Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1886-02-12

plicable only to those States which had
been in rebellion, whose slaves were eman-
cipated by the proclamation of President
Lincoln, after they had been afforded am.
pie o ,portunity of avoiding that result oy
laying down their arms.
In support Of this opinion we referred
to the decision Of the Supreme Court in
the celebrated "Slaughter house case" in
which the language of the first section of
the same amendment was construed in a
very s'ricted sense, in order to bring its
operation within the presumed contempla
ton of the trainers of the amendment aud
to avoid an unwarrantel invasion Of the
righrs of the State of Louisiana which the
court said it was not reasonable to SUP
pose the amendment contemplated. We
think 1t Will bs apparent to the mind o.
any lawyer that he egic Of the "slau shtc'
house case applied to the 4sh section oi
! the same amendment VIII clcary exclude
the loyal State OF Maryland from its opsr-
alton. 1t would not he relsonubc 10 sap
pose that the Congress in proposing, and
the people ia adopting the 18th article OF
amendment, intended to 50 tar invade the
rights Of the 'eyal State 81 Maryland
which had always remained true in her
allegiance 10 the Union, - to deprive he.
of a right which inaerss in the very es
sence of her sovereignty rs State, OF
atcarding compensation 10 her o,cq citizens for
| property taken a,oay uaaor color Of hc-
While the policy of the recons ruction
legis alton did contemplate the abrogation
| Of certain of the sovereign rights OF the
| seeded Sta cs. and did make the surren-
der OF these rights, as embodied in the
| 18th and 14th amendments of the consti-
| tuition, q condition precedent to their re-,
| admission into the Union; it would be
| unreasonable in high degree to hold that
| he provisions Of these Amendments should
involve similar surrender by the loyal
| State of Maryland. which had always re-
NAMED true in her allegiance to the Union
md furnished her full quota Of troops to
| the Federal armies. mourning an orerous
debt for the purpose And it will follow
| that, if this interiic ion in regard 70 CON
psnsatiug for her own slaves did NJ. APP
ply to Maryland, then she is clearly eH-
Guided from the operation OF this section
of the l4th smendme.' and there is no
legal obstacle in the way of the Federal
government awarding compensation for
the slave property destroyed in Maryland
by its policy and authority IS claimed hv
the constitution Of Maryland Further
rength is given To the argument that this
inhibition was intended II apply only to
the rebeilious States, by the fac, hat it is
ceup'ed inseparahly in the language OF
the amendment with "o5li7gti0ss Incurred
in All OF iss9rrs:.ioa or rebellion against ne
United States
While it seems c ear from the above con
siderations that this claim on the par; of
the people Of Maryland does not come
within the iuhibi ira Of til. 14'h amend
ment, it is probsbl. tL,t m istlken view
of the scope Of ti:tt provision has had
nearly a. much 70 ID with the f.ilarc OF
the Legislature up II this time - take the
action commanded by the constitution Of
the State, as the fact that, almost c3ntiau-
ousy sincs the adopting of the prascn;
Constitution, the people Of these cauaties,
who were chiefly interested 10 tbr measure.
have had no representation In ths Assem-
bly,. But even though there should still
DC difference of views in this regard. il
is clearly he da:y OF tas Legislature TO
take the steps cDmntn led bY he cnusti
tuition. They vii then have dis harg.i
their duty to the grealy wronscd peapIs
IF this ate, and If it should bs dacide ell
OF thc Federal C,agrss, and Courts that
the II b amendment does tax. away The
remedy to this grsa' and mischievous
wrong to ths pespls OF thi. Stat. and
more especially % this section n il; then
it would be time u sgltate the matter be
fore the people of The couatry st large
with . view Of securing such al amend
nent TO the Federal constitution as would
give the wronged people of the loyal State
Of Maryland hearing hafprs the Federal
Courts and let them have their remsiy, If
they are entitled to it |. has always been
the boast of the English law which we ic =
herit that "there is no right withou:
remedy" II will Je remembered thai
when the mon.rchical government Of
Great Britain enancipated the slaves 10
is provences. that it did not assume 70
do so without compensation. The Amer
lean Republic can hardly afford to take
away tn. property of its CITIZENS by it's
policy and authority aad deny them all
remedy for the wrong lhus perpetrstcd.
This proposition az advanced by The
TINES was discussed to n considerable ex-
tent by the State press when We were agi-
tating the matter last year, aud several of
the most influential papers of the St.'s
gave the measure thsir unqualified en-
dorsems2t. We print elsewhere ia this
issue extracts from the articles Of the " St
minister AdrocGte. the leading rural journal
OF the State, and from our neighbor the
Marlboro Gazette upon the question. We
hope our representatives in the Lagisla-
ture will give this matter Of 80 much i'm
portance to this section of the State the
attention it deserves.
The Government and its Debt