Year: 1864

Wnlcn, as the condltlon OF suHrsge In marylanu, ID
unknown to the existing Constitution and laws,
but when that oath is of nature and quality open
to the gravest exceptions grounds Of reason and
right. Not only is an oath prescribed by the Con-
vention, which had right to prescribe any oath,
but the oath itself is made retroactive in its opera
tons for the parpose of limiting the right of suf-
frage in way as unreasonable as it is illegal. The
test oath prescribed by the Convention is as fol-
lows:


II do swear affirm that am citizen of the United
States, that have gwen any aid, countenance


support to those in armed hostility to the United States
that have expressed desire for the triumph Of
said mics the Of the United States, and that


will bear true faith and allegiance to the United States
and support the Constitution and laws thereof the
preme law of land any law ordinance OF State to
the contrary Notwithstanding that will in all respects do
mean myself as loya citizen of the United States that


make this oath affirmation without any reservation or
evasion, and believe it to be binding on me-"


| In the election to be had on the "adoption or
rejection" of the Constitution, it is ordered that
the vote shall be By ballot, and each ballot shall
describe thereon the words " For the Constitu-
tion" or "Against the Constitution" as the voter
may elect and it shall be conducted in all respects
ss the general elections of the State are now con-
Quoted, except that the judges of election shall
administer to every person offering to vote the
oath or affirmation aforementioned, and should
any person Offering to vote refuse or decline to take
said oah che shall not be permitted to vote at such
election but the taking of such oath or affirmation
shall not be deemed conclusive evidence of the
right of such person to vote" And in order to
make it impossible for the judges Of election or
the Governor Of the State to execute the existing
laws according to their oaths of Office, the Conven-
| ton further ordered that


1t shall be the duty of the return judges OF Baltimore,
and OF the several counties OF the Stale having counted the
votes given Tor or against the adoption of this constitution,


certify the result thereof in the prescribed
by law, accompanied with special statement that euery
person ch0 has UOtd has taken the oath affirmation pre-
Scribed by this constiuionj and the Governor, upon
ceivug such u and ascertanng the aggregate vote
throughout the State, including the soldiers vote, herein
after provided for shall by his proclamation make known
the same aud If majority of the votes cast shall be for
the adoption Of this Constitution it shall go into fleet
the rs day of November eighteen hundred and x'your


"And The Gonernor shall exclude from roun the notes Of
any county or city the return u ges Of whch shall fail 10
certify IN the Tetuns prescribed by this schedule that all
o hare uoed hare taken the oath prescribed to be
tacn unless the Governor shall be satisfied that such oath
actually administered and that the failure to make
the certificate has been from nadvertence mistake"
BY this arrangement it will be seen that the
Governor and judges of elections made parties to
the violation of their sworn duties as prescribed
by the existing Con,titution and laws of Maryland
If the judges shall perform their sworn duties, as
interpreted to them by Gov Bradford in his pro.
test against the assumption of Gen. Schenck,
they will thereby only promote the object of the
men who devised this scheme, for votes SO taken
and returned according to the existing Constitution
nd la o-ofM L. re IL.
judges shall submit to the assumption of this Con-
vention, Gas they were warned not to do by Gov
Bradford in the case of Gen. Schenck, they will
violate their cath of ofice.as judges bound to obey
the existing Constitution and laws Of the State
Such is the dilemma in which the judges of elec-
tion and the Governor himself have been placed
by this artiGce.


And as it was foreseen by the dominant majori-
ty of the Convention that Constitution thus fas-
tened on the necks of the people, in violation of
public law and Of private right, Constitution
liable to be declared null and void by the Judiciary
of the State they further provided that every per-
son holding any Office of trust or profit under the
late Constitution, or under any law of the State,
and who shall be continued in ofice under the new
Constitution, or under any law of the State, shall,
aoithin thirty dogs after his Constitution shall
hare gone into fect, take and subscribe an oath or
affirmation to support the new Constitution, and if
any such person shall iail to take said oath his
office shall b. ipso Jdcto vacant. Under this re-
gulaton the Judges of the State, within thirty
days after the adoption of the new Constitution,
and therefore before any question can be raised re-
specng the measures taken to procure its adoption,
will be either sworn to support the instrument or
their places will be vacated


Now, we ask the candid reader whether any
good cause can be subserved by such practices as
thescY Docs the cause of constitutional liberty
require the perversion of the plainest and most
fundamental principles Of constitutional Justice
Does the cause of freedom demand the violation
equally of private and Of public right2 If all
er post Jdcto laws are odious and upin,t what
shall be said of an &c post .Jacto regulation which
applies not to past deeds, or even words. but to
the scfconfessed thoughts of any and every citizen
in Maryland? The citizen is subjected to dis.
franchisemcnt not only for the opinions he NAV
now hold, but for those which he at anv time has
held in the past, near or distant, and which he may
have since dsavowed and changed An opinion,
passing thought or sentiment, such as, on the
10Th Of April, 1861, was freely expressed by many