no free Govern
ment which does not contain within itself the seeds
of its own destruction The fundamental principle
of the American Government is the right of revo-
luton. What other Government ever created con-
cedes that? Was there a Government which
provided for its own alteration? Yet has not our
Government such clause? They can meet in Con.
venton and abrogate even the guarantees of A Re-
publican form of Government bv doing that which
the Abolition party and the unconditional Union"
party are now seeking to accOmpish-the subver-
sion of the Federal principle of the Government.
The characteristic difference between the gov
ernments of Europe, which furnish the general
principles from which the gentleman reasons. and
our own, Is that the governments of Europe re-
gard government as the great end to be attained:
the American Government regards the happiness
OF the people as the great end. The Constitution
Is the mere outer form, worthy only to Tester and
rot whenever it shall no longer contain the pure
AMI immortal spirit of constitutional liberty. APP
plause. Mr.. Wallis requested that no applause
should be permitted during his speech
The gentleman has said that the whole secession
movement the result OF the mad ambition of
disappointed politicians. The assertion is made
for partisan purposes by those who do not believe
it, and is repeated until it becomes political text
with those who do believe it. 1t is worthy of note
that not a man connected with Lincoln's govern
ment is a politician, or has ever experienced dis
appointed political ambitions but the people of the
South all disappointed politicians.
The assertion is an absurd one. The leaders of
the Southern revolution were all members of the
dominant party; were all secure in posts of honor
and were deep-seated in the confidence of their
people. What had they to gain by breaking nm
the country which they could not have secured by
a continuance in the Union? why, their very first
act of power in the new Confederacy was to strike
down at one blow the infamous political doctrine
that to the victor belong the spoils, and nv moi
inc he n offpa