The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1866-02-17
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REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
.ne s. tgON REGISTRATION.5 5s3a va
NO NORTHUMBERLAND the LAW.

-t+a ~ ~ OI lOI6AT1ON. 3r3N tfi
oFsl gaf ni sfnsils i------ g8gH8ena Ell a.sal
Ii99i No NO1nterferenceWith the Law. 18l
The majority of the Committee on Registration,
to whom the memorial adopted by the late State
convention, held in Baltimore city, was referred,
made report to the House of Delegates on the
subject, adverse to the prayer ofthe memoriaists.
Our legislative proceedings show that the report
was accepted by the House. sigoi "a 9o' 'o fiAg
The Committee on Registration, to whom was
referred the memorial of the anti-registration
committee, on consideration Of the said nemori-
al, find it to be one of insolent self-asserton
whereby it claims to represent the majority of
the citizens of Maryland, and afrogate to the
said majority the possession of all the talent
wealth, moral worth and social elevation in the
State. -, 9i3Ht tlin7f sHi 9 nor
1t starts out with the assertion that the pres
ent Constitution was framed at time unsuited
for calm deliberaton upon fundamental rights,
Established it says, during civil, war it was
made under the influence of passion which
clouded mems reason and judgement. This is
argument against the constitution itself, strange
in the mouth of one who spoke and voted for
the constitution little more than year ago; for
if the constitution was made at a time unit for
securing fundamental rights, and when men s
reason was clouded by passion, it ought not to
have been made This is the Inference which
state = We deny the fact and the inference. p
Every great settlement of fundamental right has
been made in times of revolution. The English
settlement of 1888 was the result of revolution,
The Declaration Of Independence more funda-
mental in character than any document the
world has ever seen, was made in the midst of
civil war. The Bill of Rights of this State, to
which the menorialists appeal, and which has
lasted almost unaltered to this day, was made in
1776, in the very midst of the revolution {.
Details of legislation, and the perfection Of
municipal codes, may be largely the sequence of
long years Of peace, but great fundamental prin-
ciples have always been the offspring of great
public crisis. The assertion that the coventon
who made, and the loyal people who adopted
the constitution, did an act of whichpasson and
not reason was the cause, is only equally inits
absurdity by the demand which follows it, that
the qualifications which follow the right Of suf-
frage which that constitution prescribes must be
repealed by the very first Legislature which has
met under the constitution. 7'e'sD'
The assertion and demand both come with
such bad grace from the mouth Of the spokesman
of the memoralists, who uttered no such opinions
when the constitution was adoped, and are so
inconsistent with his former sentiments, that we
cannot grant to either the merit of sincerity
1t suited the interests of the spokesman then to
support the dIsfranchisement of those who sup
sort the rebellion; it does not suit his interest
now. 49, s"
The address makes the deliberate statement
that the constitution disfranchised the majority
of the citizens of the State. This assertion is in
defiance of all fact, and the spokesman of the
memoralists has, himself, time and again asserted
the LOYALTY of the majority of the people Of Ma
ryland. He has objected several times, and ma
nv of the very members Of the committee who
present the petition have objected publicly to di7
vers measures of the government while the war
was going on, on the ground, the people of Nary
land were loyal, and that such measures were
reflection on their loyalty. How is it then that
the constitution affects thus a majority of the
people? But the elections in this State are the
best test of this question. '.'.
In June, 1861, an election was held through
out the State for members Of Congress. Nomil-
itary force anywhere interfered no oaths were
anywhere asked for. In Baltimore city the cleo
ton was held under the auspices OF Marshal
Kane and his police, and yet at that election one
of the largest votes ever taken here was polled.
Members of Congress were elected in every dis
trict but one, who were open advocatessfor the
prosecution of the war and Mr. May, the mem
Der from the third district, then equiyocal about
the war, and talking a great deal about peace,
had been all through the mouth of April and 10
the very midst of the riot of 10th, an outspoken
ODpOlenI.OI I'LL ITcdSOudUlS SeutulGulo. uudJOlr
ity of the whole vote of this State then declared
for war to suppress the rebellion. "' y
When Governor Bradford Was elected, the SYM
pathizers with the rebellion then complained of
interference in Baltimore city and county, Still
Governor Bradford's vote was a large clear ma
iority of the whole vote of the State. 1t is not
to be supposed that men who voted for Mr.. Lea
ry, Mr.. Thomas Mr. Webster, and Mr.. CrisfeId,
in 1861, and for Governor Bradford in, 1868,
have ever given aid and comfort to the enemies,
or expressed desire for the defeat of the armies
of the United States. .. , -,
There has, in the opinion of your committee,
been always in this State clear majority ofloyal
men, and minority only of sympathizers with
and perpetrators Of treason but if BY the influx
of disoyal refugees from the South, or from any
other cause, these conditions are now changed and
the disloyal element does really prepopderate in
the State why then the more important is,it that
the power TO govern and legislate for the State
should be vigorously kept in the hands Of the
truly loyal. E..s - ,t.a....1,
The nation has not yet surnounted the difficult
ties of her position 1t is true armed treason has
been suppressed, but the feeling of domination of
caste, OF opposition to free labor, of hatred to the
loyal States, unfortunately have survived the war;
which has lust closed and in the opinion Of the
committee it would be extremely dangerous at
this time to entrust with political power men of
such unregenerate tempers. It would give them
opportunity, upon any slight local dissensioh
among loyal men of the State, in a moment of
apathy or fancied security, to place men in Con-
gress whose sympathy is with the vanquished enc
mics of the republic, to unite with them when they
shall be resolved to dictate the law to the loyal
men. of the nation who spent their treasure and
gave their lives for the defense of our free nstiu
ttions and for the perpetuity of our republican
government.
To contemplate such d result is sufficient to ap-
nal thesheart of the stoutest. ltis to repndlate
ourntional debt or assume thelrs.l 1T isto place
those of the rebel army who deserted our flag in
1861. again on the rolls of our army and navy, to
desert again perhaps on the first occasion in which
the country might need the service of true defen
ders. 1t is to restore if not slavery, a qualified
peonage, which is worse. 1t tisin short, to desert
now in the moment of victory, the victorious
cause, and to abandon the great experiment OF free
labor, which we have all fondly hoped would re-
deem the continent. The appeal is made that the
South is all to be restored, and therefore all dis
| franchisement here should be removed The
South has not yet been restored, and. it will be
| time enough when the Southern States arerepre-
! sented in Congress, and when those who haYeire-
sisted the Government there are. restored, to con-
slider the question here. By every terms oEthe
! petition the time has not yet arrived.lslaa ssd
Itmay be that repentance and better reason have
| come to many of those who have suffered under
the provisions Of the law. We hope that It'll $50;
| hut the memorial of the petitioners does not SO
set forth. There is no repentance acknowledged
and tits not mercy that is asked, but ratherthe
clamor of an unshrivcd multitude Demanding jus
tice. They are here because the Government was
opd fret and mprcfl afterwards s.