Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1864-09-22

/ "a. THE AiARYL AID cDaYElsTIoN 5.
The Constitutions framed ,byyfhs conxsation Of
the State Of Maryland, lately sitting u Annapolis,
is to be submitted to the vote Of squaifed portion
lof the people of the Ssste for their rsGoation or
rescsion on the 18th ana 18th day Of October next
III the schedule Of their project the Convention
make the following provisions under this head :
%. The judges of election Of said city, Baltimore and
Of tho several counties Of the State receive said
election s votss only ct sufh sesors as ara qualified &C
osr 70 vote Il such election and The ssd snsrs shsl
alro give notice on after the twelfth day of October
eiahteen hundred and for all eectons proyi Ted
s 70 e ps S
stall describe thereon the words for the Consttuon
against the Consultation the voter may elect and 10
shnl Dc conducted an all resPeos a. The general secons
OF this State conducted. The Judges of slscos
shall Gdminter epsry person os,ing Ms oath
affirmation PR sorbed b. is Comsttn ion and should any
person orDg vote refuse decline to take said OATH
he shall be permitted at such election but the
taking of such oath affirmation shall not be deemed
conclusive evidence Of the right Of such person to
and h shall be the duty of the return judges OF said city
and OF the several counties of the State having
the votes given for against the adoption Of this Cons
tutoD TO certify the result thereof in the maDnrr now
prescribed by law accompanied with special statement
that every person who has voted has taken tbs oath
affirmation prescribed By this COnstiiuonS and the Gov
ernor ivDg such result aud tho
gate vote throughout the State shall by his proclamation
make known the same and If majority Of the votes cast
shall be for the adoption of the Constitution il shall 90
into effect the fst day Of eighteen hundred
and sky four The Governor shall exclude from count
the votes of any county city the judges Of which
shall fail 10 certify 10 the returns provided By this sche
due that all persons who havs voted have ake the oath
prescribed TO pc taken uness the Governor shall salts
fed that such oath was actually administered, and that
the failure to make the certificate has been from nadveT
tence or mistake - eaa7H 9i4 n .11! iAs 81 ra
,#4 E.s# x III
Y The oath prescribed by the new Constitution to
be taken by every voter who, shall be allowed to
vote on its adoption or rejection is as follows !:
3 81 doswear Cor affirm that am citizen Of the Uni
ted States, that have given any aid,
support TO those in armed hostility to the United States
that have expressed desire for the trnnph OF
said enemies the Of the United States andhat
will bear true faith and allegiance to the United States and
support the Constitution and laws thereof the supreme
and w IN
myself loyal citizen Of the United States and make
this oath Cor armation) without any reservation eys
sion, and believe it to be Binding on me-" II 12i XII
In addition to this interpolation on the existing
Constitution and Statutes of the State regulating
the right of suffrage, the Convention has assumed
to declare, in its schedule providing for submis-
sion Of the new Constitution to the people, that
soldiers in the field and out Of the Stale shah be
allowed to vote its adoption, when by the exist
ing Constitution and laws they are not allowed 80
to vote. IL !, g.@ ta ,a.gs 4.. ati ~.
1t is perfectly proper for the competent author
riy in the State Of Maryland to regulate the right
of suffrage by prescribing the conditions on which
it shall be exercised. But any body who knows
any thing Of constitutional polity in the States of
this Union will not contend that Convention Is
such competent authority, The right Of suffrage
in the State of Maryland can be legally regulated
only by the Legislature of the State, acting
under and in conformity to the provisions Of the
existing Constitution. The members of State
Convention have no legislative authority whatever,
either to add to OF subtract from the conditions
of the elective franchise, and their work can be
legally ratified only IT shall be ratified by the
voting population which elected them. The LIE.
gslsture of Maryland, acting under the existing
Constitution, has prescribed the qualifications of
the very act of protesting to submit its work
to the popular approval or condemnation,
makes part of its work (Which is yet wholly
without legal or binding authority Of any kind
part of the organic and statute law of the State,
thus overriding the existing Constitution and the
statutes made in pursuance of that Constitution.
Such proceeding, it will be seen, involves
grave political anomaly, which nothing but the as
cendancy of revolutionary ideas in the Convention
could have concealed from the perception of its
members. To the oath which it has prescribedin
the body of the new Constitution there might be
no legal objection on the part Of loyal citizens, SO
soon as that oath can be legally prescribedhat is,
after the regular adoption Of this project of Con-
stituton. Until then the right of suffrage in Ma
ryland must remain as it is defined by the existing
statutes of the State, and any attempt of the Con-
vention to limit to extend or to modify that right
Ia any way or to any degree, is an assumption Of
unlawful power which plants sap and mine under
the very foundations of the fabric it is proposed to
rear on the ruins Of the old structure. And this
assumption is the more without excuse because
the Republican or "Loyap Legislature under
whose authority the Convention was called has
provided, as we understand, the most ample guards
to protect the purity of the baot-box from the in
trusion Of disloyal votes" insomuoh that the
usurpation practised by the Convention is as gra-
tuitous as it is anomalous is g7
As the Convention had precisely as much right
IA declare that their work shonld be suhitted for