flag whose bright stars and broad stripes are
the pride and admiration of every patriotic
American, and a terror to all its enemies,
cither foreign or domestic.
However much gentlemen on the other side
may attempt by their eloquence and ingenuity,
I might say, in a few instances, their sophis-
try, to divert the public mind from the true
cause of this sad and unhappy conflict, re-
sulting in a resort to the arbitrament of the
sword for its ultimate solution, the fact can-
not be disguised that slavery and its influ-
ences were not only the ostensible, but the
real cause of the rebellion. The truth
of the preposition, supported by all the
conspiring facts and circumstances, is as ap-
parent and conclusive to my mind as the light
of the sun at noonday. Then, Mr. President, I
make the direct issue between the American
Union and the institution of slavery; one
or the. other mast perish. If the latter
was the cause of the rebellion, and still its
aid and support and the rebellion cannot be
put down wihtout its destruction, then I say,
in the name of Heaven, and by all the sacred
obligations that bind us to this Union, our
wives, our children, and to posterity in all
future generations, eradicate it now, hence-
forth and forever by the adoption of the 23d
article in the report of the Committee on the
Declaration of Rights. Incorporate into the
organic law of the State—
"That hereafter, in this State, there shall
be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,
except in punishment of crime, whereof the
party shall have been duly convicted; and
all persons held to service or labor as slaves
are hereby declared free,"
Then, sir, when this convention shall have
finished its work. it will only remain for the
Governor of the Suite, by his proclamation,
to summon the legal voters to its coffin, the
ballot box. Then, indeed, will be performed
the last sad obsequies over the fetid corpse of
this hitherto common, mischievous disturber
of the pa ace and happiness of a once great,
prosperous, united and glorious Union. Sir,
the funeral cortege is now prepared, and only
awaits the final action of this Convention,
to consign with appropriate ceremonies all
that remains of slavery in Maryland, to its
final sepulchre, and then truly will the solemn
requiem echo and resound throughout the
length and breadth of this land, "requiescat
in pan."
Maryland free, peace in the progress of
events' would soon return to our distracted
and divided land; cruel war would cease;
' the sword now stained with fraternal blood,
would be beat into ploughshares, and the
glittering spear of the cavalier into pruning
hooks, and we should learn war no more.
The wilderness would blossom as the rose,
and the desert become vocal with the praise
of God.
I maintain that this war is not now, and |
never has been, prosecuted for the parpose of
subjucating the people of the South; and in
this connection I will make one remark in
relation to what has fallen from the gentle-
man from Prince George's (Mr. Clarke.)
He said that he believed if the Crittenden
Compromise had been carried out, the war
would long since have ceased, and peace and
harmony and union would have been re-
stored. I cannot agree to any such proposi-
tion. I do not think those in rebellion com-
menced this war with any intention of com-
promising, or returning to their allegiance,
until they had consummated all their nefa-
rious purposes. What did Jefferson Davis,
the head of that bogus confederacy, say in a
speech delivered in the city of Jackson, during-
the winter of 1862, when invited to address
the Legislature of Mississippi, there assem-
bled? What did he say upon the subject of
compromise, upon the subject of returning
to their allegiance to the Constitution and
the Union? He said, in something like these
words—I speak now from memory, but I
think I am correct: " If a sheet of paper
as white as the driven snow, and & pencil
were placed in my hands, and I was requested
to write the terms of a compromise, I would
spit upon it and trample it under my feet."
Does that look like returning to the Union?
Does that look like that sort of conciliation
which the gentleman seemed to expect would
beproduced by the Crittenden Compromise?
Certainly not. It never was their intention
to return to the Union until they had tried
to the bitter end the arbitrament of the sword.
Then, perhaps, they may retarn to their
reason, and a better elate of things may
ensue.
But I maintain that this war is not now,
and never has been, prosecuted for the pur-
pose of subjugating the people of the South ;
but has been waged purely and solely for
the preservation of the Union and the Consti-
tution. And there has never been a period
during its bloody history, that if I had the
power, I would not have granted to the
masses of that misguided people, the most
liberal amnesty and pardon—provided they
would lay down their arms and return to
their allegiance—to that benign government,
as the only palladium of their political safety
and prosperity, and to the protecting folds
of that glorious old flag which in an insane
moment and in the madness of the hour, they
have so ruthlessly assailed and humbled in
the dust. To their leaders and conspirators
in this sad drama, I can say nothing; but
would turn them over to a wise and beneficent
government to be disposed of as the magni-
tude of their crimes deserve.
Much has been said, and eloquently said,
upon the subject of emancipation. It had
been ably discussed in all its phases. It has
been discussed as a divine institution; it has
been presented in all the deformity and wick- |
