New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1859-06-11
FREE nEaRons n sIARYLArD.

FREE NEGROES IN MARYLAND.
| A few weeks ago SHAREHOLDERS Convention WA
held in the State Of Maryland to take into considers
ton tho bcst mode Of protecting slave property from
the depredations Of Abolition thieves, well as 4
discuss such other matters as were egtimately con
nected with the subject or course, as Maryland has
aarge free colored populations the FREQ negro question
naturally came up in tho course Of the deliberations
From the accounts published We should judge that
the enfranchised blacks OF that State considered
very undesirable class Of nhabtants-rather worse
than those Of any other State with which we are
acquainted.
The Convention recommended very summary
measure in reference to this population, which
amounts to compelling them to choose between the
alternative Of leaving the State or becoming slaves
In pamphlet of about thirty pages, Col. G. A.
Jacobs Of ST. Martins, undertakes to sustain the ac
tion Of the Convention having himself submitted to
that body the resolution referred to. He states:
There is in Maryland one fres negro to five whites
Oat q the city Ct Baltimore the proportion is much
geater the former in some Of the counties comprising
more than one-thifd Of the entire population and
their relative increase is such as to continually bring
them nearer to numerical equality. By the census
It is shown that while 10 some counties the white
population is nearly stationary the free negroes have
increased from seventeen to twentysix per cent.
within period OF ten years. Notwithstanding these
facts the great agricultural interests OF the State are
represented as suffering from paucity of labor as
nee negroes AFFORD no reliable supply. Though there
are many exceptions, the majority are ndoIent and
depraved, and are an ncumbrance to the industrial
classes.
To show the difficulty encountered in hiring free
blacks, Col. Jacobs speaks Of having attended last
January ct the town Of Berlin, whittier the people of
81. Martins county resort annually to make con.
tracts for labor BY the year with some four or five
hundred white men and slaves. At the same time
and place there were about three hundred free ne
groes, hut not one OF them is known to have hired
himself. vi, however, says Col j., tthere should
be one to do 10 at all, he generally selects home
where hs can do as he pleases and get large addi
tional bounty in the shape Of corn patch, half Of
every Saturday, extra fine clothes and horse, and
often carriage ct his command" E
instead of the irregular, transient service which
these people choose to render the planter must have
constant labor or be cannot successfully engage in
agriculture. Freedom with these negroes ia under.
stood to mean cessation from labor and full license
to do az they please.
After somewhat elaborate consideration Of such
facts as these Col j. says, lit is evident we cannot
long live in harmony Is two distinct races with mem
bers SO nearly equal rupture must come, and
struggle for the mastery ensne." Therefore, though
ne believes that large portion OF the people are
ready to conceive measures with view to the ex-
puislon OF free negroes yet he thinks they should
fer it.
The reasons given by Col, Jacobs an above oon
densed, are certainly very strong and logical con.
elusive and convincing, il we admit the premises
upon which they are based, and we imagine few can
be found in this latitude who will DISPUTE them We
presume should the alternative recommended bv the
Convention be fayorably considered by the Lersla.
ture Of MARYLAND and enacted into law that the
free negroes who do not choose to leave will he al.
lowed the privilege Of selecting their own owners in
accordance with statute somewhat simiar in it's
provisions to that which prevails in Louisiana and
Texas This would be no more than equity and ms
tce demands. At all events such is the deliberate
conviction to which our judgment has arrived It
would be altogether too harsh to deprive them of
that opportunity.
Commenting upon the argument of Col. Jacobs in
favor Of the movement recommended BY himself the
New York Journal of Commerce speaks as follows:
We cannot approve Of this severe alternative, but
must condemn i as oppressive and unjust we can
eaay Delleve that such body O. free negroes are
somewhere the Ahoionse. von hsys th mus. 1--WE
ess thew come as q nanting fnnitives ~ and thav
nay not be disposed to go to Liberia Suppose every
.ser s'ase snoud expei us iree negroes what would
,bonld he sst free 40 hu ,s
and then expelled, what would become Of them / |
VIII the Ahoitionsts receive them? Will the people
OF the North receive them!
To- ant