Civilian & telegraph. [volume] (Cumberland, Md.) 1859-1875, 1864-05-19
SPEECH OF
HON. II. WINTER DAVIS,
Of MARYLAND.

Dill Wnlcn Is now unuer consideration
involves a subject forced on us by the
events of the war, and which must be de-
termined one way or the othcr-thc dis
position of the freed negroes in the rebel
States. The range of debate has natu
rally been very wide upon bill of this
character; and topics not, perhaps, at first
sight very directly related to it have been
dragged into the discussion.
The votes of the gentlemen from the
loyal slave States cast new light on the
mind of the gentleman from New York
Mr. Brooks respecting the fate of the
negro race on this continent But while
he justly appreciated the great and de-
cis.ve weight of that vote upon the speak
ership of this House, he took occasion to
discredit the moral power of that vote by
by impeacking the election of the Repre-
sentatives who cast it He thinks they
speak words not authorized by the people.
He said
Il know that the people of Maryland
and of Delaware, if they had been allowed
to vote. intended no such dccree"-
That is, of emancipation
"And know that it is said those two
States are better represented by the hon
orable gentlemen from Ohio Mr.. Schenck
than by their Representatives here"
If this were merely meant as n COM
pliment to my distinguished friend from
Ohio l would be among the first to admit
that any district of Maryland, as well as
any in New York, would be better rep
resented by him than by any gentleman
representing either State te-cven the gem
teman from New York. But when it
comes in the shape of an imputation up
on the validity and moral force Of the
election, it questions the legitimacy of
the Administration majority in this House
and must not pass unanswered. When
the gentleman from New York says at
is said those two States are better repre-
scutod hy the honorable gentleman from
Ohio than BY those who represent them
here" no person who cares to have any
respect for his knowledge of the public
affairs of the day has so said. And when
the honorable gentleman says that "he
knoms that the people of Maryland and
Delaware, had they been allowed to vote
intended no such Decree" | desire to say
that the honorable gentleman from New
York does not know any such thing, and
knows no fact that makes the error ex-
cusablc.
Had they been allowed to vote Who
hindcred them from voting? Where
were they stopped from voting? The
people of Maryland"' If the gentleman
means to say that because the people Of
Maryland determined that Me traitors of
Maryland, who disavowed their nllegi
ance to the Government, should not tar
nish the ballot-box by their votes, we
differ about the terms, but not about the
facts. We did mean they should not
vote, and we so meant because by the
laws of ,Iaryla.d such men are not en-
titled to vote. They who disavow, deny,
and dsown their allegiance to the United
States, and declare and avow they are
not citizens of the United States, have
no right to vote; and so the judges Of
election held, almost from one end of Ma
ryland to the other. If that is not good
election law, this House can say SO; the
General Assembly of Maryland can say
so: and if both be silent the law is con-
fessed.
If the gentleman referred to the COM
plants which are made of the interfcr-
encc Of the military in the election, de-
sire to say that that complaint comes from
nobody but heated partisans who howl
because they are beaten. Even they
confined the complaint to one single con-
grssional district out of five. and to four
out of eight counties in that congression-
al district; and therefore, conceding every
thing that is complained of. and every
thing that is inferred from the complaint,
we have an undisputed election in four
ffths OF the State, which the gentlemen
who make the complaint do not dispute.
No one questions the election of the hon
orablc member from the fifth congression-
al district, Mr.. Harris, where the divi-
ded Union vote was ovcrborne by the
united secession vote, and where the ag
greeatc vote of the district fell only a
little below the normal vote of the dis
trict before the rebellion attracted many
of its young men to the rebel ranks My
honorable friend in my eye from the sec
ond congressional district Mr.. Webster
could ind no competitor to meet him be-
fore the people. The distinguished gen.
tleman, the senior of the delegation, Mr..
Thomas from the fourth congressional
district, is here for the second time an un-
opposed candidate. And l am here be
cause my political opponents did not care
to take the responsibilities of canvass,
although aided and urged to oppose me
by distinguished adviser of the Presi-
dent up to within week of the election.
So that of all the State of Maryland,
whose election is here impeached, in three
ffths of it there was no contest whatever,
in one fifth there was contest in which
our opponents had so free an election
that they have their Representative on
this floor; and in the other fifth the con-
test is only impcachcd in four of the
eight counties; and if the whole vote
which was not cast in the district be
added to the aggregate vote of our oppo-
nents, the .emancipationists will still have
a majority of thirteen or fourteen thous-
and in the State. And yet, in the face
Of such facts, gentleman, who is enti-
tied to be regarded as an intelligent OBJ
server of public affairs, rises here and
says that he knons that if the people of
Maryland had been permitted to rote they
would have allowed the emancipation
candidate for the comptr ,ller to carry
the State by twenty thousand majority!
In Delaware the case is still more abb
surd; for after an animated canvass the
opponent of the Representative from that
State withdrew on the eve of the election
and yet the vote for the gentleman from
Delayare vas the largest ever cast in
that State for any candidate, and ma
jority of the whole vote of the State.
Mr.. Speaker, the Legislature of Mary
land is overwhelmingly Union. but not