506 



MARYLAND. 



devolved upon the officer, or Governor, without ap- 

 peal, over whom, iu that respect, the judiciary have 

 uo control or revisory power. 



We have thus succinctly announced the general 

 principles which lead us to the adoption of the con- 

 clusion that the order of the Superior Court in this 

 case should be affirmed. 



The Court has been invoked to enter into the con- 

 stitutional powers of the Convention and express 

 opinions upon the validity of their acts, even if they 

 should hold that the right to issue a mandamus did 

 not. exist ; and they have been referred to the emi- 

 nent examples of the Supreme Court, through their 

 Chief Justices, in some cases where they declared 

 the law, although they could not enforce it. With- 

 out dwelling on the immense moral, political, and 

 legal influence of that tribunal, to which we cannot 

 pretend, we respectfully suggest there is no parallel 

 between the cases. Those cases in which the Su- 

 preme Court adopted that course, with one notable 

 exception, were not cases in which society was 

 shaken to its foundations by civil discord and parties 

 arrayed against each other with intense bitterness. 

 If we cannot subdue the strife, we will not add fuel 

 to the flame. All that we can do is to show such 

 reverence for constitutional government, by confin- 

 ing ourselves to the strict limits of our authority, as 

 may induce others, who love "liberty regulated by 

 law," to cherish all its muniments and observe all 

 their obligations. 



Justice Bartol delivered the following sepa- 

 rate opinion : 



I assent to that part of the opinion of a majority 

 of the Court which denies the mandamus asked for, 

 on the ground that the duties devolved upon the 

 Governor, by the act of 1864, chapter 5, in ascertain- 

 ing and announcing the legal votes upon the adop- 

 tion or rejection of the proposed new Constitution, 

 are not purely ministerial in their character, but that 

 they require the exercise of judgment and discretion 

 on his part, necessarily devolving upon him the duty 

 of passing upon and deciding the various questions 

 argued before us, and upon which we have been 

 called upon to pass. In such case the law is well 

 established that a writ of mandamus will not be 

 granted. Green vs. Purnell, 12th Maryland, 329, and 

 the cases there referred to and many other cases 

 might be cited. I do not agree, however, with my 

 brothers in thinking the power devolved upon the 

 Governor, now under consideration, is in any sense 

 a political executive power belonging to him virtnte 

 omcii, and not a proper subject for judicial investiga- 

 tion. That subject, however, having been submitted 

 by law to the decision of the Governor, I forbear the 

 expression of any opinion upon it. 



GEORGE EARLE, 

 Clerk Court of Appeals of Maryland. 



The vote of the State at the Presidential 

 election was as follows: Lincoln, 40,153; 

 Me Clellan, 32,739. Majority for Lincoln, 7,414. 



At the same time, an election Avas held for 

 State officers and members of the Legislature. 

 The candidates for Governor were Thomas 



Swann, Republican, and Chambers, 



Democrat. The majority by which Mr. Swann 

 was elected, was about the same as that of 

 President Lincoln. Of the five members of 

 Congress elected, three -were Republicans and 

 two Democrats. The Legislature was divided 

 as follows: Senate Republicans, 11; Demo- 

 crats, 13. House Republicans, 52 ; Demo- 

 crats, 28. Republicans majority on joint ballot, 

 22 



The receipts of the State Treasury during the 

 fiscal year ending Sept. 30th, 1864, were from 



the ordinary sources of revenue, including the 

 direct tax, $1,519,918. The disbursements on 

 ordinary account were $1,110,281, leaving a 

 balance of $406,636. The receipts of the 

 Treasury on a bounty loan were $721,384. The 

 disbursements as bounties to volunteers were 

 $1,281,668. The bounties paid to volunteers 

 were $150 to each man, together with five 

 monthly instalments of $20 each. To slavo 

 recruits $100 was paid, and to the owner, $100. 



The number of volunteers, -white and free 

 colored, during the year, was 5,890. Eight or 

 nine regiments of slave blacks were recruited 

 in the State. They comprised a large portion 

 of the able-bodied slaves in the State. 



The following order of Maj.-Gen. "Wallace 

 was designed to aid the slaves in securing the 

 freedom to which they were entitled by the 

 adoption of the new Constitution : 



H'QKS MIDDLE DEPARTMENT, EIGHTH ARMY CORPS, ) 

 BALTIMORE, MD., Koveruber 9, 1S64. ( 

 General Orders A'o. 112. 



Official information having been furnished making 

 it clear that evil-disposed persons in certain counties 

 in the State of Maryland, within the limits of the 

 Middle Department, intend obstructing the operation 

 and nullifying, as far as they can, the emancipation 

 provision of the New Constitution; and that for this 

 purpose they are availing themselves of certain laws, 

 portions of the ancient slave code of Maryland, as yet 

 unrepealed, to initiate, as respects the persons hereto- 

 fore slaves, a system of forced apprenticeship ; for 

 this and for other reasons, among them that if they 

 have any legal rights under existing laws, the per- 

 sons spoken of are in ignorance of them ; that in 

 certain counties the law officers are so unfriendly to 

 the newly-made freedmen, and so hostile to the 

 benignant measures that made them such, as to ren- 

 der appeals to the courts worse than folly, even if 

 the victims had the money with which to hire law- 

 yers ; and that the necessities of the case make it 

 essential, in order to carry out truly and effectively 

 the grand purpose of the people of the State of Mary- 

 land emancipation of every slave, man, woman, and 

 child, within her limits, from and after the 1st day 

 of November of this present year that there should 

 be remedies extraordinary for all their grievances 

 remedies instantaneous, without money or reward, 

 and somebody to have care for them, to protect them, 

 to show them the way to the freedom of which they 

 have yet but vague and undefined ideas: It is there- 

 fore ordered : 



1. That all persons within the limits of the Middle 

 Department heretofore slaves, but now free, by 

 operation of the New Constitution, shall be consid- 

 ered under special military protection, until the 

 Legislature of -Maryland may, by its enactments, 

 make such military protection unnecessary. 



2. A Freedman's Bureau for said department is 

 hereby created, office in Baltimore, Major Wm. M. 

 Este, A. D. C., in charge. 



3. -Major Este is intrusted with execution of this 

 order, and to make it effective he is authorized to 

 institute investigations, to send for persons and pa 

 pers, and make necessary arrests. 



4. Provost Marshals in their several districts, par- 

 ticularly those on the Eastern and Western Shores, 

 are requested and directed to hear all complaints 

 made to them by persons within the meaning of this 

 order, to collect and forward information and proofs 

 of wrongs done to such persons, and, generally, tr 

 render to Major Este such assistance as he may IB 

 quire in the performance of his duty. 



5. As it will be impossible to carry ovit this order 

 without having a place in which the sick, belplei 

 and needy can be temporarily rested and provided 



