them, to make a government for the State
of Maryland, which shall protect our prop-
erty, and protect us in our persons, and
in all the rights which we claim under the
Government. I ask whether, on reflection,
they think their time is well employed in this
exhibition of patriotism, rather than in the
legitimate execution of the duties which the
people demand at their bands; whether, and
especially I ask it, when gent here to frame a
government for the security of our property,
they can feel justified in taking it from us.
I thank the portion of the Convention
which has been so indulgent as to allow me
thus much time to express my views.
Mr. STIRLING. During the course of this
debate I hesitated some time whether I should
submit any remarks whatever to the consid-
eration of the Convention. I have been very
anxious that this debate should close within
a reasonable period. The continued labors
of this Convention, at this season of the year,
had become so irksome to all, and so contrary
to the expectation of the people, for I think
people upon both sides have been disappointed
at the long-continued session of this Conven-
tion, that I had almost come to the conclu-
sion not to say a word upon this subject.
But upon further reflection, and particularly
upon the solicitation of some of my friends,
I have thought proper, at this stage of the
debate, briefly to explain my views; and I
hope I shall be able to conclude within the
time fixed by the order of the house for taking
the vote.
In discussing this question, without any
disrespect to that sacred book so often quoted
In this Convention, I inlend in these remarks
to lay it entirely aside. I shall not under-
take to prove or to disprove that the Bible
sanctions or does not sanction slavery. I shall
not undertake to prove or disprove that depen-
dently upon the Bible, or independently of the
Bible, the institution of slavery is or is not a
sin. So far as I ana concerned, I have never
regarded it as sinful. I do not regard it so
now, as an individual fact. All I have to
say upon that subject is that it neither proves
nor disproves the material facts that are con-
tained in the matters before this Convention.
We all know that in different periods of
the world, what baa been justifiable at one
time becomes unjustifiable at another. What
is right at one time becomes wrong at another.
You may talk as much as yon please about
the immutable principles of right; but all
bistory, sacred and profane, and the experi-
ence of man proves that what is right at some
times is not right at others. We have only
to refer, not to the sacred scriptures necessa-
rily, but to the period to which the early part
of the scriptural record relates, to show that
the marriage of the nearest connections, even
children of the same father and mother, has
been permitted under the sanction of the sys-
tem of religion that prevailed at that time. |
What is the institution of slavery, as it
bears upon the question of morals? It occupies
the same position as every other institution. It
takes its position in every age of the world, ac-
cording to the circumstances that surround it
in that age of the world. Does any man pre-
tend to say that any great ruler or moral
teacher ever undertook to establish the prin-
ciple that the effect of despotic rule over the
population subjected to it, is contrary to the
moral law? Yet there is not now a single
citizen here or elsewhere under our form of
government who does not believe that such
despotic forms of government are in their na-
ture contrary to human rights, and ought to
be as speedily as practicable removed.
The institution of slavery takes its stand,
like any other institution temporal in its
character, upon the same basis with Other pe-
culiar institutions, despotic in their character,
which have been swept away; and finds its
moral justification, or want of moral justifi-
cation, in the character of the age in which
it exists and claims a right to perpetuate
itself.
What is the institution of slavery to-day?
In this respect, I wish to say frankly that I
take upon one branch of the subject, pre-
cisely the view the gentleman from Somerset
(Mr. Dennis) charged upon us as one of the
motives of this movement. I believe the in-
stitution of slavery to be the corner-stone of
this rebellion. I believe it to be the cause of
this war. I believe it to be the cause of all
the trouble in this State. And so far as it
may relate to my own personal views and
opinions upon that subject, it is this particu-
lar thing which has made me first, above all
considerations, an emancipationist.
I do not mean to say there are not other
considerations which may be higher; but I
mean to say that these are the considerations
which have prevailed upon my mind in regard
to this subject. Like everybody else, I sup-
pose, I have undergone many changes. I cer-
tainly was, at one time in my life, not a very
mature period of it, a good deal of a pro-
slavery man. I have been connected with
the institution in a variety of ways; and at
that period, its effects bad not been impressed
upon my mind. But from the very moment
this rebellion progressed sufficiently to be
seen and felt, and particularly in this State,
I made up my mind that the existence of
slavery was incompatible with the good of
the country, and with the assertion of those
political principles to which I was attached,
and even with the safety of myself and my
friends in the advocacy of those principles.
I recollect perfectly well that when the first
outburst took place in the city of Baltimore
in regard to this rebellion—I do not mean
particularly the case of the 19th of April—it
developed to my mind a slate of public feel-
ing in society which I bad but dimly appre-
hended. I found that those who stood around |
