State shall be opposed thereto, that the said
article shall be inoperative and of no effect,
otherwise to be and remain in full force and
effect in law."
Mr. BRISCOE said: I do not propose to de-
tain the convention by any extended discus-
sion upon this amendment. From the open-
ing of this convention I have eschewed all
extended discussion upon the various matters
appertaining to the subject of slavery. I
hope that the convention will give to the
people of Maryland a fair opportunity of de-
termining, it ibis constitution is to prevail,
by which it is proposed that the institution of
slavery in this State shall be abolished; that
no compensation shall be granted to the
slaveholders, to those who will be deprived of
their property by this constitution if it shall
be adopted.
I knew very well when this convention as-
sembled here, that there were certain things
predetermined. I knew very well when the
standard of abolitionism was first raised at
the instance of the President of the United
States, under his proclamation of the 10th of
March, that there was a party then beings or-
ganized in this State, sustained by all the
power of the government, to carry out prac-
tically the recommendation of that proclama-
tion. I confess that I have not been aston-
ished that this convention has come to the
conclusion to wipe out that institution. I
came here with very little hope that the ac-
tion of this convention would result in any-
thing likely to continue it any longer as an
institution of this State. But when I found
that the convention had gone further, and
bad violated what I knew to be the wish of
the President of the United States himself,
that compensation should be granted to the
slave owner, I must confess it struck me
with astonishment. I simply offer this motion
to test the sense of the house, and to give
them an opportunity to say whether the peo-
ple of Maryland in all time to come shall be
deprived of the right here taken from them
by an act, as I believe, of sheer and absolute
despotism.
I came here, as I said in the beginning, de-
termined to take very little part in the discus-
sion in this convention. I was blessed in one
respect. I expected very little from it, and
therefore shall go away from it very little dis-
appointed, I had learned in the past to look
to the opinions of those men who foretold to
us what would be the results when the ele-
ment of abolitionism seized upon the popular
mind. I had seen it proclaimed everywhere,
and more particularly in tire opinion of the
great Clay, who with prophetic sagacity said
if the abolitionists should assume the ascen-
dency in the country:
" With them the rights of property are
nothing; the deficiency of the powers of the
general government are nothing; the acknow-
ledged and incontestible powers of the States |
are nothing; civil war, a dissolution of the
Union, and the overthrow of a government
in which are concentrated the fondest hopes
of the civilized world, are nothing. A single
idea has taken possession of their minds and
onward they pursue it, overlooking all bar-
riers, reckless and regardless of all conse-
quences."
We have seen the prophecy of Mr. Clay ful-
filled. Within the last two years that party-
has assumed the control; and we have seen the
result, not only in the condition of the country
at large, but in the action of this convention.
The great Webster, too, said of the same par-
ty—the abolitionists:
" Let these infernal fanatics get possession
of the government, and they will treat the de-
cisions of the supreme court with contempt;
they will make laws to suit themselves; they
will. lay violent hands on all ».ho disagree
with them: they will bankrupt the whole
country, and finally deluge it in blood,"
When the President of the United States
enunciated in his proclamation the necessity
of wiping out this institution, and when 1
saw a party organization raised in this State
for the purpose of accomplishing this recom-
mendation, I ceased to have hope that any
rights of mine, that any rights appertaining
to the people of the State would be respected
if they stood in the way of the accomplish-
ment of that great purpose—the destruction
of the institution of slavery.
These men who act with that party organ-
ization may be as conscientious and as sincere
in their motives as I am in mine; but we see
the prophecies of Clay and Webster illustrated
to-day, and demonstrated all over the Union.
These men, having obtained possession of
your national government are seizing upon
your State governments, and they are reck-
less and heedless of all consequences in ac-
complishing their great purpose, the purpose
that gave this convention life and being, the
putting to death of the institution of slavery.
1 was prepared for the determination on
the part of this convention to destroy that
institution; but that they would deprive the
people of Maryland of all opportunity to avail
themselves of that returning sense of justice,
which I believe sooner or later will come,
passes all reason and common justice. Bat 1
will make no argument upon it. I simply
ask that this question shall be determined by
the people at the ballot-box, when the con-
stitution shall be submitted to them fur their
rejection or adoption, that they may say
whether or not the legislature shall be for-
ever prohibited from making compensation
for the slaves taken from them and set free by
ibis constitution.
Mr. ABBOTT called for the previous ques-
tion.
Mr. CLARKE demanded the yeas and nays,
which were ordered.
The question being taken on sustaining |
