the other side—"practically dead," "good
for nothing," land has appreciated all over
the State. I hope it will long continue to do
so, and I shall be as much delighted as the
gentleman from Prince George's (Mr. Clarke)
to know that there is not an acre of land in
this State but what can be profitably farmed
under a better system of labor than we have
had before, and be worth double for farming
purposes on that account. But then the fact
has been such as I have stated, and I do not
know that it has ever materially changed
except in the convulsions of time.
But in Charles county—which has a larger
percentage of slaves than Prince George's—
in Charles county, the land, according to
the same returns, is found to be worth $19 58
an acre. The larger the proportion of slaves
the smaller the value of the land. But I do
not propose to dwell upon these statistics,
for they are tedious at all times. I wish
merely to add that in those four counties as
well as the other great slaveholding county,
Montgomery, in the full enjoyment of all the
blessings of slavery, the progress of white
population during seventy years has been
backward, and the census of 1860 found
within them fewer white persons than that of
1790, as shown by the tables.
WHITE POPULATION.
Counties. 1790. 1860.
Prince George's.......... 10,004 9,650
Calvert..................... 4,211 3,997
St. Mary's.................. 8,216 6,798
Charles........ ........... 10,124 5,796
Montgomery............... 11,679 11,349
I have a theory with inference to the bar-
renness which is referred to. I wish to say
that wherever you find the land cultivated by
slave labor for a considerable length of time,
you will find plenty of the barrenness of
which the gentleman from Prince George's
(Mr Clarke) spoke. Look over your State.
Look, too, at Virginia, as she was four years
ago, not as she is to-day, when the besom of
desolation has swept over her. Think of her
having started upon the race of empire more
than two hundred and fifty years ago, and
now see her progress. One solitary ruined
steeple marks where Jamestown once stood.
And it gentleman have visited there, as I
have dune, they will remember that all over
eastern Virginia, the most noticeable feature
in the landscape is the old chimney from
which has lotted away the mansion of some
"first family," who once resided there I
have stood upon a single spot, and counted
in the broad sweep which my eye could take—
not in the town, nut in the country—more
than twenty-five chimneys visible, thus stand-
ing; and desolation visible everywhere
What is it that has written barrenness over
all those fields? Why is it? Look at recent
events. Why is it that within the sound of
cannon from the old town of Falmouth, on |
the Rappahannock, and straight on the road
to Richmond, the capital of Virginia, whole
army corps can play at hide and seek for a
week at a time in the tangled jungle there, ap-
propriately called "the Wildeness? ' Why
is it? Massachusetts, one-eighth the size of
the Old Dominion, poor, sterile, rocky,
sandy, frozen Massachusetts, that for the life
other could not raise enough upon her own
soil to maintain the population there, has
more white people living within her BORDER=0s
than Old Virginia has, though eight times
her size. It is because a system of labor ex-
ists there such as has not existed in Virginia.
And I wish to make a slight digression
here for the purpose of saying one word about
Massachusetts. It is not in this question;
she is not on trial here. We are trying to
arrive at the truth for Maryland. But I
think it due to those who may casually take
up our debates in future times, that one
word should be said in reference to Massa-
chusetts upon one point.
The statement has been made, and re-made,
and re-made, after Mr. Ruffin, the famous
Virginia Ruffin, that when convinced that
slavery was too costly in their wintry region,
Massachusetts and other Northern States,
first sold their negro slaves to the South,
and then abolished slavery; that while avoid-
ing their costly use, they continued as long
as permitted by law, to steal new slaves from
Africa and sell them to the Southern States,
&c. That was uttered by Mr. Ruffin. It is
due to him to say that he did not originate
it. And it was caught up and echoed in
Congress, and by little men all over the land,
as though it was true. It is the most notable
example I know of the truth of that old
maxim—that a lie well stuck to is as good as
the truth. It has been reiterated here by
gentlemen who believed in it, no doubt, but
it is entirely false. I ask any of those gentle-
men, if be has examined the statistics by
which he would prove that assertion? I say
the fact is that slavery never had a legal exis-
tence in Massachusetts. In several of the
other Northern States it did exist in some
slight degree.
Mr. BERRY, of Prince George's. Do I un-
derstand the gentleman to say that slavery
never had any existence in that State?
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE, No legal existence.
Mr. BERRY, of Prince George's. It existed
under the common law.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. No, sir; never. The
common law recognizes no such thing as
slavery. And I will refer gentlemen to a cage
in Virginia that decides that expressly.
Mr. CLARKE. That question was fully ar-
gued by Mr. Benjamin, in the Senate of the
United States. And I think he completely
establishes the fact of the recognition of slave-
ry by the common law of England. And I
think it was so acknowledged by Mr. Fessen-
den. |
