The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-06-30
,ECRET HISTORY OF THE MARYLAND
SHAREHOLDERS. CONVENTION.

L
SHAREHOLDERS. CONVENTION.
The whole country, North and South, was
surprised at the result of the late Shareholders
Convention in Baltimore-a result the very re-
verse of what was expected and intended.
Those who have given attention to Maryland
affairs are aware that the Convention was
called together by meetings in the lower coun-
ties, in which the worst spirit of negro hating
and Slavery propagandism prevailed. These
primary meetings had adopted resolutions of
the most violent ard cruel nature demand
ing the expulsion of the free negroes from the
State, or their sale into Slavery. 1t was in
sisted that one or the other of these monstrous
measures was absolutely necessary to the secu-
rity of slave property and the safety of Mary
land. A general Convention was called, to
meet in Baltimore, and delegates were elect
ed by the Shareholders or appointed by some
body, or selfconstituted, in each of the coun-
ties. They assembled at the time AMI place
and the result of their proceedings
we recorded two weeks ago. 1t will be recol-
lected that, so far from recommending the ex-
pulsion or sale of the free colored people, they
declared undnimousiy that the labors of that
class in the field and the domestic service
were indispensable to the people of Maryland !
They with equal unanimity resolved, that near
ly fifty per cent of the labor performed in the
State by the black race fell to the share of
those who are free thus admitting that their
services are at least equal to those of slaves.
These unanimous resolutions of slavehold-
ers' or antifree-negro Convention, which have
been APPLY compared to the prophecy of Ba-
laam, was not the result of mere whim or &C.
centricity. On the contrary, they proceeded
from the better information which the dele
gates acquired on arriving in Baltimore.
We learn, on good authority, that the Con-
vention was mainly in the interest of the Sham
Democracy, and that tenderness for the welfare
of that Southern institution" as we'll as for
Slavery ITSELF restrained the majority, when
appealed to by the cooler heads, to desist from
the purpose which called them together The
members from the large slaveholding counties,
with the faulty and arrogance which is charac-
teristic of the class, would have adopted the
most ultra measures. They would have rec.
commended the expulsion or sale of the free ne.
groes, without the least regard for justice or
humanity; but such men as James A. Pearce,
an intelligent and cool-headed man, appealed
to them in this wise: "There are eighty thou
sand free negroes in Maryland They are EN-.
ployed in the country by the small farmers,
who are unable to buy slaves, and in the city
of Baltimore and other towns, as domestic SER
wants. You propose to drive them from the
State; but how do you propose to supply their
places? Would you precipitate the introduc-
ton of eighty thousand Germans and Irish, to
be added to the Free-Soil interest, which is
even now threatening every year to manifest
itaelf?" This appeal fell with great force
upon the minds of the rabid but unsophst
Gated country gentry; and the fact that it never
once occurred to them until they arrived in
Baltimore, shows the deplorable ignorance of
the outer world which prevails amid the Chi
nese seclusion of Slavery. They staggered
under the weight Of this new idea; and they
were completely foored when the same cool
headed gentlemen proceeded TO inoculate them
with another; for, continued they, "you must
also reflect, that an effort to drive the free ne
groes from the State will not only revolt the
moral sense of Maryland and of the whole
North, but, what is equally material to you, it
will arouse the stern opposition of the aforesaid
Of ahOl of
free negroes. By your selfish regard for Sla-
very to the exclusion of all other interests, you
force this class, far more numerous than yours,
into the ranks of the Free-Soilers. They will
demand eman cipation, and you will in vain
resist demand which is enforced by the real
and fanced material welfare Of the whole body
of the people who are not shareholders"
These arguments brought the propagandists
to their senses and, Balaam-like, they prophe-
sled for the free negroes, instead of against
them.
We regard this abortive movement of the
Maryland shareholders as a highly important
sign of the times. 1t shows the decrepitude of
Slavery in that border slave State, and we may
in future expect to see the spirit of Freedom
rising as Slavery recedes. There were All, 943
white people in Maryland in 1850, and of this
number only 5000 were Shareholders Allow
ing that each STAKEHOLDER had FIVE in family,
there would be eighty thousand people of all
ages interested in upholding Slavery This is
less than one-fifth of the white population. So
that four ffths of the free white people of Mary
land have no earthly interest in upholding Sla-
very and there can be no shadow of doubt,
with any intelligent man, that the real estate
owned by this class would be greatly augmented
by the removal OF Slavery and that their COM
merce and business would increase in equal
proportion. They are beginning to find out
these important facts and the recent break
down of the Slavery party, by conGessing their
Weakness, will embolden the non-slaveholders
to assert their views.
| We have given above the figures of the cen
sus of 1880. At the present moment, the rela-
tive weakness of Slavery would appear more
if a new census were taken The
result of the enumeration next year will exhibit
Slavery in condition of hopeless decrepitude.
The city of Baltimore, which in 1850 had less
than one hundred and seventy thousand, will
have added quite hundred thousand to its
population the northern line of counties will
have increased in like proportion; while the
slave population will be in all probability less
10y thousands than under the census of 1850.
Slavery has nearly ceased to exist in the coun-
ties bordering on Pennsylvania and Delaware
and the habits Of the people are becoming as
simulated to those of non-slaveholding people
The day is not far off when the Anti Slavery
spirit will break forth with far more spirit in
MARYLAND than II exhi hits In M;saour; p.hEo