The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1867-09-13
The Meeting on Saturday.

Inc meeting on Saturday although not large
was II respectable county meeting, and bore evil
dence that there is strong disposition all over
the county for the adoption of the Constitution
lately framed by the Constitutional Convention.
The meeting was organized by the selection of
the Hon. Alex. Norris, as President; James W.
Tolley and Henry A. Silver, Esqs., as Vice Pres
dents, and Stephen S. Johns, as Secretary
After the organization, the meeting was ably
addressed by II. D. Farnandis, Henry W. Arch
er and Col John @. Walsh, all of whom urged
the people to come out to the election on the 18th
instant. Messrs. Farnandis and Archer discuss
ed at some length the reasons which should in
duce persons to support the new Constitution,
and why every effort should be made by its
friends TO carry it ut the polls. They reviewed
the provisions OF the present Constitution, and
compared them with that to be voted upon on
the eighteenth, and gave abundant, and, we
thought, unanswerable reasons why the Consti-
tuition just adopted at Annapolis should be pre-
fererd to the one under which we are now living.
Col. John c. Walsh then offered the following
resolution, which was unanimously adopted:
Resolved by this Meeting. That on behalf of
the PEOPLE OF Hartford, ittenders their sincere and
earnest thanks TO the delegates who represented
them in the late Constitutional Convention, for
their constant attention to, and the wisdom and
craftsmanship exhibited in the discharge of the
important duties with which they were entrust-
ed.
To our mind there is one reason, if no other
and we think that there are many others-which
should induce every man in the State who ac-
knowledges the government to belong to the
governed, TO cast his vote in favor of the adop-
ton Of the Constitution TO be voted upon We'd
nesday next; and the reason is this, that the
Con stitution under which we are now living is
not the Constitution of the people of this State,
no matter how unobjectionable it may be. The
call for it was not made by the people of the
State. 1t was not framed by the representatives
of the people of the State. 1t was net submitted
to the people of the State, nor was it adopted by
the people of the State; while the call for the
Convention which made the Constitution of 1867
was made by the people, and the instrument to
be voted upon was framed by the true represent
tatives of the whole people of Maryland.
We have stated that the Constitution of 1861
is the act of the people, and the Constitution of
1864 is not the act of the people, and the ques-
ton may be askcd-why SO? for the vote for the
call Of both Conventions was alike small, and
that the whole people of the State did not vote
at either election. We say, this is true; but the
reasons why they did not vote were widely
different at the two elections. In 1864, about
one-half of the voters were disfranchsed and
could not vote If they had gone to the polls, and
many who did go were refused their votes, in
consequence of their inability to agree politically
with the party then in power. We therefore
say, that the call for Convention was never le-
gally made, nor was one single delegate to that
Convention ever legally elected, because legal
voters were forced from the polls and were re-
fused the opportunity of expressing themselves
for or against the call of a Convention, or for or
against the delegates claimed to have been elected
Now, on the other hand the smallness of the
vote for the call Of the Convention of 1867 is no
proof whatever that large majority of the voters
of the State were against call for a Convention,
but on the contrary, is conclusive that large
jority of such voters were in favor ola Conven-
ton to reform or change the Constitution under
which we are now living. In 1861, every man
in the State entitled to vote could have voted if
he had taken the trouble TO have done so.-
There was regular organized opposition to the
call for the Convention of 1867, all over the
State, and every inducement offered to swell the
vote against it; and it is, therefore, not only
probable but certain, that every man who WAS
in fact opposed to- and who was able to reach
the polls, went there and voted against it; while
it is just as absolutely certain, that those who de-
clned to 60 to the polls from choice, either were
In favor of the call for Convention, or had no
objection to it. Therefore the call of 1867 was
the act of the legal voters of Maryland, and the
men who formed the Convention were the true
of the people Of this State. Eve
rything which has yet been done in relation to
a new Constitution has been by the consent of
those having the right to declare what shall be
done, and as those deputed by US to do our work
have done it we'll let us not fail, on the day of
the election, TO ipdorse their action