If we are driven to the conclusion that Slavery in Maryland must
terminate, under the operation of tendencies now at work, it becomes a
matter of great importance to know something about the manner in which
so extensive a change is to be accomplished. Undoubtedly it will not
do to remain entirely passive on this subject. I am persuaded that the
general sentiment in Maryland is fixed in the conviction that Slavery,
here at least, is an evil, and that in some way or other it must be
removed.
There are two main difficulties which here present themselves.
In the first place the negroes amongst us, whether emancipated or
enslaved, must remain a distinct class, a servile class, separated from
the whites by differences of color, race and civilization.
In considering Slavery where such bars of separation between the
classes are not found, one may very well imagine how the system may
be changed without confusion or disorder; how the enslaved class,
gradually admitted to the privileges of freedom, may, after a while,
become incorporated with the general body of society; how, thus, all
distinctions may be finally destroyed, and how the power, resources,
and energy of the State may be vastly increased by the addition of
so much active material to her industrial and moral forces. In Rome
the sons of freedmen were citizens. Europe could alter her system of
Slavery which existed in the middle ages, and which still exists in
Poland, Hungary and Russia; she could admit her serfs to some of the
rights of citizens, though still withholding many of those rights;
she could do this without danger, because serfs and lords were of one
complexion, and of one race. The descendant of a peasant might himself
in time become a lord.
But when a servile population, emancipated, stands marked by its
peculiarities of race and color, so that it can not be drawn into
the social and political sphere, its position inevitably becomes
hostile. In the midst of the community, but not of it; the old bond of
connection ruptured, with no basis whatever upon which a new one can be
established--what but feelings of suspicion, of distrust, of aversion
and repugnance can prevail between the two classes so far removed and
so entirely dissimilar.
Nor can any thing be done by the superior class to elevate the
condition of the other; because that would be to strengthen an adverse
power. All efforts to improve an humble population must have reference
to their ultimate admission to a participation in social and political
rights. Of course this could not be contemplated for a moment in any
community where the number of the black population might be at all
considerable. And this brings me, without dwelling farther on this
point, to the second difficulty which has to be considered by us in
Maryland, in view of future emancipation.
When it was determined to abolish Slavery in Pennsylvania, the thing
could be done easily enough, because of the small number of slaves in
that commonwealth, in comparison with the bulk of the population. The
slaves were a mere handful. They could be set free in the midst of the
general community without the danger of their forming a large class
remaining distinct from the rest of the population, to infect society
by their idleness, or to excite commotion by the rivalry of their labor
with that of the whites. It made no great difference in the social
condition of Pennsylvania, whether the negroes within her borders were
individually slaves or not. Their numbers were too small to affect the
general current of things one way or another.
But in Maryland the case is otherwise. It would be a serious business
to set free as large a slave population as we have, and leave them
floating among us with a careless disregard of the future. The black
population of Maryland is about one third of the whole population. In
1840 it amounted to 151,556; the white population numbered 316,011. In
an aggregate population, then, of 467,567 the blacks number 151,556.
Of these the slaves are about ninety thousand; the free blacks, about
sixty thousand.
The question, it may be said, relates not to the aggregate number of
the black population, but only to the slave portion. Sixty thousand
and more are free already; emancipation would affect only the ninety
thousand.
The latter number would be sufficient to make it a serious business.
But in fact the matter relates to the whole number. For emancipation
would make them all of one class as they are now of one race--would add
the ninety thousand to the sixty thousand and upwards, constituting
altogether a vast heterogeneous element in the social sphere which
could not be assimilated, and which would be too great to remain
unassimilated without great disorder.
No; the moment the interests of this race are disintegrated from those
of the whites, the two will come into collision, and the weaker must be
sacrificed. The only safety of the black is in the swallowing up of his
personality--the merging of himself and his being, in the overpowering
existence of the master race.
Why will not those who call themselves the friends of the black people
think of this?
The ninety thousand slaves of Maryland have now protectors; these
slaves constitute part and parcel of a great interest which their
masters represent. Set them free, and where will they find protectors?
They will not be able to protect themselves; for their freedom would
give them no participation in the political franchise--nor would such
participation avail them if it were given.
In the competition which arises now between slave labor and free white
labor in our slaveholding counties, the latter is obliged to give
way--because the slave and the master are of one interest, and that
the predominant interest. The laboring white man removes; or, if he
remains, he succumbs to the overpowering force, and, though conscious
of the degradation, he submits to it.
But if the slave is separated from the master and left to stand alone,
then is he not only deprived of the support which upheld him, but the
very power which protected is now turned against him; the stamp of his
race is upon him; he is isolated. Cut off from the sympathies of the
whites, without any part or lot in the political life of the State,
forming no part of the frame work of society, he is like a parasite
plant torn from the stock to which it clung. The slaveholding interest
is no more; where is the slave-protecting interest to spring up?
The competition between white labor and that of the blacks, Slavery
being abolished, would now assume a new appearance. The negroes
would have none to befriend them; every white laborer, actually or
prospectively a voter, would bring with him into the competition the
whole force of his connection with the social and political system.
Apart from this, the value of white labor would be greater than that of
negro labor, in almost any pursuit. The conflict of this competition
might be dangerous to domestic peace; it might prove suddenly
destructive to the race which sooner or later it would inevitably
overwhelm.
The danger of disturbances of tranquillity would arise from the large
mass of the black population amongst us. In the northern States the
negroes are too few to come into competition with the whites; yet even
in those States a hostile feeling is indulged towards them. Witness
the outbreaks in Philadelphia and Cincinnati a few years ago. Here in
Maryland the collision between the two classes of laborers would be
more violent than any which has yet taken place elsewhere. The influx
of foreign laborers, German and Irish, with their superior efficiency,
would add continually to the force pressing upon the negroes. Recollect
that the latter form nearly one-third of our population; and then
consider the probable fate of that multitude of defenceless beings,
aliens in the community, with an active enemy bent on rooting them out,
no sympathies in their favor, no interest to support them, but with
every prejudice of society turned against them.
Again, passing by these certain provocations of disturbance, the
presence of so large a body of free negroes in the State would render
necessary a series of restrictive laws. At this time our legislation
is thought to be very severe towards the free colored people. It is
painful to contemplate the extremes to which our police severities
might be obliged to go in the event of an act of emancipation.
I have used the term “free negroes,” to distinguish the emancipated
blacks from the slaves. But the distinction is scarcely worth a
difference so far as servitude is concerned. The emancipated negro can
not emerge from a servile condition; it is impossible that he should do
so in this country, while the distinctions of race and color remain.
If Slavery were abolished in Maryland, the negroes amongst us would
be slaves to the social system, instead of slaves to individuals; the
restrictions of the laws would be more hard than the control of a
master.
In view, then, of the real facts of our position, as it relates to
our black people, what ought to be our chief concern? To hasten
emancipation? No: that will come at any rate; it may come too soon.
The main thing is to see how we can provide for it so that the new
relations it will bring may be productive of good and not of evil to
both races.
This, then, is the great matter; the public mind should be turned
to it seriously and at once. Maryland has no precedent to follow.
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, New England had none of her
difficulties. They could emancipate and leave results to take care
of themselves; or they might have refrained from emancipation with
pretty nearly equal indifference. No strong, deeply rooted slaveholding
interest could ever have grown up in those States; for the same reasons
which prevent any such from fastening itself upon western Maryland and
western Virginia. Slavery never could have become ingrained in the
fibre and texture of the communities north of us, as it has grown into
ours. Hence while the putting of it off by them was a mere rejection
of something uncongenial with the system, it will be with us a serious
alterative process to root out a constitutional malady which has crept
into the blood, and blended itself with the very springs of life.
If we should rush precipitately upon emancipation, and rest with that
as though it were every thing--let us see what would come of that. One
hundred and fifty thousand black people, deprived of the guardianship
and control of masters, the bonds of domestic relationship which
united them with the community being rent asunder, and that identity
of interest gone which secured them a definite and harmonious, though
humble sphere in the social organism--shall they be left to the mercy
of stringent laws and police restrictions, and have the life worried
out of them by the incessant fretting of petty persecutions? Poor
unfortunates, thrust forth out of the pale of communion to maintain a
separate existence, with no foundation to rest it upon, with no element
of social or political life wherewith to nourish it, with nothing to
cling to, nothing to be engrafted upon, an existence without entity,
miserable, forlorn, who could be so unfeeling as not to commiserate
their condition! Nor would it be the slowly wasting process of petty
persecutions which they would have alone to encounter. Day by day the
pressure of competition would become more and more grievous, driving
them from every avocation in which they could hope to find employment.
Forced from the city into the country, they would be compelled to seek
refuge from the country in the obscure alleys of the city. I have
alluded to the riots in Cincinnati and Philadelphia a few years ago,
the causes of which are too well known. In the city of New York, if
my information is correct, negroes are excluded from cab driving and
similar occupations. If such things are seen in communities where the
number of blacks is comparatively small, what might not be expected in
a community where the blacks are so numerous as they are in ours?
It may be here remarked that so long as Slavery remains a prominent
institution in a State, its influence upon labor, and upon the
estimation in which labor is held, has the effect of protecting the
class of free negroes to a considerable extent from the competition,
and its results, of white labor. The slaveholding interest is the
bulwark of the whole colored race; it stands between them and
destruction. Here in Baltimore there are no ordinances excluding free
negroes from particular occupations. The competition of white labor,
however, mostly Irish and German, has driven the free negroes from many
sorts of employment on Fell’s Point, especially from the wharves and
coal yards. If Slavery were abolished and the slaveholding interest
extinct, the whole force of an irresistible competition would come
directly upon the colored people, and would overwhelm them utterly.
When we are considering emancipation, therefore, we must consider
other things also, if we would be mindful of our duty as having in
charge a docile inoffensive class, whose fate depends so much upon our
conduct towards them.
One other thing remains to be here mentioned before we pass to the
next and last division of the subject. In the event of emancipation,
if we trust to the action of our domestic policy to drive the black
population into other parts of the Union, it must be borne in mind that
the reactive policy of our neighbor States, both north and south, will
be immediately operative to repel the influx of blacks, likely to be
poured upon them from Maryland. Can it be supposed that Pennsylvania
will open her arms to receive the exiles rejected from our bosom? Ohio
has already raised the barrier of exclusion as against Kentucky. The
slaveholding States will not take our expelled negroes. We could not
expect that; for Maryland at this moment will not take the free negroes
of any other State.
Our condition, then, will be one of isolation, to such a degree, at
least, as to throw us wholly upon our own energies. In other words, if
we emancipate we must not expect to slough off the results upon other
States. We must confront them ourselves; we must meet them on our own
soil, and manage them as best we may. It is probable, however, that
an act of prospective emancipation would induce some slaveholders to
emigrate with their slaves to the south-west; and in this way there
would be some diminution of the mass of the colored population.