If the gentleman can discover anything dis-
gusting in that he is welcome to do so.
Now as regards innocent persons being sent
to the penitentiary. I know they have been
sent to the penitentiary, although known to
be innocent, as the proper place to confine
them, the object being to get rid of their sup-
port. And it is the fact that almost all those
cases come from a particular section of the
State. The judges have the discretion to send
them to a proper place of confinement, and
they have designated the penitentiary as the
proper place.
Mr. DENT. I am not aware of any such
instances from the county which I represent.
Mr. BELT. Never any from my own official
circuit.
Mr. STIRLING. I know the fact from the
statements of the officers of the penitentiary ;
and they are in the penitentiary now.
Mr. JONES, of Somerset. None from my
district.
Mr. STIRLING. I am willing to take the tes-
timony of those connected with the peniten-
tiary, if such is not the fact.
Mr. MILLER. I know of no such cases from
our county.
Mr. ABBOTT. My object in offering this
order was simply to call the attention of the
governor to this subject, and to back up his
disposition to relieve certain parties now in
confinement for offences against laws which
we are about to abolish. If this constitution
is adopted, slavery will no longer exist in this
State, and consequently with slavery go all
the laws made to protect it. There are a large
number of persona in our State who are now suf-
fering punishment for a breach of those laws,
If the law is repealed, there can no longer be
any breach of it. It only reaches that class
of persons who are confined for any violation
of the laws made for the protection of slavery.
I carefully worded it so as not to include kid-
nappers, and such persons. That class of per-
sons would not properly come within the lim-
its of this order. I intended it to reach only
those persons who have offended against the
laws for the protection of slavery, which laws
we are about to abolish,
Mr. PUGH. in answer to the statement of
the gentleman from Prince George's (Mr.
Belt,) that there is a great disposition on the
part of this convention to take care of the
negro, I would suggest that we are peculiarly
situated in that respect, having been sent here,
as was pretty generally understood—and I
suppose the gentleman from Prince George's
had such an idea—mainly for the purpose of
abolishing slavery in this Static, It so hap-
pens that all the slaves are called negroes ;
consequently we could not very well avoid
dealing with negroes, they being the persons
held in slavery. The gentleman himself has,
I believe, avoided all sympathy for the negro.
Mr. BELT. I have more true sympathy for
the negro than the gentleman himself has. |
Mr. PUGH. Very many of the party with
whom the gentleman acts, were very anxious
to have the negro represented in the legislature.
I for one was opposed to that, and am
still opposed to it. The gentleman's colleague
(Mr. Clarke)—I do not bold the gentleman re-
sponsible for that at all—introduced an order
here to relieve the negro from military duty.
I was opposed to it. I do not think the gen-
tleman, if he will examine the record, will
find that the party with whom he has acted
here, are any more wanting in their sympathy
for the negro than we are.
Mr. BELT. In reply to the remarks of my
friend from Cecil (Mr. Pugh, ) I would say that
it is not any particular philanthropy for the
negro at all that that was asked, it was be-
cause it has been done from the very founda-
tion of the government. The negro has al-
ways been represented and counted in the pop-
ulation, upon the theory that all classes
of people, whether they were voters or not,
whether they were endowed with political
privileges or not, who ministered to the pro-
duction and wealth of the State, ought to be
included within the basis of representation.
Here is one single fact, which being stated,
nothing further need he said upon the sub-
ject, The very instant you free the negro
slaves in Maryland, that very instant, by the
very operation of law, they become represen-
ted man for man, poll for poll, in the national
congress. Now if negroes are to be repre-
sented in the national congress, why not here ?
Under the law of federal numbers, negroes are
represented in the national congress only to
the extent of three-fifths. But the moment
they are set free, they are represented there as
fully as we are.
Mr BERRY, of Baltimore county, I would
like to make one statement in reply to the gen-
tleman from Baltimore city (Mr. Stirling) and
the gentleman from Allegany (Mr. Greene.)
I understood the gentleman from Allegany to
say that at the time it was supposed Cumber-
land was about to be invaded, this man, Har-
ris, gathered his own children together and
carried them into Pennsylvania, and that the
judge, and the prosecuting attorney, and the
jury had signed a petition stating these facts.
if I am wrong in my statement of what the
gentleman from Allegany said, I would be
glad to be corrected.
The PRESIDENT. The gentleman from Alle-
gany is not now in his seat.
Mr. BERRY, of Baltimore county. However,
the facts of the case are simply these: a peti-
tion was drawn up and sent to the governor,
with this simple statement, that these children
were seen to be carried from the town of Cum-
berland some ten miles and put into a stage ;
and were then carried on to the next slopping
place, where they were crowded out of the
stage by an overplus of passengers. The pe-
tition makes no particular statement in regard
to any danger of invasion; but simply states |
