560 



MARYLAND. 



session, convened on the first "Wednesday of 

 January. At this session Gov. Hicks sent in 

 his final message, as his term of office had ex- 

 pired, and was succeeded by Augustus "W. 

 Bradford, who was inaugurated on the 8th as 

 governor for the four ensuing years. The po- 

 sition of Maryland at this time, relative to the 

 troubles of the country, is very clearly indicat- 

 ed in the following remarks in his inaugural 

 message, by the new governor, who was elect- 

 ed by a majority of 31,412 : 



The leaders of the rebellion may assert over and 

 over again that the South never will submit to this 

 national rule that it will resist to the last the pro- 

 posed reunion. So far as those leaders are concerned, 

 we may not doubt the sincerity of their protest; their 

 offences against free institutions are too rank and too 

 recent to allow them willingly again to submit to the 

 will of the majority. But to say nothing of that popu- 

 lar voice which they have for the. present stifled, to 

 admit, for argument sake, that but one sentiment per- 

 vades the entire South, and that it clamors for a sep- 

 arate Government ; earnest as that purpose may be, 

 there is a still stronger force opposed to it, not merely 

 the force of a vast numerical superiority, but a power 

 made irresistible by the force of necessity ; a control- 

 ling and decisive power, growing out of the demands 

 which the laws of self-preservation make imperative. 

 Nationality with us therefore is a necessity, and peace, 

 anxiously as we may await it, can never come un- 

 til that necessity is recognized, and our whole coun- 

 try once more united under its old established rule. 

 Who can doubt that such will be the ultimate result 

 of the war if it is confined to the faithful pursuit of 

 that object ? 



This was still further shown by the follow- 

 ing resolutions, adopted by the Legislature, and 

 presented in the U. S. Senate on January 2 : 



Resolved by the Senate and House of Delegates of Mary- 

 land, That the Constitution of the United States, so 

 admirably framed by the wisdom of our forefathers, is 

 recognized by the people of Maryland as the charter 

 of their liberties the foundation, support, and pro- 

 tection of their rights, and the main source of all their 

 prosperity; that they are at all times ready cordially 

 to renew the expression of their devotion to its prin- 

 ciples; that they unreservedly acknowledge the su- 

 premacy of all laws made in pursuance thereof, and 

 repudiate everjr construction of that instrument which 

 would destroy its efficiency, its very existence, indeed, 

 by the assertion of any right expressed, implied, or 

 reserved in the States to secede from the Union ; and 

 though they consider the right of revolution, for justi- 

 fiable cause, inherent in every people, they unhestitat- 

 ingly declare that they know no existing cause to jus- 

 tify the people of the'United States in attempting the 

 overthrow of their Government. 



2. Resolved, That the duty and interest of the people 

 of Maryland alike forbid that they should take part in 

 the infatuated and suicidal rebellion which now seeks to 

 separate the States of this Union, and to destroy that 

 great nationality which has made us prosperous at 

 home and respected abroad, which separation, if ac- 

 complished, must result in the most serious disaster to 

 all the States, but from the peculiarity of our geograph- 

 ical position, can bring to our own 'State nothing but 

 irretrievable ruin. 



3. Resolved, That the present unhappy and fratri- 

 cidal war has been forced upon the Government of the 

 United States by the seditious and unlawful acts of 

 those who have attempted its overthrow by violence, 

 and the State of Maryland will cheerfully contribute 

 her proportion of men and means to sustain the nation 

 in its struggle for existence so long as the war is con- 

 ducted in accordance with the principles of the Con- 

 stitution, and so long as the purpose of those in power 



is the maintenance of the Union, with the rights guar- 

 anteed by the States unimpaired. 



4. Resolved, That the loyalty of the people of Mary- 

 land to the General Government, established by the 

 Constitution, is untouched by any shade of servilitv, 

 and they must ever regard with extreme jealousy all 

 attempts, from whatever quarter, to make the present 

 war for the restoration of the Union the means of in- 

 terfering with the domestic institutions of the States ; 

 and they solemnly protest against all schemes, the ob- 

 ject or tendency of which is to excite insurrection 

 among the slaves, declaring the same illegal, and cal- 

 culated, if put in practice, to produce results too hor- 

 rible to contemplate. 



5. Resolved, That this Legislature is gratified to know 

 that the true principles on which the war should be 

 conducted have -been expressed in most emphatic lan- 

 guage by both houses of the present Congress in their 

 extra session of July last ; that they have been declared 

 by the President in his latest message, and that they 

 have been conspicuously illustrated in the proclama- 

 tion of Gen. Dix to the people of the eastern shore of 

 Virginia. 



6. Resolved, That although in the immediate presence 

 of armies, when war or insurrection exists, it cannot 

 be expected that the civil power should at all times 

 maintain its supremacy, and there may be cases of ex- 

 treme necessity, where the safety and preservation of 

 the Government would excuse a resort to extraordinary 

 measures, yet the dangers of a departure from the 

 forms of law, which are the protection of the individual 

 rights, should never be forgotten, and all irregular 

 proceedings should be abandoned as soon as it is clear 

 that the extreme necessity which gave rise to them has 

 passed away. 



7. Resolved, That the people of Maryland do not 

 hesitate to express their approval of the course and 

 policy of the President in the conduct of the war thus 

 far, as exemplified by his official acts, and they hereby 

 tender him their thanks for the earnest desire he has 

 manifested to avert from them the immediate horrors 

 and calamities of civil war ; assured by his firmness 

 and honesty in the past, they confidently expect that, 

 in spite of the importunities of pernicious fanatics, he 

 will keep steadily in view his sworn duty to preserve, 

 protect, and defend the Constitution of the United 

 States. ' 



The views of the people of the State, as in- 

 dicated by the opinions of the governor and 

 Legislature, were strongly in favor of sustain- 

 ing the Government and the Union. The sys- 

 tem of aiding the families of volunteers was 

 adopted by the Legislature, and many other 

 measures relating to the internal affairs of the 

 State under the circumstances in which it was 

 placed. . 



The introduction before Congress, and the 

 adoption of an act to emancipate the slaves in 

 the District of Columbia, was very repugnant to 

 the people in the adjacent counties of Mary- 

 land. A large meeting of these of Montgomery 

 county assembled at Eockville about the first 

 of April, and passed a series of resolutions de- 

 claring that the measure was regarded as the 

 entering wedge to a scheme of general emanci- 

 pation, a violation of public faith, unconstitu- 

 tional, as taking private property not for public 

 use, nor for a just compensation, unwise, ill- 

 timed, both politically and financially. ^ The 

 action of Congress was, however, acquiesced 

 in. 



The attachment to the Union which has ex- 

 isted in the State of Maryland, and which has 

 been manifested most amply during the past 



