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but he maintained that under that common law a negro
could not have acted as a juror, but under this provision
he contended that it would lead to the negro sitting in
the jury box.
Mr. Brewer, of Baltimore city, said this subject was
an issue which the people did not contemplate in the con-
vocation of this Convention. If adopted, it was destined
to be a firebrand among the people of the State; it gave
unusual privileges to a large class of political aliens. He
would not discuss the question as to whether the negro
was competent to testify—that had already been exhaus-
tively discussed—but would give his reasons why it should
not be put in this constitution. They should not do work
for the Legislature to undo. They had committed num-
berless matters now to the General Assembly which this
body should have attended to. The whole subject had
been revised by the committee on the declaration of
rights, and he ventured to assert that if the people had
imagined such a provision was to be inserted, this Con-
vention never would have been called.
The business of this Convention was to prescribe the
fundamental law, not to grasp at matters which it was for
the people alone to settle. It was an experiment which
was not demanded by public interests, or justified by any
consideration of public policy. He had seen no petition
from either black or white asking for the privilege. The
inevitable fate of the negro was extermination, and it
was useless to deny, as a competitor to the white man he,
must go down; his destiny was that of the American In-
dian. It would not do to place rights in his hands at this
time.
Mr. Ringgold had been surprised at some of the argu-
ments from the gentlemen on the other side. They said
no petitions had been sent here in favor of this measure,
but had any petitions been sent here against it? For
months now the subject had been discussed, and the men
of the State, almost with unanimity, had come out in
favor of it. He did not think it was the right of the negro
to testify, but that it was his duty; he thought it was the
duty of every man to testify. He thought it was of much
more importance for the white man than for the negro,
for the latter to be admitted to testimony. The greatest
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