The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1864-09-30
THE NEW CONSTITUTION.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the 18th and
18th of October, the people of the State of Mary
land will be called upon to vote for or against
the new Constitution. Probably not one out of
ten of the legal voters of the State have had an
opportunity of reading its provisions and very
few, except those who concocted it, are fully
aware ofits. objectionable features.
One of the objections 10 it is that it proposes
to commit wholesale robbery upon the private
property of individuals, by abolishing slavery
without the consent of, or any compensation
to, the owners. This is a simple act of dis
honesty, by which the owners Gf it is adopt
ed) will be deprived of property worth several
millions of dollars. And as no provision is
made for those who are too old or too young to
labor, they will be thrown upon the counties for
support, and the taxes of the people will be thus
greatly Increased. ,.... .... .. Did.
But this is mere matter of dollars and cents
The chief objection to the new Constitution is that
it is a bold attempt to disfranchise a very large
portion Of the people of the State, merely on ac-
count of their opinions. If this Constitution
should be adopted, many men who are now le-
gal voters, will be deprived of the right of suf-
frage, although they are known to be as good
and exemplary citizens in all respects as those
who framed or any Of those who may vote for it
and for no other reason than because they
think differently from those who are seeking to
have this new Constitution adopted. 1t is not
merely those who have committed crimes and
have violated their duties to the State, who are
to be deprived of the right to vote or hold Office
but all whose thoughts, and feelings, and sympa-
thies are disapproved of no matter how faith
fully they may have performed all the duties of
good citizens. We believe that there is Deep
seated sense of right and justice in the pub
lie mind, which will prevent the preparation of
this great wrong, and that honest Republicans
will refuse to sanction so great an outrage
Another very serious objection to this new
Constitution is that it wipes out and annbiates
all State rights, and reduces our good old State
of Maryland from sovereign government to the
poor, dependent condition of county or corpo-
ration. No one can deny that ':he Constitution
of the United States, and the laws made in pur-
suance thereof are the supreme law of the land"
granted to the General Government are reserved
to the States and the people," and that a Con-
stitutional law of the State is of more binding
authority now than an unconstitutional act of
Congress. But this new Constitution shameless
1y throws away all those reserved rights-yields
up all sovereignty, and basely bows down to a
paramount authority outside of the State and
above the Constitution.
States may be conquered and trampled into
submission, and by force or fraud be deprived of
their just privileges but is it probable that the
fee-born citizens of Maryland will voluntarily
abandon their birth-right or barter it for a mess
of pottage2 This new Constitution may be
pleasing to the powers at Westinghouse may,
by DISTINGUISHING large number of the legal
voters, enable small minority (many of whom
are strangers among us) to cast the electoral
vote of the State for Abraham Lincon-but will
this compensate for the deep and lasting degra-
dation which it would entail?
Let the people of Maryland reflect seriously
upon this subject. Our present Constitution
has worked..very WELL Let us vote to continue it
in force, until the present cruel war and all the
excitement of the times shall have passed away