son that the people of the latter State because
of their free school system knew their duty,
while the people of Maryland were so igno-
rant and benighted that they needed light
and instruction on this point. Now, for one,
Mr. President, I have no sympathy with gen-
tlemen whether from Cecil, from the moun-
tains of Allegany, or from Baltimore city,
who can come into this Hall and give utter-
ance to sentiments so disparaging to the
honor and pride of either their native or
adopted State. If the gentleman from Cecil
claims Maryland as his mother, then I say to
him this was the "unkindest cut of all." If
he be of that class who has sought and found
a home within her BORDER=0s, the very fact of
his presence here to-day proves that her peo-
ple have extended to him the hand of hospi-
tality and welcome and made him what he is.
Take either horn of the dilemma he chooses
and the sentiments avowed by him wake no
responsive echo in my breast.
Without attempting a refutation of the ab-
surd theory that slavery militates against the
education of the white population of a coun-
try, I would take leave just here to recall to
the attention of the Convention a statement
read in debate by my friend from Washing-
ton (Mr. Negley) wherein it was shown that
by far the larger portion of the Presidents,
Chief Justices of the Supreme Court, Attorney
Generals, foreign ministers, consuls, &c., had
come from the slaveholding South. I regret
I do not see the gentleman in his seat to-day,
for I should like with his permission to have
read as a part of my argument the statement
prepared by him, believing as I do that it
would furnish a very instructive commentary
on this branch of my subject. Now, when it
is remembered that the South is numerically
so much smaller than the North, and that she
has filled with her own sons in a large ma-
jority of cases the highest and most respon-
sible offices under the Government of the
United States, offices requiring the highest
talents and learning that the whole country
could command, we may be permitted to con-
clude that the South is not that benighted
region which abolition fanatics would have
us believe; and that learning, education and
refinement have sought and found a home in
that land where the dark shadow of slavery
rests.
Gentlemen upon the other side of the. House,
not content with arraigning slavery as inimi-
cal to the material and educational interests
of a people, have endeavored to show that it
engenders vice and fosters immorality and
crime. This charge, like others heretofore
adverted to, is equally unfounded in truth,
and is not supported by any evidence what-
ever. The system of slavery, instead of being
favorable to the growth of vice, would seem
by its wholesome restraints to act as an effec-
tual check upon the indulgence of the baser
passions of mankind. By an eminent divine |
who has studied this question, the opinion
has been expressed that there are more offences
against Christian morality committed in the
single city of New York than can be found
amongst the slave population of all the
Southern States together. How morality and
virtue under the new regime of freedom have
flourished in the city of Washington and on
the coast of North Carolina, I leave for gen-
tlemen to answer who have seen fit to bring
this question into discussion.
I have no desire to pursue the investigation
further, and will content myself with leaving
the question where the census of 1860 has
placed it. On page 10 of the census the
writer, after giving the facts and figures, uses
this language: "Comparing the Northern
division of the country with the Southern,
a greater proportion of mulattoes is found in
the free States."
Having now, Mr. President, disposed of
some of the leading objections that have been
urged against the system of negro slavery,
let us look for a moment at the character of
the proposition before the House. Here in
our midst there exists a species of property
for the original introduction of which we of
this day and generation are in no wise re-
sponsible. We have seen that its existence
is recognized by the supreme law of the land,
the Federal Constitution. That through every
period of the history of Maryland it has been
fostered and cherished as an institution alike
redounding to the interest of the master and
the slave. The proposition now is to undo
the work of centuries To destroy that
which we were but yesterday engaged in
building up; to tear from the protection of
kind and humane masters those who were
contented and happy, and turn them out upon
the cold charities of an unfeeling and beart-
less world; to rob the people of Maryland of
property in which they had thousands and
millions of dollars invested, and all this with-
out the shadow of excuse or justification and
without attempting to make any reparation
for the wrong and injury thus unnecessarily
inflicted. No words that I can employ can
characterize in fitting terms the action pro-
posed by the majority of this House, Cer-
tainly the annals of no civilized community
can furnish an example of such reckless dis-
regard of the rights of individuals.
The distinguished individual who during
the three past eventful years has occupied the
highest office within the gift of the American
people, to whom all eyes have been turned with
earnest interest, and whom a portion of his
countrymen propose to honor tor four years
longe , in his message to the Thirty-seventh
Congress uses these significant and emphatic
words:
" The liberation of slaves is the destruc-
tion of property, property acquired by des-
cent or purchase, the same as any other prop-
erty." |
