to meet in Annapolis on the 26th and take measures to maintain peace and order
within the limits of the State, but two days afterward, "on account of the extraor-
dinary condition of affairs," he changed the place of meeting to Frederick. The
men who composed the Assembly were men of great weight and force of
character, and they maintained the constitutional rights of the State with much
ability. They refused to negotiate a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive,
with Virginia. On the 2jth of April the Senate, by a unanimous vote, issued an
address to the people, declaring that it had no authority to take any action
leading to secession, the House of Delegates following with a similar declaration.
Then both House and Senate passed a series of resolutions protesting against
the war as unjust and unconstitutional, and declaring that Maryland would take
no part in its prosecution.

On the 5th of May General Benjamin F. Butler, with two regiments and a
battery of artillery, took possession of the Relay House, some seven miles from
Baltimore, and fortified his position. On the night of the 13th of May, and while
a violent thunder-storm was raging, he entered Baltimore and took possession
of Federal Hill, which overlooks the harbor and commands the city. He met
with no opposition, and yet for this exploit he was made a Major-General, thus
showing, as Shakespeare says, that "while some men are born great and some
achieve greatness, others have greatness thrust upon them."

A memorable event next followed. The President had suspended the writ of
habeas corpus without the sanction of an Act of Congress, and on May 25th Mr.
John Merryman was arrested by General Keim, of Pennsylvania, and lodged in
Fort McHenry. A petition was presented for the writ of habeas corpus to Chief
Justice Roger B. Taney, of the Supreme Court of the United States, who at once
issued the writ to General Cadwallader, then in command in Maryland, ordering
him to produce the body of Mr. Merryman in Court on May 27. On that day an
aid-de-camp appeared with a letter from the General, stating that Mr. Merryman
had been arrested on charges of high treason, and that he had been authorized
by the President of the United States in such cases to suspend the writ of habeas
corpus. The Chief Justice ordered an attachment to issue against General Cadwal-
lader for disobedience to the writ, returnable at noon of next day.

At that hour the case was called, and the Marshal stated that he had gone to
Fort McHenry to serve the writ ; that he sent in his name at the outer gate;
that the messenger returned and said that there was no reply, and that, therefore,
he could not serve the writ. The Chief Justice then said that he had the power
to summon the posse comitatus to bring the defendant into Court, but that he (the
Marshal) would in such an event be resisted in the discharge of his duty by a
force much superior to his own. He would therefore not require him to perform
that duty, although if the defendant were before him he would punish him by fine