On April 29, the Maryland Legislature voted 53–13 against secession, but they also voted not to reopen rail links with the North. They requested that Lincoln remove the growing numbers of federal troops from Maryland. At this time the legislature appeared to want to avoid involvement in a war with its southern neighbors. Fearful that the transport of more Union troops through the city and state would provoke more rioting, and possibly an attempt to enact secession by extralegal means, Mayor George Brown of Baltimore and Governor Thomas Hicks of Maryland asked that no more troops cross Maryland, but Lincoln refused. For the next few weeks, troops were transported to Washington via Annapolis, avoiding Baltimore. Also on April 19, Lincoln asked Attorney General Edward Bates for an opinion on the suspension of the writ of "habeas corpus".