"A bishop then must he blameless, the hus-
band of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good be-
havior, given to hospitality, apt to teach," &c.
Now, sir, when men argue that because the
Apostles failed to denounce slavery in express
terms therefore slavery is morally right, does
not Brigham Young, with equal propriety
argue that because they failed to prohibit a
plurality of wives, therefore a plurality of
wives is morally right? Certainly, sir. But
no gentleman within the sound of my voice
is willing to admit that Brigham Young's
reasoning is good, and I contend with even
greater propriety that the analogous reason-
ing of the friends of slavery is not good,
I think, sir. this reasoning shows conclu-
sively why the Saviour of the world and his
Apostles were not abolitionists, in the modern
acceptance of that term, and why they did
not command their followers to turn aboli-
tionists, and why they did not teach them
"that slavery in any form is wrong and
ought to be immediately abolished;" yet it
must not be forgotten that though the Apos-
tles were not abolitionists, they did inculcate
a principle, the effect of which among other
things, was to uproot slavery in all parts of
Europe where the Christian religion has be-
come the predominating religion—it has al-
ready abolished slavery in the North, and it
must abolish it in the South. The effect in
our own State will be, that on or before the
1st of January next, the last vestige of slavery
yet remaining in our State will be wiped out.
Maryland will be a free State and no longer
bound by a most unwholesome interest to the
infamous rebellion which is now devastating
some of the fairest districts of our country,
wringing burning tears from the eyes of ten
thousand widows in a single day, and which
has made desolate almost every hearthstone
from Maine to the Capes of Florida, from the
Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains. By the
operation of this old Apostolic principle, I
repeat, that with the close of the present year
slavery in Maryland which is already a dead
carcass, will have received a decent interment,
and its friends may, if they choose, erect a
handsome monument to its memory. Mary-
land will then assume a position among her
sister States which she has never occupied he-
fore; and, by being the first, since the begin-
ning of the rebellion, to declare the debt of
paramount allegiance which her citizens owe
to the General Government, and the first to
declare that slavery shall be immediately
abolished—these being the declarations of a
majority of her people—her boldness—her
patriotism—her loyalty and her spirit of pro-
gress thus manifested will be the admiration
of her sister States and of the world.
Mr. President: I was an emancipationist
long before I was persuaded to believe that
slavery in the South was a moral evil. I have
never, at any period of my life, believed that
it was morally wrong to emancipate a slave ; |
and entertaining this view, I have ever been
in favor of the inauguration of some scheme,
in this State, of emancipation, as a matter of
public utility, I have ever believed that the
effect of slavery in our State has been to par-
alize the energies of the people; to prevent
the education of the inasses; to prevent the
development of the resources of our State, for
both agricultural and manufacturing pur.
poses. Slavery has ever been an incubus
upon the general prosperity and progress of
the State, and to-day we are, in all the essen-
tials necessary to constitute a great State, far
behind many of our sister States.
I apprehend that it is not essentially neces-
sary, in order to make it appear how slavery
is the cause of the backwardness, the lethargy
of the South, that I should enter into some
metaphysical or cunningly-devised argument;
that it is not necessary to make appear the
effects of slavery on the mind of both the
master and the slave, and how these' effects
become of themselves causes of the effects
which we all deplore. Any stranger travel-
ling through our country can see the effects
of slavery, and know these to be the effects of
slavery, without the necessity of inquiring
into the process—the practical workings and
operations of slavery by which these effects
are brought about. A wayfaring man,
though a fool, cannot err; and he knows that
the reason why Maryland has not advanced
as rapidly as her sister States north of Mason
and Dixon's line, is because slavery is an in-
stitution here, and is not in those States. A
brief comparison of a few of the Southern
with a few of the Northern States will be am-
ply sufficient to show the baneful effects of
slavery in the South, and ought to be suffi-
cient to induce all Marylanders to give a
cheerful and hearty support. to the cause of
emancipation in our own State.
First, compare Maryland with Massachu-
setts. Maryland is, in the first plaice, a larger
State than Massachusetts; her soil is far su-
perior in natural fertility, and almost every
acre of her territory is susceptible of cultiva-
tion and improvement. About one-third of
the State of Massachusetts is not under culti-
vation, and never can be. She is very like a
beggar out at his elbows and knees. There
are high jagged rocks and deep indentures,
with not a square inch of soil on or in them.
Large tracts of country are barren wastes and
never can afford sustenance for even the birds
of the air, the wild beasts of the forest, or the
cattle of the field.
Maryland has water resources for manufac-
turing purposes quite equal, if not superior,
to those of Massachusetts. She has extensive
coal and copper mines, of which Massachu-
setts is entirely destitute. Her climate is su-
perior, being more salubrious and healthful.
Her summers are longer and not excessively
hot; her winters are shorter and not exces-
sively cold; and our farmers may conduct |
