can be taken or imprisoned, or deprived of his
freehold, liberties or privileges, or out-lawed, or
exiled, or be deprived of his life, liberty or prop-
erty, but by the judgment of his peers, or by the
law of the land. And it is proposed to add to
these words, the limitation that the article should
not be considered as applying to the free colored
population of the State.
It is said that this is proper, because an occa-
sion may arise for sending this people beyond our
limits, and that it is wisest to provide for such a
contingency. If this be the only reason, the ad-
dition is unnecessary. Under the old Constitu-
tion there seems to have been no difference in
the quality of citizenship between freemen of
whatever color; but in 1809 the political power
of the State was vested in free white male citi-
zens only, and the whole subsequent history of
our legislation, demonstrates that the free color-
ed population have been regarded as denizens
only, who are entitled to no other privilege, or
domicil, than such as the law of the State ac-
cords. The words in the article contained in the
bill of rights, as reported from the committee,
confer no new civil powers—but provide only, that
they shall not be deprived of those which they
have obtained, under the sanction of the public
law, by other means than the law itself shall
prescribe. And if it be adopted, one, or all of
the class referred to, can be separated from the
community, and sent beyond its limits, by the
formal exercise of the power of the State. It is
but the retraction of a privilege, which was a
gift only, and not the result of any compact, ex-
pressed or implied; for this people bear no rela-
tion to the government, except in being subject
to its laws.
The free colored population of the State is, in-
deed, already a great inconvenience, and may
soon become a serious evil. This result was long
ago foreseen, and the Legislature, with benig-
nant care, has established a colony which, among
other uses, is opened as an asylum to them. It
has been the policy of the State to encourage
emigration by promoting akind relation between
ourselves and this people in order that they
might feel we had their good at heart, and thus
enter, cheerfully, into our plans. There was
reason, no less than humanity in such a course;
and their history confirms it. Because, although
their presence is a disadvantage, they are not
with us of their own choice; and the very liber-
ty which they enjoy, or misuse, was given under
sanction of our public law.
The period is now at hand when a just regard
for the interests of our white population will
compel us to remove a class, who compete with
them in many of the walks of labor, and yet can
have no share or interest in our government.
But we owe it to ourselves to perform this task
with humanity and gentleness, and we should
keep around them the protection of the law, un-
til we are prepared to remove them to another
land. Their fathers have served our fathers,—
and our justice, stern as its requirement will ul-
timately be, should be tempered with charity and
moderation.
This right to remove them, is a power in the

State to preserve itself, and is no novelty in doc-
trine. It does not consist only in the making and
enforcement of general laws, nor are its process-
es limited to the arraignment or conviction of
individual offenders. Whenever classes, sects,
or races grow up in a commonwealth, whose
habits of life, or practices endanger the general
interest and prosperity, the Legislature in virtue
of its supreme power in the State, ought to, and
can by the formality of law, and the use of the
civil power, regulate their conduct, limit their
privileges, and provide for their gradual removal.
There are in history many such instances of the
exercise of power. Most have been tyrannical,
as was the statute banishing the Jews from Eng-
land in the time of Edward I., but where the
right is calmly and dispassionately exercised,
with an eye single to the public good,—its exist-
ence and propriety cannot be questioned. A
nation is in as much, and more, danger of slow
corruption than of sudden out-break; and self-
preservation as imperatively demands the use of
the power of the State in seasons of apparent
tranquility, as in times of impending revolution.
And if it should appear to any Legislature, here-
after, that the free colored people of this State
paralyze the industry of our white population,—
promote discontents, or disorder among the
slaves,—or corrupt the springs of public morali-
ty,—it will be necessary to take all steps which
may accomplish their peaceable removal. But
the responsibility should be assumed and borne
by the Legislature. They ought not to look to
us for a sanction. And when that period arrives,
they will owe it to themselves, while they per-
form their duty with unshrinking hands, to make
the Exodus of this people a season of charity
and forbearance, which will justify the necessity
to themselves. That the period is not remote at
which this necessity will occur, the commonest
observer may determine. The walks of labor
are becoming thronged. The white and black
races jostle upon our thoroughfares. And there
can be no question that the power of the State
must be, and ought to be, ultimately used in the
upholding of its white population, and in the re-
moval of the free blacks.
But, in the mean time, since this power is un-
deniable it is unavailing to parade it on our sta-
tute book. While they remain, let there be no
inference even that their labor and property are
placed without the shelter of the law. For, al-
though their physical power in the State is beneath
apprehension, yet, as a class, if outlawed by our
statutes, they would become a source of perpet-
ual mischief; crowding our prisons with petty
offenders, who seek their daily bread by thefts
and violence.
Some allusion has been made in this debate to
the vote given by this Convention on the article
withholding from the Legislature all right to al-
ter the relation between master and slave. The
cases bear no analogy. Slavery has existed in
this State, almost ever since its foundation, with
its benefits or evils, as a mode of culture, we
have nothing to do. If it was injurious, the harm
recoiled in the first instance upon the proprietors'
and complaint Would proceed, naturally, from