Year: 1861

HOI ulnclng upon any OF the otates Wnlcn 90 no
consent thereto; and the State of Maryl and doe
hereby give notice to all parties concerned that i
will not hold itself or its citizens bound for th
payment of any part of said debt; and that it vii
resist the payment thereof by every means in it
power"


Mr. Gordon, from the committee to whom wa
referred the petition requesting an adjournmen
sine die of the Legislature reported that the pray
er of the petitioners ought not to be granted; be
cause they comprise but small fraction of th
people of the State, and because the Legislature
were properly enough the judges of the duty de
volved upon them by the Constitution. He, how
ever, reported resolution that when this body
adjourn on Friday, the 2lst, it stand adjourned tt
meet at Annapolis the 30th of July-in orde
that it may then cooperate with the Congress o
the United States in any measure 1t may adopt fol
the restoration of peace.


Mr.. Mackubin, of Anne Arundel, moved the
adoption Of the resolution.


Mr.. Wallis hoped the motion would be with
drawn. He was as much opposed to the extension
of a session, already too much prolonged any
member on this floor. But the Legislature of Ma
ryland bad been cOnvoked under circumstances o.
grave responsibility, and to adjourn without meet
ing fully the duties arising from these circumstan.
ceS would be to justly subject themselves to cen
sure. The same causes which justified the calling
of the Assembly would justify the continuance o
the sitting until all the business rendered necessary





ted. He hoped members would disregard all out.
side clamor and be controlled only by their consci
entiOus convictions of duty. He for was most
unwilling to adjourn until the important business
inaugurated by this House had been acted upon by
the Senate either to their adoption rejection
Any other course would be child's play, and unless
some disposition manifested to meet the res
possibilities of their position now, he could no
utility in again assembling. and should be most ad-
verse to attending the next session. He moved that
he tO


The motion of Mr.. Mackubin was withdrawn .and
the report lies over under the rule.


ANOTHER AMNESTY BILL.


Mr.. Briscoe, from the Committee on Military. re-
ported bill repeating the 4lst, 43d, 46th, 47th,
4Sth and 18TH sections Of article 63 of the Code OF
General Laws; and the 741st, 742d and 743d sec.
tiOns of article 4 of the Code of Local Laws, and
substituting therefor section providing that nc
proceeding shall be taken for the enforcement ofany
bond heretofore given for the return of any arms,
loaned by the State of Maryland to any military
company, &c, 'until the same shall be provided
for BY law" and any such proceedings now pend
ing shall be dismissed.


The member from Calvert urged the adoption o.
the that the State ~os nin nsnosey m Dis
dFmed BY the executive, in order to prevent the
vindicatio of her outraged dignity and honor II
was adopted-yeas 80, nays IL.


Defence OF GOVERNOR HICKS.


AT the commencement of the mornings session
Mr.. Fiery rose to PRIVILEGED question. He re.





others, of Queen Anne's county, which was, he
said, an indictment against Governor Hicks Sian.
derous in tone, and conveying statements which he
was authorized to say were untrue; and as the Gov
before this House, he (Mr. Fiery) rose in place to
say, by the authority of the Governor, that the
statements of the petition were false.


Mr.. Wallis interrupted the gentleman. The sole
ground, he said, OF his question of privilege was
that the Governor had no opportunity of vindica
ting himself before this House Now it will be re.
membered that but dav or two ago the Governor
had sent to this body lengthy, indecorous and ILL
tempered reply to a communication addressed to
this House in reference to a portion of his oflicia
conduct, and it he could vndicate himself then, he
could in like manner do so now. The gentlemen
who had subscribed to the petition were men OF
known integrity and respectability, and no one ac
quainted with them will, considering the source
from whence it sprang, consider their veracity im
peached by the Governors denial. But he desired
no second hand denals if Governor Hicks had such
to make, let him do so upon his own direct respon
sbity.


The question of privilege being disputed, Mr..
Fiery yieled the point, saving he would take
another opportunity of vindicating the Executive


SPEECH OF MR.. PITTS.


The order of the day was taken up shortly after
twelve O'Clock, and Mr.. Pitts proceeded to make
his eagerly expected speech upon the resolutions
of Mr.. Dennis, of Somerset, and the Report of the
Committee on Federal Relations 1t was acknow
ledged by all to be most able aud mastery argu
ment. He confined himself solely to the question o
States Rights" and said in substance, that
originally be had not intended to take any part in
this discussion. On his return he found that the
debate had taken every conceivable range. Even
then. he had determined to remain quiet, but a
construction had been put upon one of the resolu-
tions which he was not disposed to pass over. AT
ter ALL he did not wish to be considered AS a cham
pion, or to throw out challenge to any one, but
merely to present his own views.


The question of secession had been studiOusly
kept ont of this House until Wednesday last, when
it was introduced by the gentleman from Wash
ington county (Fiery), and introduced upon a
resolution of Mr.. Dennis, of Somerset, expressly
denying the constitutional right of secession; yet
had the gentleman forced the argument upon the
House'for other apparent purpose than to arraign
the seeded States here violators of the laws,
and to heightep the darkness Of the crimes which
he imputed to them.


He should meet the issue, not that he desired to
champion any cause, or to break lance with any
one, but that it gave to questions of constitutional
import an Interpretation which he could not permit
to go forth uncontradicted from this House.


The principle of the Federal Government, assert
ed by gentlemen the other side IS that the Con-
stution does not provide for the secession of auy
State-that is conceded; but thev go further, and
assert that the Government is in its nature neither
federal nor yet compact between States, but a
National Government, arising from the will of the
people at the time of its formation, and that no
State possesses any right, either constitutional or
reserved, to withdraw itself from the Union. They
admit, however, that it is a revolutionary right
In opposition to those views he denied that seces-
sion is either revolutionary right rebellion
1t is the exercise of a sovereign right, and in the
exercise of which they rebel against no govern
ment-against the right of no other State.


All admit that the thirteen Colonies emerged
from the struggle of 1776 Independent sovereign
States. Indeed this claim to sovereignty was as
serted at the very outset Of the contest. The Ian
guage of the Declaration of Independence express
ly announced that the Colonies care and of right
ought to be free and independent States" with all
the powers and prerogatives of sovereignty And
that declaration, formed at the very foundation OF
national existence, shows that it was never
contemplated to create consolidated Govern
ment.


The next step in our governmental progress was
the formation of the old Confederacy, under the
Articles of Confederation. None denies that, so
far the question OF nationality is concerned this
was simply a league between sovereign States
But it is cOntended that the Constitution of 1881
changed the whole character of that Confederacy
and in support of this assertion much stress is laid
upon that clause of the preamble which declares
the Constitution to be established by "the people
and not by the States or by the people of the States
1t is matter of historic record that the COM
missions of the delegates to the Convention which
framed the Constitution, became in that body q
question of grave discussion, to whether, issuing
only from appointments by the Governors or Le-
gisatures of the several States, they had power to
do more than amend the Articles OF Confederation
then uniting the Colonies. The Convention even.
tualy, and after full discussion of the subject de-
termined that the delegates had the right to gC
beyond the limits OF an amendment; that it was
within the scope of their commissions to change
the organic law OF the Government, so long they
adhered to republican institutions, and presented
government consistent with the character of the
league existing between the States


Immediately alter the formation of the new Con-
stituton, it was referred back to the people, and
pending the action of the States in reference to its
adoption or rejection, that instrument was vigo-
rously assailed in all of the States and only upon
the ground that it ignored State sovereignty, and
established Nationality, in violation of the power
of the delegates, and in antsgonsm to the will OF
the people. 1t was in reply to these assaults that
the series OF papers so often quoted from The Fed
eralist appeared. And the chief object of General
Hamilton, and Madison, and Jay, by whom these
papers were written, was to prove that the princi
pie of State sovereignty had not thus been lost sight
Of but that the State came into the Union express
ly as sovereign States; forming compact under
which none of their powers had been surrendered,
except such as were expressly delegated to Con
grsss, and unless you ignore and pronounce as