The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1927-12-29

birth. Not copies, official or other.
wise, but originals. There is, in many
respects more interesting, the bound
original manuscript record of all the
laws from 164O to 1892 which in 1894
was adopted by the Assembly as the
full list of laws of the province, until
copies should be made of the original
laws which by mistake had been sent
to England. Perhaps those originals
are still to be found in England when
our own students have wound up their
work as far back as 1882 with the An
napolis originals.
There are bound manuscript records
of the laws from I'LL to 1882, then a
gap, then resumption in 1779.
What elese is there no one knows
for only few of the packages have
been opened and these cautiously. To
show what strange discoveries can be
made, there was a cali time ago for
the original copy of the States War
Constitution of 1864, and to the dis
may of the court it could not be found
A careful search was instituted and
at length the document was found not
unnaturally folded into a packet OF
the laws of that year. So was the
original of the present constitution OF
1867 and of that of 1851. Some day in
some equally natural but unsupported
place some delightful papers of 177e
may be found.
A packet Of manuscript laws was
broken open and found to contain a
Revolutionary officers commission
dated 1776, lost for a century and a
half. In another totally irrelevant
vicinage was leave of absence grant
ed a soldier. The soldier later became
clerk of the General Court, scrawled
a bill of costs on the back of this in
teresting document and stuck it away
with the court papers where contem-
porary of his great grandson uncov-
cred it by chance. Who knows what
else is there?
What did the Assembly enact il
those days? Well, a good deal that
wrinkles the brows of our present AS.
sembly. One of the first acts gov.
erns the manner in which a newcomer
to Maryland shall be naturalized. An
other shows how he can get himself
convicted of bribery and corruption Of
the provincial officers. Another for.
mally incorporates the old town or
the banks of Jones Falls.
On them, with one seal or another
you find in due and ancient form:
l will this be law.
CHARLES CALVERT.
And it was done. Did that NEAR
that it was obeyed then any more
than now? Well, there are severa
hundred bushels of manuscript which
suggest otherwise.
In the good old days, however, there
was high insistence on pledges Of ODE.
dience We find back in 1747 an oath
of allegiance to King George, which
had to be signed. We find that same
oath repudiating the oath-taker's ere.
dence of the doctrine of transsub
sanitation, showing happy economy
of laws and oaths and signatures by
which one pledge was made to take
care of ones allegiance, spiritual anc
temporal alike. For this of course
was two years after "the 49," wher
unhappy Stuarts were being hunted
and harried throughout the world lest
they reassemble under some worthiel
prince than Charles had shownhimsel1
and make further trouble for the Sc
rene George. Many liked England:
Established Church as little as the!
did England's Established King. The
oath disposed of both at the same
time, theoretically.
And while speaking of oaths i
might be mentioned that they KEEP
on swearing the patriots even afte.
the election of the British. One o:
the most impressive is the "Oath O.
Fidelity and Support to the State,
required by an act of 1777, aimed a
the suppression of lingering Tories
Was anyone exempt from the oath
1t does not seem likely, for among thu
signatures are Paca and Stone, wht
had signed the immortal Declaration
itself, and quite probably Carroll am
Chase as we'll, if one could deciphe.
clearly.
With all these quaint and allurins
manuscripts to be found in the realm
Of the Court of Appeals there is posi-
tive bewilderment that, in addition
there are manuscripts often less tech
meal and often more absorbing to b,
found on the ground floor of the build
ing where the Land Office lies. Befor'
one can understand their source it i
needful to learn, more accurately thai
most of US know it, the ancient be
ginnings of that Office.