Important action in the Maryland Legislature.
In the
Maryland House of Delegates on the 6th inst., a report was made by
Mr. Horsey in relation to the occupation of
Maryland soil by the
Southern forces.
The following is an extract:
‘
"The undersigned made as thorough an examination of the condition of things on the
Maryland mountain opposite
Harper's Ferry as the pressure of circumstances, and the almost inaccessible nature of the mountain and its approaches would admit of. The top of the mountain he found occupied by four or five hundred
Virginia troops, who had cut down four or five hundred acres of the small and indifferent timber which clothes the summit of the mountain, for the apparent purpose of constructing huts for their temporary shelter, and about the same space of land had been burnt over by accidental contact of the dried leaves with the camp fires, as your
Commissioner supposed.
That as soon as he had investigated all the complaints, he returned to
Richmond and reached there on Wednesday, the 29th ult., when the authorities were engrossed with the pressing duties arising from the reception of the
President and Government of the
Confederate States of America; that on the evening of the 30th he had a short interview with
Gov. Letcher, and brought to his notice the object of his mission, and the specific acts of aggression complained of in the entrance upon our soil by the troops of
Virginia.
"The Governor was understood to say that he would apply to the
commanding officer at
Harper's Ferry for information on the subject, and would be prepared to reply more fully when the report of that officer was received; but he begged me to convey to your honorable body the distinct and earnest assurance that if at any time the military forces of
Virginia should trespass upon and temporarily occupy the soil of
Maryland, it could only be justified by the pressing exigencies of a military necessity in defence and protection of her own soil from threatened or actual invasion, and certainly with no hostile intent towards the citizens of the
State of Maryland, and that any and all damages to persons or property consequent upon such alleged trespass or occupation should be fully and liberally compensated for."
’
We copy the following from the proceedings of the
House on the 7th:
‘
Mr. Dennis, of
Somerset, offered a preamble and resolutions, the former of which recited at length that
Maryland is yet a State in the
Union, submitting peaceably to the
Federal Government; yet, nevertheless, the
President has raised and quartered large standing armies upon her territory; has occupied the houses of her citizens without their consent, and has made the military superior to and above the civil power; has assumed to regulate the internal policy and government of the
State; has seized upon and appropriated our railroads and telegraphs; has seized and searched our vessels; has forcibly entered houses; has deprived our people of their arms; has seized and transported our citizens to other States for trial upon charges, or pretended charges; has taken the private property of our citizens; has caused peaceable travelers to be stopped, and their persons, trunks and papers to be searched; has arrested and caused to be imprisoned, without any civil process whatever, the persons of our citizens, and by the military power kept, and still keeps, them in confinement, against and in contempt of all civil process.
The resolutions protest against these acts of the
President as a gross usurpation and in utter violation of the
Constitution.
They declare that the right of secession is not a constitutional, but a revolutionary right; that the
Federal Government has no right, under the
Constitution, to wage war against a State; that prudence and policy demand a recognition of the Southern Confederacy, and denounce, with indignation, the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in the Merryman case.
The resolutions were laid over, under the rule.
’
