i. 445 
 .h3R44 
 
 ^9 
 
 
 ^': 
 
Book— — — 
 
9^0 ^"^^ 
 
 IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION 
 
 IN MARYLAND. 
 
 PROCEEDII^Tas 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Union ^Uit 
 
 AT A MEETING HELD IN 
 
 TEMPEHAJ^CE TEMPLE, 
 
 B ^ltim:oi2.e. 
 
 WEDNESDAY, December 16, 1863. 
 
 BALTLMORE: 
 PRINTED BY BULL k TUTTLE, CLIPPER OFFICE. 
 
 1863. 
 

 b 6 '1 ". ' 
 
PROCEEDINGS 
 
 OP THE 
 
 UNION STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE, 
 
 Wednesday, December 16, 1863. 
 
 The State Central Committee of the Union Party of Mary- 
 land met at Temperance Temple on Wednesday, the IGtIi 
 instant, at noon, Hon. Thomas Swann in the chair. 
 
 After calling the roll Mr. Swann addressed the Committee 
 as follows : 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. SWANN. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Union State Central Committee : 
 
 I have called you together, by request of a large number ot 
 Union men, in advance of the meeting of the Legislature, to 
 suggest the propriety of some action on the part of tliis Com- 
 mittee in reference to the engrossing subject of Emancipation, 
 which now engages tlie attention of the people of this State, 
 It may be proper for me to state, as an additional reason for 
 this movement, that I have received a communication, from 
 prominent and influential slaveholders of Maryland, urging 
 
within her limits, wliy .should the slaveholder, as a practical 
 question of economy as well as of policy, embarrass himself any 
 longer with negro slavery !■* Will delay bring back the losses 
 which have been brought upon him by this rebellion ? 
 
 There is no one in the State of Maryland Avho has more uni- 
 formly advocated the observance of every constitutional guaran- 
 tee in refence to slave property, and that the amplest justice 
 should be done to all in dealing with it, than the Chairman of 
 this Committee. But I have foreseen that the tenure by which 
 it was held was becoming ever}' day more and more precarious. 
 I cordially endorsed tlie policy of the President in his recom- 
 mendation of gradual Emancipation with compensation, because 
 I believed the contest was iasfc drifting beyond law and consti- 
 tutional guarantees. The State of Maryland, before this war 
 broke out, represented more than thirty millions, in her 
 slave population ; and as it had grown up under the protection 
 of the Federal as well as the State (Jonstitutions, it seemed to 
 me that some consideration should be extended to this large in- 
 terest. But it is not the less true that all the great interests of 
 the country, both public and private, have been alike seriously 
 compromised l)y the effects of this rebellion. Every one has 
 suffered more or less. What is my own experience ? In an 
 adjoining State, where I represented a large interest, my lands 
 have been laid waste — valuable cro])8 have disappeared before 
 the torch of the incendiary — personal property has been appro- 
 priated, without compensation. Tlie march of contending 
 armies knows no restraint. The law becomes powerless when 
 revolutions begin. You may charge upon whom you will the 
 cause of all this anarchy and ruin, but the ravages of a wasting 
 war have done it all ; for if there had been no rebellion your 
 domestic relations would not have been interfered with. I 
 charge the responsibility upon the men who liave precipitated 
 this rebellion. They are the men upon whom the censure must 
 fall. But what can we do now ? That is the practical ques- 
 tion. We are in the midst of a revolution. We could not 
 bring back Slavery in Maryland if we desired it. Public opin- 
 ion has settled the doom of Slavery, because public opinion has 
 associated with it the blood of the gallant men who have fallen 
 in this unnatural strife. It had no countenance at any time but 
 that which the Union gave it. In attempting to break up, the 
 Union to throw around it additional safeguards and to widen 
 the area of its power, the States in rebellion have destroyed it 
 altogether ; and hard as it is upon the loyal men of the Border 
 States, we are left no alternative but to accept the state of 
 things as we find them. When President Lincoln, more than 
 a year ago, recommended gradual Emancipation, I believed that 
 some plan might have been adopted in Maryland which would 
 
have added a few short years to the lite ot" iSlaver}'. 1 am not 
 so sure now, as things liave pro?:!;rc.ssed, that 1 was not mistaken 
 in this. Where is tiie able-bodied man or woman in the State 
 of Maryland, who cannot throw off the yoke of Slavery, without 
 hindrance, in twenty -four hours "r* The relation of master and 
 filave is totally changed. The slave has become the master — 
 that is to say, lie dictates his own terms of labor, or he goes 
 where he can enjoy his uurestrained freedom without interfer- 
 ence. Such a system of labor is not only exjiensive, but it is 
 utterly worthless and unprotital)le. Gradual Emancipation, in 
 the present condition of the country and ot' our own State, 
 means nothing more, iii lu}' judgment, than the support by the 
 master of the Avomen and children and those who are unable to 
 work. That is all : for it is evident that in Maryland the negro 
 holds his freedom in his own hands, in the absence of compul- 
 sory laws . and to suppose that, he is so blind and indifferent as 
 not to make use of it, is hardly to be believed. What does it 
 profit us, then, to talk about gradual Emancipation, when the 
 master has lost all control — when the laws are silent, and a 
 restless public oidnion is urging the prompt abolition of Slavery 
 everywhere? There is no disguising the fact that the prejudice 
 against slavery has increased ienlbld since the breaking out of 
 this war. It has no kind word from any quarter. You could 
 not enforce the Fugitive Slave Lav.' to-morrow in any State of 
 the Union without bloodsVied. Tliese indications are not with- 
 out their significance. I am reasoning this question for the 
 consideration of my friends in the State. I desire the })eople to 
 understand hov,- I have been brouglit to the conclusion that 
 Slavery is dead in Maryland: and if 1 have modified my views 
 in regard to the interest which the State or the slaveholder may 
 have, in any system of gradual Emancipation, I Avaut it to he 
 understood by what reasons I have been influenced. 
 
 But in view of the transition through Avhich we are ])assing, 
 there are considerations of State policy, as well as of individual 
 concern, which we are not at liberty to lose sight of. Siipj)ose 
 we go on struggling to maintain our hold upon tlie crumbling 
 fragments of this sinking institution, what will it avail us? 
 How will the public interests of the State fare in such a conflict ? 
 It involves the ability of the citizen to make good the demands 
 of taxation, and as a consequence the maintenance of the public 
 credit. The State must prepare lor the change through which 
 she is certain to pass — the sooner the better. You want labor 
 and you want capital. You will get neither while this struggle 
 continues. The State in the meantime suffers in her agriculture, 
 in her manufactures, in the development of her various resources 
 — in her general finances, both ])ublic and private — every day 
 that she permits this incubus, as it now stands, to be recognized 
 
8 
 
 as a State institution. You can do nothing as a Slave State to 
 better your present condition ; you may do all that you desire, 
 not only to recover from the past, but to give impetus to your 
 prospects in the future, if you get rid of negro slavery at once, 
 and hold out inducements to free white labor to come to your 
 aid. I believe that in ten years the State of Maryland, under 
 a system of free labor, would double both her population, the 
 value of her lands, and her capacity for production. 
 
 If it be admitted, then — and who will deny it — that Slavery 
 has reached a point where it can no longer be made useful or 
 jirofitable — that it has no real or marketable value, in the midst 
 (jf the embarrassments that surround it — is it not better that it 
 should cease to be recognized as speedily as practicable ? Two 
 modes have been suggested for its final removal, both of which 
 1 propose to refer to briefly : 
 
 1. Gradual Emancipation, extending over, say, three, five, 
 seven, or ten years. 
 
 2. Immediate Emancipation, with the chance of compensation 
 by Congress, under the proposition of the President of the 
 United States. 
 
 I know there are many who cling to the hope that something 
 may still be done to moderate the burthen which the extinction 
 of Slavery is expected to entail upon a large class in Maryland 
 in the total loss of their capital. But who will not see the 
 utter hopelessness of any such reliance? The object of time, in 
 inaugurating a system of free labor, is ostensibly to give to the 
 master the benefit of the labor of his slave until he can adapt 
 himself to the proposed change. But will it do this ? Would 
 an ordinance of gradual Emancipation give any more security 
 to the slaveholder than he enjoys at the present moment ? A 
 slave who is to be free five or ten years hence would have no 
 more hesitation in availing himself of his present flicilities of 
 escape than if he were a slave for life. Nor would such an or- 
 dinance allay for an instant the agitation which is now going 
 on, and which has brought us to this crisis. It is reasonable to 
 assume, from our experience so far, that a very short time will 
 witness the withdrawal of all that portion of the colored race 
 in Maryland whose labor is worth retaining. Family ties, 
 domestic attachments, kindly sympathies, humane treatment, 
 have not retarded heretofore, nor will they retard hereafter, the 
 all controlling desire for freedom. But with the certainty of 
 this result, the advocates of gradual Emancipation will find 
 themselves saddled with the support of all the slave property 
 which has ceased to be available oi profitable. So tar from 
 being a benefit it would result in positive loss and inconvenience. 
 I can see it in no other light. There is no system of gradual 
 Emancipation that could be made practically useful in relieving 
 
the slaveholder, as things now stand in Maryland ; and it is not 
 probable that he will get any additional safeguard for his pro- 
 tection, either from Congress or the Legislature of his State. 
 It will also be borne in mind that while this experiment of 
 gradual Emancipation is going on all your great interests are 
 at a standstill. Your labor is deficient — your lands are stag- 
 nant and unproductive — you are gaining nothing, in fact, but 
 the doubtful value of the slave-labor that may be induced to 
 forego the temptation of freedom and remain with you, against 
 the almost certain and incalculable results that would be likely 
 to i'ollow a Proclamation of immediate and unconditional Eman- 
 cipation. These are stubborn facts, and it may be, not the most 
 agreeable view that might be presented of this subject. To say 
 that I sympathize deeply with those who will suffer so largely 
 from the immediate eflects of this change, 1 do no more than 
 justice to myself. I am not among the number of those who 
 can lift the voice of exultation and triumph in a time like this. 
 There is no man in the State who has desired more ardently 
 than I have done the wiping out of Slavery ; not, however, by 
 violence and indirection, and a total abnegation of all respect 
 for the claims and feelings of those who are innocently connected 
 with it. I would have extinguished it at any time heretofore, 
 but for my reverence for law and constitutional guarantees, 
 and the rights of property. That the slaveholder should hesi- 
 tate and hold back, in so trying a crisis, is not to be wondered 
 at, viewing his slave property as he does. The non-slaveholder 
 might do the same if he were similarly situated. I indulge in 
 no crimination of the slaveholder because he does not view this 
 subject in the light that I do, and is not prepared to move as 
 fast as those who are more fortunately situated and have no slave 
 property to stand in the way and embarrass their action. 
 
 Now let us consider how immediate Emancipation would 
 affect us. In the first place we are told that the State is being 
 denuded of its labor. That is true. In some districts agricul- 
 tural pursuits have been almost entirely suspended. How is 
 this drain to be checked ? If negro labor is indispensable until 
 free labor can be substituted — and no doubt much embarrass- 
 ment has already resulted from the state of things which now 
 exists — the only remedy, it seems to me, is immediate Emanci- 
 pation, with ivages to the %oorkinrjman. Gradual Emancipation, 
 if limited to the shortest period, would not prevent the exodus 
 which is now going on, because the negro has been taught to 
 regard all arrangements affecting his personal liberty as wholly 
 inoperative and void without his consent. You cannot bind 
 him to you for one year, much less for a period of three or Jive 
 years. He is his own master now, and he knows it. An ap- 
 peal to a free white laborer to give you his labor for a term of 
 
10 
 
 years without cost, would be quite as effectual as an ordinance 
 of gradual Emancipation binding the slave to a similar ar- 
 rangement. You must approach the negro in the line of his 
 interest, or your eiibrts to retain him will be utterly unavailing. 
 A Proclamation of Emancipation, to take effect immediately, 
 with the adoption of some reasonable system of wages or recog- 
 nized apprenticeship, would at once fix the labor of the colored 
 race as long as you desired to retain it. Nothing else will. In 
 Louisiana the introduction of a tariff of wages has been tried 
 with success, and estates have been worked in this way with 
 profit to the master, where the exodus has been universal in 
 the absence of such compensation. There have been instances, 
 I believe, in our own 8tate where sinular inducements have 
 been held out with success. Immediate Emancipation, tlicre- 
 fore, while it brings to your aid both labor and capital within 
 a reasonable period, is the only alternative which can be relied 
 upon with any prospect of success to supjjly the pressing want 
 which is upon you now, and until your present labor is super- 
 seded by labor of another class. There is another view to 
 which I would refer in this connection. Immediate Emancipa- 
 tion throws the burthen of the old and infirm, and those who 
 are usually termed supernumeraries, at once upon the State or 
 the General Government; that is certain. The 'shiveholder is 
 relieved from this heavy weiglit. It is not for me to estimate 
 the value of this relief. I believe it to be an important element 
 in the view Avhich I am presenting. To the extent of this 
 saving his ability would be increased to jirovide compensation 
 under the new system. The debit and credit side of the ac- 
 count in the maintenance of a family of negroes is seldom 
 brought into accurate comparison in such manner as to show 
 the actual net profits of slave labor. If you will calculate it, 
 as I have done, charging the great disparity in point of effect- 
 iveness in this species of labor, compared Avitii free white Jabor 
 — the maintenance, in food, clothing, doctors' bills, and other 
 legitimate items of expense — you will find that the capital 
 represented by tlie ownership of the slave is, at best, nominal. 
 1 assert another proposition. I claim that with tlic admission 
 that slave property is no longer marketable, and carrie-* with it 
 no fixed value, (as will be seen by the ofiicial inventory of the 
 slaves left by the late Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, estimated 
 at five dollars eacli,) the slaveholder will fare better under a 
 Proclamation of immediaie than (/radual Emancipation, and 
 that he would be a gainer in the end by the employment nf 
 free labor, and the dismissal of this large chiss of useless super- 
 numeraries, who are now a positive tax U[)ou his capital. 
 
 Then we are to take into account as the probable effect of the 
 system I am advocating the instant relief i'rom the condition of 
 
11 
 
 uncertaiaty and ruin which now paralyzes all our plans for the 
 future. You will not begin to date your starting point of re- 
 action while this uncoi'tainty continues. Gradual Emancipa- 
 tion will not aid you. The State will begin to recover when 
 Slavery is finally disposed of, and not before. The time devo- 
 ted to any gradual system Avill represent just in the same pro- 
 portion the continuance of the evils under which you are now 
 suifering. It Avould be difficult to estimate in figures to what 
 extent the loss of your slave property would bo returned to 
 you, in the enhanced value of your landed property — the ex- 
 pansion of your trade — the rapid development of your agricul- 
 tural, manufacturing, and mineral resources, and the general 
 activity which would be imparted to all the great interests of 
 your State. These public interests are not to be lost sight of 
 in estimating the l)enefits of prompt and immediate action. 
 Who will deny that the agricultural and manufacturing in- 
 ducements held out by the State of Maryland compare favora- 
 bly with those of any other State? And yet it is equally certain 
 that the interests of both have always been ruinously depressed. 
 The lands of the Eastern Shore are intrinsically worth double 
 their present market value — so of other sections of the State. 
 The great mineral resources of some of our Western counties 
 ought to quadruple the returns which they have heretofore 
 made. These drawbacks are not referable to any absence of 
 commercial and other necessary facilities. I devoted the best 
 years of my life in building up a line of inter-communication 
 between the waters of the Chesapeake and the Ohio and Mis- 
 sissippi Valleys. We have stretched our arms to every conve- 
 nient point of profitable commercial interchange. Our system 
 of internal improvements is more complete than that of any 
 other State. In salubrity of climate Maryland is certainly 
 without a rival. Why, then, with all these advantages in our 
 favor, have we not gone on and prospered, as the Free States 
 have prospered, in wealth and population? The explanation 
 is not difficult. The cause is to be found in the habits of our 
 people. The tide of immigration has heretofore found its way 
 to the gr^at West and Northwest. Slavery has been the stum- 
 bling block here. The foreign immigrant will not settle him- 
 sslf where Slavery exists. He will not trust his capital in a 
 Slave State. Wliile others are pressing forward — while every 
 department of industry in the Free States is pregnant with life 
 and animation and progress — he sees that we are lagging behind. 
 We are content to sit with our hands before us and suifer the 
 negro to work for us and to ridn us. That, is the whole story. 
 It is a sad story but it is not the less true. How many young 
 men, brought up under our present system, educated to lean for 
 support upon slave labor, have found themselves at years of 
 
12 
 
 maturity, bound hand and foot to a few scanty acres of poor 
 land, it may be, with the superadded incumbrance of a patri- 
 mony of worthless negroes thrown upon them for support during 
 the period of their natural lives ? The future has no prospects 
 for them. The master is the slave, vi fact. It is no painted 
 picture that I draw. Virginia, as she stood before the war, 
 with her decayed agriculture, her silent and deserted water- 
 courses, her neglected commerce, her dissolving and idle ])opu- 
 lation, sufficiently attests its truth , and my own State of Mary- 
 land, too long indifferent to the warnings of experience, is only 
 now begining to wake up to its startling reality. In deciding 
 between immediate and gradual Emancipation we must deter- 
 mine whether it is our purpose to put an end at once to these 
 untoward and withering influences, or whether they shall be 
 permitted to continue undisturbed for a few years longer, without 
 resulting benefit, that I can see, to the well-being of the State. 
 Slavery has long ceased to exist, anywhere within our borders, 
 in any relation which can make it useful or profitable to the 
 people. On the contrary, it has become a stumbling block 
 which, the longer it is suffered to remain, the greater will be the 
 injury it is certain to entail both upon the State and all who are 
 connected with it. The change has been decreed and must 
 come sooner or later. Our action is limited to a mere question 
 of time. Our lands must be subdivided and prepared for the 
 new system of labor — the more speedily the better. Immigra- 
 tion and capital must be brought'to our aid. We can accomplish 
 nothing by delay, when we know that all our efforts to advance 
 must be fruitless so long as Maryland continues in the category 
 of Slave States. 
 
 It would he difficult to speculate as to how far the subject of 
 compensation to the slaveholder may form an element in this 
 calculation. If it comes at all, which I sincerely hope it will, 
 and that speedily, it will never be by way of condition to induce 
 us to do that which we can no longer avoid. We are equally 
 powerless, with or without compensation. In estimating, how- 
 ever, the inducements for prompt and decisive action on the 
 part of our people in inaugurating the new system of labor, I 
 indulge the hope, based upon sympathies which are believed to 
 exist in high official quarters, that the liberality of Congress 
 may be induced to show itself in a becoming effort to share 
 with the slaveholders of our State the pecuniary burthen which 
 the withdrawal of their labor may entail upon them in the be- 
 ginning — especially as the recommendation of the President of 
 the United States in regard to compensation is still pending ; 
 and the action of the Convention may be carried into effect 
 within the limit of time fixed by the proposed legislation of 
 Congress at its last session. Such an appeal would certainly 
 
13 
 
 not be without its advocates anion u' the Representatives of the 
 Free States. It will have my most cordial co-operation and ef- 
 forts to secure its success. "Whatever may be ray views of the 
 ultimate good effects of a change in our system of labor, it can- 
 not be denied that^there would be loss and inconvenience to the 
 slaveholder in the beginning ; and this, apart from the views 
 which have been presented of the practical value of the institu- 
 tion, ought to entitle him to the consideration of Congress, 
 besides which the depreciation in the value of slave property 
 has not been brought about by any agency of the loyal States. 
 With these views, frankly expressed and actuated by a sin- 
 cere desire to promote harmony, as well as to facilitate what 1 
 believe to be the true interests of the State, I have called a 
 meeting of this Committee, in the hope that it may lead to 
 such interchange of opinion as may establish some principle for 
 your guidance in the future. However you may dispose of this 
 subject, in the vote which you will be called upon to give, I 
 shall feel that, as your Chairman, I have done my duty. The 
 subject is not new to me. For more than twenty years I was 
 myself a slaveholder — involuntary, it is true, but a slaveholder 
 — with all the responsibilities which the institution entails 
 upon those who are connected with it. For fifteen years before 
 these relations terminated I proclaimed freedom to all under 
 my charge who would avail themselves of the offer, retaining 
 at the same time those who claimed my protection. I thank 
 God that I am rid of the whole responsibility now. I am not 
 a believer in a negro slavery. I have always viewed it as a 
 dead weight upon our people. In its pecuniary results I am 
 yet to be satisfied of any practical benefit that can be claimed 
 for it, situated as we are here in Maryland. Of its value and 
 relations elsewhere I do not pretend to speak. When I look 
 upon the future of this vast country, I confess myself unable to 
 grapple with subjects which must soon tax the wisdom, pru- 
 dence and foresight of our ablest statesmen. More than four 
 millions of this degraded race, or as the President terms it in 
 his Message, ■'landless and homeless" race, unfitted for the 
 duties of self-control, are now crowded together within the 
 narrow limits of the Gulf States — to be still more'icircumscribed 
 as this war goes on — to await the result of a conflict which is to 
 decide the destiny of this great Republic. Nor is that result 
 doubtful. What is to be their fate? Where is the statesman 
 who will paint the bow of promise upon that dark horizon ? I 
 am not here to attempt to solve that problem. Let us the ra- 
 ther pray for guidance and direction; but above all, in setting 
 our own house in order, let us renew our pledges to each other 
 — be the result of these complications what they may — that this 
 great experiment of free Government must be sustained; and 
 we must stand or fall as one people and one nationality. 
 
14 
 
 Mr. Swann having concluded his remarks, submitted the fol- 
 lowing resolutions for the action of the Committee : 
 
 Whereas, The State of Maryland, by a decided vote of her 
 people in the election which has recently taken place, has de- 
 clared herself in favor of calling a Convention with especial re- 
 ference to the abolishment of Slavery within her borders, upon 
 some plan, either immediate or gradual, which shall best con- 
 duce to the public welfare and avert the ruinous condition of 
 affairs growing out of this rebellion, which has resulted from 
 the almost total loss of the effective labor on which she has 
 lieretofore depended — paralyzing her most profitable pursuits, 
 and greatly embarrasing the enterprise and industry of her 
 citizens — with no prospect of relief so long as this state of things 
 is permitted to continue ; and, 
 
 Whereas, Slavery has ceased to exist in the State of Mary- 
 land, in any practical relation which can commend it to the 
 favor either of the State or those immediately connected with it ; 
 and it is well established that slave property has not only no real 
 or marketable value now, but must become a positive drawback, 
 in the midst of events that are daily occurring ; and that serious 
 inconvenience, if not suffering, has already resulted from the 
 large number of supernumeraries lelt, with the slaveholder for 
 support, which from necessity will be compelled to look for re- 
 lief elsewhere ; therefore. 
 
 Resolved, That this Committee will favor the call of a Con- 
 vention, through the agency of the legislature about to assemble, 
 at the earliest practicable day compatible with the Constitution 
 and laws of the State, and the adoption by said Convention of 
 some plan oi immediate Emancipation, as best calculated to sub- 
 serve both the interests of the State and the holders of slave 
 property in the present ruinous condition of affairs. 
 
 Resolved, That this Committe, in favoring immediate and 
 ])rompt action, not only in the early call of a Convention, but 
 the adoption of a line of policy which shall relieve the State 
 from the damaging influences under which she is now suffering 
 — from the state of suspense and confusion which exists within 
 her borders — entertain the belief that the only remedy is the 
 immediate Emancipation of the negro race, with such a system 
 of wages, or apprenticeship, as shall be deemed advisable, to 
 guard against too sudden a revulsion in the inauguration and 
 establishment of the new system of labor. 
 
 Resolved, That the recommendation of the President of the 
 United States, in offering the aid of the Government to such of 
 the loyal Border slaveholding States as shall adopt an Ordin- 
 ance of Emancipation, was eminently jus.t and equitable, and 
 should be brought to the attention of Congress by the people of 
 
15 
 
 the State, through their representatives in that body — not as a 
 condition of any phan of Emancipation which it may be their 
 pleasure to adopt — but as a measure of justice to those who 
 have been connected Avith the institution of SKavcry, under the 
 assurances of protection heretofore liehl out to them by the 
 guarantees of the Constitution. 
 
 REMAEKS OF HON. J. W KENNEDY. 
 
 Mr. Kennedy rose to express his uncjualified approbation of 
 (he very able and conclusive argument of the Chairman in iiivor 
 of the views he had just given of the policy proper to be adopted 
 by the State at the present juncture. The Chairman, he said, 
 is entitled to the thanks of the Committee for this careful expo- 
 sition. He hoped it would be read and maturely considered bv 
 every citizen of the State, as he Avas sure it would carry a most 
 valuable conviction to the mind of every reader. He was pre- 
 pared also to give his hearty concurrence to the resolutions 
 offered by the Chairman, as in every respect most appropriate 
 to the occasion. He had himself prepared some resolutions 
 which he designed to offer to the consideration of the Commit- 
 tee, which he thought might meet their approbation. They 
 are, he said, in no respect in conflict with those proposed by 
 the Chairman, but they j)resent the subject now agitating the 
 public mind in a somewhat dilferent ]ioiutof view from those of 
 the Cliairman, which necessarily were restricted to the subject 
 embraced in his address. What he (Mr. K.) was now about to 
 offer, were perhaps of a more comprehensive character, and 
 were addressed to a vicAv of the questions before the country 
 from a position of broader aspect than the resolutions just read 
 l)y the Chairman. He hoped tliat the Committee Avould be able 
 to adopt both as their exposition of the sentiments which the 
 ju-esent crisis had brought into })ublic discussion ; and that the 
 Committee would give their sanction to each set of resolutions 
 separately, sending them forth to the Union i">arty of the State 
 simply as the opinions of the Committee respectfully com- 
 mended to the consideration of their friends, by whom he 
 meant that large body of citizens throughout the State Avho 
 were determined to support the Union through every emergen- 
 cy, and to persevere with unabated zeal in resistance to this 
 rebellion until it was utterly crushed out. 
 
 Mr. Kennedy then read his resolutions as follows : — 
 
 This rebellion, and the disastrous civil war in whicli it has 
 involved our country, having been instituted professedly for 
 the purpose of protecting and perpetuating Slavery, and of ex- 
 tending it over the free communities of the National territory, 
 has so utterly failed ia its object, that now, after nearly three 
 
16 
 
 years of desolating warfare, characterized by such suffering and 
 sacrifice as have scarcely a parallel in the annals of civflized 
 nations It has not only destroyed the guarantees which ?he 
 Constitution ot the Union and the tolerance of public op n on 
 had heretofore given to Slavery, but has, in fact, virtually 
 abolished the institution by forcing it into condition that ?en^ 
 dent valueless to the slave-owner and an incumbiauce to the 
 society in which it exists. 
 
 The exigency thus produced by tlie folly of the leaders of the 
 rebellion has presented to the people of Maryland, and esneci 
 ally to that portion of them who are yet nominali; the oZel 
 of slaves, a crisis m which it has become their duty no less 
 than their most urgent necessity, to confront this momentous 
 change m the_ grea domestic interests of the State, and to 
 adopt a policy in conformity with its requirements. Therefore 
 liesolved, as the opinion of the Central Coimnittee, That the 
 time has arrived when it has become the inevitable duty of the 
 (xeneral Assembly to make immediate provision for the substi! 
 tution o free for slave labor, and to adopt measures which sha I 
 enable the people to effect an early, la.^bl and compl te ex in- 
 guishment of slavery in Maryland ^ «aliu 
 
 Resolved That from the date of the Eevolution down to a re 
 cent period the general sentiment of Maryland, as illustrated in 
 the opinions of her wisest and most approved statesmen, and as 
 expressed in the familiar convictions of her people, re-^-arded 
 Slavery not only as a great moral blemish in the compositio 
 of our social condition but as a most pernicious element in re- 
 tarding the growth and prosperity of the State, and that there- 
 fore the highest considerations of policy and good f?overnment 
 required its removal by a judicious course of legislation That 
 this almost universal opinion of the fathers of our polity has 
 only yielded to the malign influence exercised upon a later o-en 
 cration by the profitable expansion of Slavery attendant m)on 
 the great and rapid enlargement of the culture of cotton in the 
 Southern States, and the consequent increased value of slave 
 l)roperty as an article of Southern demand. That but for this 
 stimulus operating upon the cupidity of the less scrupulous and 
 larger number ot proprietors of slaves throughout the Border 
 States Slavery would long since have been expelled from Ma- 
 ryland, in obedience to the better judgment of .our earlier day 
 ihat since this change in the estimate of its material value' 
 olavery has been sustained, encouraged, and guarded by sue' 
 cessive legislative acts of such rigorous infliction as stron-ly to 
 awakenthe attention of the people to the increasing evils Sftho 
 institution ; ot Avhich not the least is discovered in its power to 
 promote a system of class legislation, which has, in a greater 
 or less degree, disturbed the harmonious relations of the differ 
 
17 
 
 ent interests of the >State by an une([ual and unjust distribution 
 of political power, by odious discriminations between the privi- 
 leges and immunities conferred upon the owners of slave pro- 
 perty and those accorded to the rest of tlio community, and by 
 its tendency to give an undue predominance to the slaveholding 
 interest in the management of the public affairs. 
 
 Resolved, That as these influences have been gradually gain- 
 ing strength in the State, they have in the same degree engen- 
 dered a fancy that Maryland is connected by peculiar affinities 
 with the distinctive interests and policy of the planting iStates 
 of the South; whilst, in fact, Maryland, with the single excep- 
 tion of her toleration of a cumbersome, expensive and inefficient 
 system of slave-labor, which she has ever had the svon^est 
 motives to abandon, is, in no view of her condition as a pros- 
 perous and thriving community, to be regarded in theilight of 
 a Southern State. Neither her c@mmerce, nor her manufac- 
 tures, nor her great mineral resources arc any farther depend- 
 ent upon Southern support than those of any other State in the 
 Union; whilst her great agricultural interest has scarcely a 
 single incident to connect it with the South. The landholder 
 of Maryland does not produce one staple commodity which 
 finds a market in the Soutli worthy of any comparison with its 
 importance in Northern, Western or foreign commerce. The 
 great system of public works in the State, upon which she lias 
 expended more than fifty millions of money, all tend Westward 
 or Northward, and the completion of these works has more 
 than quadrupled her commercial capital. It is her great privi- 
 lege to boast of her central position, from which she may 
 proudly claim an exemption from all sectional prejudice, and 
 assert her right to be respected and valued as the very heart of 
 the Union, in sympathy with every sentiment and interest of 
 the nation which truly and honestly supports the indissoluble 
 integrity of the whole circle of the United States. That, so far 
 from having any participation in or sympathy with the pecu- 
 liar policy of the planting States, she has had constant reason 
 to complain that in those States alone has she found the only 
 persevering and unyielding antagonist to those measures of the 
 National Government in which her own prosperity is most 
 deeply involved. 
 
 Resolved, That under the pressure of the exigencies of this 
 unprovoked civil war — which, like every war conducted within 
 the territory occupied by a slave population, necessarily and 
 inevitably disorganizes and destroys the relation between the 
 owner and the slave, by affording the latter the opportunity of 
 escape from thraldom, — and in any event stirring up in his 
 bosom that uncontrollable love of freedom which utterly dispels 
 his enforced habit of subordination — the people of Maryland 
 
6 ^. * 
 
 18 
 
 fiiul themselves suddenly called upon to provide for this new 
 enier!j;ency, wliicli can only be met l)y accepting the iact of the 
 demolition of Shivery as a ])rcsent and irresistible reality. The 
 events of the day are thus leading them back to the traditional 
 wisdom of their fathers on the necessity of organizing a more 
 vigorous and useful system of labor as a substitute for that 
 which is no longer Avithin their choice, even if they desired to 
 retain it. They are conscious that if they do not adjust this 
 ((uestion upon the basis of speedy Emancipation, it will soon 
 adjust itself without their assistance ; and that, therefore, it is 
 ))i-udent to subject the course of Emancipation and its incidents 
 to the guidance and control of law, rather than allow it to dis- 
 uhh lfie« order and economy of society by shaping its own 
 career. That the recognition of this necessity gives additional 
 strengtli to that prevailing conviction so strongly manifested in 
 the late election which seems to bave decreed the promptest 
 action of the State to rid the people of the incumbrance of 
 Slavery henceforth and forever. 
 
 Itesolved, That this Committee, in consideration of all these 
 reasons, look with satisfaction to the prospect of an early call 
 of a Convention of the people by the Legislature, ^for the pur- 
 l)ose of authorizing, preparing and digesting a plan for the im- 
 mediate Emancipation of the slaves held in this State, the future 
 ])rohibition of Slavery, and for the organization of the labor of 
 the population which shall be made free by that measure. That 
 they regard it as a matter of the highest moment to every citi- 
 zen of the State that, in the prosecution of its labors to this end, 
 the Legislature should be sustained by the liberal and cordial 
 support of the people, and every assistance afforded it by counsel 
 and co-operation to enable it to perform the work assigned to it 
 in such a manner as shall promote harmony amongst conflicting 
 interests, and secure the people from all future excitement and 
 agitation of a topic which has proved itself to bo the only one 
 capable of seriously disturbing the peace of the most beneficent 
 (government known to human history. 
 
 After the reading of these resolutions, Mr. Price rose to ex- 
 ])ress his entire and full concurrence in the sentiments which 
 had been expressed by the Chairman, and by his colleague from 
 l>altimore — Mr. Kennedy. He was prepared to vote in favor ol' 
 both sets of resolutions at once. The two sets were entirely 
 consistent with each other, the one — the C'hairman's — taking a 
 view which might be said to be confined to the topics of his 
 excellent speech, the other — Mr. Kennedy's — treating the ques- 
 tions from what might be called an outside view, to which Mr. 
 Price heartilv assented. 
 
Mr. Stockutt, of Anne Arundel eounty, said tliat the views 
 ])resented in the address of the Chairman were, in tlie main, 
 those which liad taken possession of liis own mind. Ho did not 
 see how tliey conld be controverted, although he did hope that 
 something might he done to ligliten the burthen which must 
 necessarily fall upon those wlio hold property in slaves, by the 
 hisses which would be entailed upon them by the proposed change 
 in the system of labor. He would like to see compensation to 
 the widows and orplians who had tlioir capital invested in, slave 
 ])roperty. 
 
 A lengtliy debate ensued, which was i)articipated i 
 lierry of Baltimore county, Mr. Eichelberger ot 
 county, Mr. Roberts of Montgomery county, Mr. Sei 
 of Baltimore city, Mr, Stockett of Anne Arundel o 
 Clark of Prince George's county, Hon. John P. 
 Hon. Wm. Price, and Mr. Swann. 
 
 During the discussion which took place upon the resolutions. 
 Mr. liwann stated to the meeting that he had received, through 
 the Secretary, a letter from ex:-Governor Hicks, which was read 
 as follows : 
 
 National Hotel, '( 
 
 Washington, Dec. 14., 1863. S 
 
 Wm. Thomson, Esq., Secretary Union State Central Committee: 
 
 Dear, Sir — Your notice to attend a meeting of the State 
 Central Committee of the Union Party of Maryland, at Tem- 
 ])erance Temple, on "Wednesday, the IGtli instant, is before me. 
 I regret exceedingly that the state of my health, together with 
 pressing public duties, will not allow me the pleasure of being 
 l)resent; but I beg to assure the Committee, that in reference 
 to the subject of emancipation, on which they propose to take 
 action, prior to the meeting of the Legislature, I am heartily 
 with them, and deem it wise and prudent that the Committee 
 should be convened. 1 need hardly say, that although not an 
 enthusiast upon this or any other subject, I have been long an 
 emancipationist, and ray lieart is with the Committee in the 
 work; and farther, that I will give ray sanction to what they 
 raay deem advisable, upon a subject so important to the State 
 of Maryland. 
 
 \'ery respectfully, 
 
 • Thos. H. Hicks. 
 
 The vote was then taken separately on the resolutions offered 
 by Mr. Swann, Chairman, and after that upon those olfered l)y 
 Mr. Kennedy, when both were unanimously a(lo]>te(l. 
 
20 
 
 Mr. Eichelberger, of Frederick county, then oiFered the fol- 
 lowing resolution, which was unanimously adopted : 
 
 Resolved^ That the address of the Chairman of this Commit- 
 tee he published with tlie proceedings of this meeting, and that 
 both the Address and the resolutions be recommended to the 
 dispassionate consideration of the Union men of Maryland for 
 their adoption. 
 
 The Committee then adjourned, subject to the call of the 
 Chairman. 
 
 
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