an article was introduced into the Constitu-
tion by a unanimous vote, nemine contradi
cente, not one solitary voice raised against it
that the Legislature should not interfere will
the relation of master and slave in the State
of Maryland. The men of that Convention
were great men, were good men, were men of
whom the State of Maryland may justly be
proud; and their names will be banded down
to posterity as bright stars in the galaxy of
the good old State of Maryland. Were they
not conscientious men? were they not jus
men? were they not men disposed to serve
their God as humbly and as faithfully as the
latter day saints that surround us now?
1 will not argue this view of the question
because the arguing of it would admit that
there had been a change, which I do not be-
lieve. And I cannot believe that the gen-
tlemen who dissent from me, and oppose
the institution of slavery, themselves believe
that there has been such a radical change in
the minds of the people upon this point.
But it is argued that slavery is immoral in
its nature and in its tendency: that it is de-
moralizing to both races: that it is cruel,
inhuman, monstrous in its character, and that
it affects injuriously the material interests of
the State of Maryland. We answer that it is
none of these. Slavery has done more to im-
prove, and elevate, and make comfortable,
and to christianize the African than all the
abolition societies, all the emigrant aid socie-
ties, and all the so-called benevolent institu-
tions of abolitiondom combined. The four
millions slaves of the Southern States are the
happiest, the most elevated in the scale of
civilization, the most comfortable in their
physical, moral and mental condition, of any
of their race that exist upon the face of the
earth, or that ever did exist.
Now, I intend to try and prove this posi-
tion by a reference to the statistics of the
United States, as they are exhibited in the
census of 1860. I have noticed how studi-
ously—perhaps I should not say studiously,
but it seemed to be so—gentlemen who have
argued this question upon this floor have
avoided any references to the statistics of
the United States .pertaining to slavery. They
have not attempted to bolster up their asser-
tions of the enormities of slavery, by one
solitary reference, so far as it came to my
hearing, to the statistics of the census. It is
charged that slavery is immoral, that it. has
a demoralizing effect upon the negro, and
also upon the white race. Now, the statistics
of the United States show, taking the aggre-
gate of all the population, that in the slave-
holding States there is not quite one negro
convict to 10,000 of the population, while in
the free States the negro convicts average
about 29 to 10,000 of the population. And
still we are told that slavery has a demoral-
izing effect upon the negro; that it debases
him, degrades him, and makes him vicious. |
- Still here is the bold fact presented in the sta-
tistics, which no man can gainsay, that in
the free States of the North there are twenty-
nine negro convicts where there is one negro
convict in the slave States of the South. Is
i there no force in that argument ?
And again; and I would not advert to it,
but it has been adverted to before, a fling
has been made at the demoralizing tendency
of the institution of slavery upon the morals
of the two races in the Southern States,
which is attested by the large number of mu-
lattoes in the South. The gentleman (Mr.
Valliant) who first attempted that argument,
certainly reckoned without ever looking at
the book. He surely did not speak from the
book, when be made that assertion. Why,
sir, in the Southern States there are only
about one mulatto to eight negroes; while in
the Northern States there are more mulattoes
than negroes. In many of them the mulat-
toes constitute seventy-five per cent. of the
colored population. And in all of them it
will average over .fifty per cent., as I have
stated. But I am not disposed to lay this as
a sin at their door at all, for it is from that
section of country that we hear the delectable
doctrine of miscegenation preached, and they
but practice what they preach. And thus
they preserve that inestimable jewel consis-
tency embodied in a yellow casket though not
a golden one.
Next, slavery is cruel, inhumane and mon-
strous. Now, if the lot of the slave is so
deplorable as it is represented to be, if the
slaves of this country are in a condition
which imposes burdens upon them which are
grievous to be borne, why is it not shown in
its results? We have heard this argument of
chains, and shackles, and slavery, over and
over again. It is a harp of a thousand strings
that is played upon incessantly by gentlemen
on the other side. Now, if it be true that the
slaves "groan and sweat under this weary
life," then the statistics showing their phys-
ical condition will certainly justify gentle-
men in that assertion. Now, I assert as the
correct doctrine that that class of people
among whom there is the most rapid natural
increase, the least mortality, and the greatest
longevity, the least want and destitution, and
the greatest immunity from the many ills that
human flesh is heir to, cannot be inhumanly
treated; but on the contrary, their condition
must be a prosperous, happy and contented
one. I think that all true philanthropists and
every student of political economy will admit
that that is a true position.
Now, how do those who study political
economy and the doctrine of government,
judge of the condition of any people, of their
prosperity and happiness, and of the benign
influences of the government under which
they live, except by the statistics that show
their physical condition? And the statistics
prove that the slave population of the South |
