MARYLAND. 



477 



,:nissioner-i from holding the 

 ! .,:i t!i,- 'Jd of April a hearing was 

 n't held tliat il. !i id no 

 jurisdiction in tin- rase. 



llejuiblic.in Si-itc ('.Mitral Committee 



! another convention, to meet in Baltimore 



. days afti-r the op.-n- 



:' tin- Constitutional Convention at Anna- 



The object of this meeting is thus ex- 



1 in tlio rail of the connm 



ill m:tlo citizens of Maryland, who 



i spinney about to 



;mlis on i of May, uro 



. to iiK'i-t in primary iissemiuiiges in the 



- e.'imties and tli,' city of Baltimore, at such 



- may l>e most convenient, to clcrt delegates to 

 Republican Convention, which shall assemble 



in Baltimore City on Tuesday, May 14th, at 12 



k M. 



Jtetolved, That the State Convention will be ex- 



i to take \pto consideration the present condition 



of political affairs in the State, and to deliberate upon 



the best method of guaranteeing to the people a 



republican form of government. 



The convention, which mot in accordance 

 with this call, consisted of numerous delegates, 

 both white and colored, who discussed the 

 principles which they held with vigor and 

 earnestness. These principles were embodied 

 in the following language : 



Retoleed by the Republicans of Maryland, assembled 

 in Convention, That we reaffirm our demand, hereto- 

 fore made, for the recognition by law over all the 

 country of thfl entire equality of all American citizens 

 ia all civil and political rights, without regard to 

 color. 



'red, That we call upon the Congress of the 

 1 States to carry out the principles of the Decla- 

 ration of Independence and the power given by the 

 Constitution and its recent amendments to abolish 

 all legal distinction on account of colorj and to give 

 to the colored classes of this and all the 

 States by the passage of the Sumuer- Wilson Bill, at 

 the earliest practicable moment. 



Retoleed. That we reaffirm the declaration of the 

 past Republican conventions of Maryland that the 

 body now assembled in Annapolis, called a Consti- 

 tutional Convention, is in violation and subversion 

 of the legal government of Maryland, and that any 

 constitution it may form without impartial suffrage 

 outiht to bo defeated by the people and not recog- 

 nized by Congress. 



Resolved, That if the convention called under the 

 act of Assembly shall submit a constitution to a vote 

 of the people which does not provide for impartial 

 suffrage, that in that event the Republicans of Mary- 

 land are called on to take all practical steps to defeat 

 it, and that it is our duty to go to the polls and use 

 every exertion to have it defeated at the ballot-box 

 by the voters of the State. 



A portion of the convention was in favor of 

 submitting to a vote of the people of the State, 

 irrespective of color, the question of holding -i 

 general convention to frame a constitution for 

 that State, with the intention, in case of a 

 favorable vote, to appeal to Congress to recog- 

 ni/.e the constitution thereupon prepared as 

 the valid instrument, in opposition to that 

 '.'rained by the convention called by legislative 

 enactment ; hut this proposition was never 

 carried into effect. 



The Constitutional Convention met, in ac- 

 cordance with the proclamation of Governor 



Swan, on the 8th of May, and organized for 

 action. .Iud_'e K chard 15. < 

 chosen president by a unanim.' 



The Hill of Kights which wa.s reported con- 

 tained the usual provisions of such a document, 

 together with two or three articles of special 

 interest. Tim declaration that slavery should 

 Dot b permitted uithin the State, and that no 

 pers. , n should ] u . deemed incompetent as a wit- 

 ness on account i,f race or color, called forth 

 a minority report from -Mr. ./. Montgomery 



I, in which he 



those articles of the Hill of Rights as reported 

 by the majority of the conimittve. The 24th 

 article originally stool, "Slavery shall not be 

 permitted in this State;" but after SOIM 

 c'isM,,ii with rcg-ird t:> the \-\-jr\ t which former 

 slave owners had to compensation for tie 

 of their property, the following was ado;. 

 a substitute: -Slavery shall not be re 

 lished in this State, but having been abolished 

 under the policy and authority of the United 

 States, compensation in consideration thereof 

 is due from the United States." 



The declaration that no person shall be deemed 

 incompetent as a witness on account of race or 

 color, called forth an animated debate. Mr. 

 Peters opposed it on the ground of the inferi- 

 ority of the African race, and the intrinsic im- 

 propriety of allowing him to testify in cases 

 where the interests of white men were con- 

 cerned ; but the main ground of difference on 

 the subject among the delegates related to the 

 propriety of fixing the matter by a provision of 

 the constitution. Many considered it better to 

 leave it to the future discretion of the Legisla- 

 ture. Mr. Nelson argued that it should prop- 

 erly find no place in the Declaration of Rights, 

 because it was rather a privilege to be granted 

 by the white man, who was master of the po- 

 litical regulations of the States, than a right to 

 be recognized as existing independently of legis- 

 lative action, lie did not question the pro- 

 priety of granting the privilege in an appropri- 

 ate manner, but believed that a document which 

 set forth the natural and admitted rights of 

 citizens of the State was no place for embody- 

 ing such a grant. Mr. I James did not consider 

 a convention of this character the place in 

 which to settle such disputed questions, and 

 believed that the people had given them no 

 power to inaugurate experiments. The Legis- 

 lative Assembly had a better opportunity of 

 knowing the will of the people, and all ques- 

 tions which properly depended on their will 

 should be left to that body. The privilege of 

 the State to avail itself of the testimony of the 

 white man, he said, had stood upon no higher 

 authority then statutory enactments since the 

 first days of the Republic, and he saw no reason 

 for changing the rule for the benefit of the ne- 

 gro. Mr. Farnaudis proposed to transfer the 

 provision from the Bill of Rights to the Legis- 

 lative article, and then leave to the Legislature 

 the power to pronounce colored persons incom- 

 petent to bear testimony, if that body should 



