The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-12-27
Slavery In Maryland.

land by the JudlClal ana executive oulCeIS vi
that State, under the pretended authority OF the
Maryland Code, and in alleged accordance with
the national Constitution. Advertisements an
nouncing the sale, for term of years, in pur-
suance of the sentence of a court and the au.
thority OF a sheriff, will excite feeling OF some
thing more than surprise in the breasts OF hun
dreds of thousands, who for more than year
have been accustomed to thank God that slavery
in America had been consttutonally abolished
They believed that they had lived to see the day
so long praved for, when, in his westward
course over our oceangirt republic, the sun no
LONGER rose upon master nor set upon slave.
Buf here is q new and hdeous vision of auction
blocks in front OF court houses, for the sale of
''siaves and other cattle" with q sheriff as auc
tioneer, flourishing his judicial record and
poin ing to the Constitutional amendment
abolIsLing slavery" as confirming its validity.
Even tLose who in the olden time had so "con
qucrtd their preiudicesn as to contend that
slavery was not crime, must feel that Its un-
blushing revival at thus moment, and In this
fo1m is TO say the least, biunder.
The responsibility for the existence of this
anomaly, which tC nds to make us contemplate
in the eyes OF the world and despicable in our
own, rests primarily with tho Coueress which,
in proceeding to amend the Constitution for
the abolition Of slavery and intending that
abolition to be total aud final, neglected to use
words that indicated their intention. Earnest
suggestions to this effect were met by the reply
that it would be more historically interesting,
and would exhibit more continuous and uni
form legislation to adopt and incorp lrate into
the Constitution the Identical prohibit ,tion OF
slavery framed by the FatheIs OF the republic
and embodied in the ordinance that secured
freedom to our great Northwest. To the indgl-
genCe of this sentiment, which we thought then,
and which we still thing, partooS rath3r of idle
pcdantry than OF sound stalesmanship, is the
country indebted for the fact that American
slavery and the slave trade ate carried on to-day
under the shelter of that amendment.
An absolute prohibition of slavery, without
would nave been ratified by the people of the
States as readily and as certainly as the one
which was adopted; and yet in its place we
have the following article, authorizing aud JUS
fifying slavery in q class OF cases which, if left
10 the decision OF the Rebel States may be en-
1areed and extended until slavery is made once
more their peculiar institution: -"Articlc XIII,
section 1.-Neither slavery nor involuntary SER
Nltude, except as punishment for crime
whereof the party shall have been duly con-
yicted, shall exist within the United States or
any place subject to them jurisdiction"
Until sCme new amendment shall abolish this
exception, servitude for crime will be permis-
siblc under the national. Constitution; but what
we bave 10 do, and what we can do, is to see
that 1T Is inflicted as q punishment only for
CRIME, and not for color. This subject may pro
perly engage the attention of Congress under
the second section of the amendment, empower
ing them to enforce the article by appropriate
legislation. But the true remedy for this and
other abuses to which the blacks are subjected
aie 6 Re npeme Court TT Of the United
States OF the true meaning and effect of the
Constitutional Amendment, in giving TO the
republic national policy OF equal freedom and
eqUaI JUSTICE
The allowance by the amendment of slavery
as O punishment for crime may seem to mitigate
against this view, but il should be remembered
that, by the first article of the Constitution,
app0rlioning representatives and direct taxes,
''persons bound to service for a term of years"
o1,r In1 ,,Nf
free persons, and that it was not uncommon for
the German and other "re1emptioners," as they
were called, thus to bind themselves to sort of
slavery, so far as labor and obedience were con-
Cerned, although 1t was entirely free from those
features OF chatteldom which gave to Southern
slavery It's peculiar horrors. The question how
far the amendment abolishing slavery has
changed the national policy, as hitherto de-
duced from slavery under the old Constitution
by pro-slayery judges is one which has not as
yet engaged the attention of our national judi
Ciary.
The provisions of the Maryland Code under
which, for the same crime, white men and wo-
men are sent TO the Penitentiary, and black
men and women are sold into slavery, affords
an excellent opportunity for an elaborate argu-
ment and final declsion on the right ofthe States
thus to discriminate between American citizens,
and to establish, in q republic where all men
are born free and equal aristocratc and class
distinctions. The subject was recently alluded
10 in an address to the Union League Club of
New York by its President and the opinion was
animated that the amendment had rendered of
questionable validity some OF our antiquated
State laws, both at the North and the South,
that imposed disabilities and penalties-not for
crime, but for race and complexion.
"a class OF Judicial questions" said Mr.. JAY
growing out OF slavery and its incidents, which
had been finally settled, as was supposed, under
the Cons titution as 1t vas would seem to be
disturbed il not reopened by the Constitutional
amendment that has substituted freedom Tor
slavery as the premise of the argument by which
their validity was formerly established. It may
possibly be that the identical course of in 1uc-
tive reasoning, which starting from the view of
Inc late Chiet Justice that the trainers OF the
constitution OF 1889 regarded the blacks as hAV-
ing no rights whatsoever, served to establish
upon that basis, by the seVerest logic, the right
OF the States to disfranchise, outlaw degrade,
and insult what Mr.. Taney called 'the slave
races class thus uncared Tor and unprotected
by the Constitution, may lead to different con.
Clusion, when the judges commence with the
new fact, that the American people in their
sovereign capacity have constituted, ordained
and established that the members of the race
thus disfranchsed shall be equally entitle with
themselves 10 the inalienable rights of American
citizens"
Hhe effect of such decision on the suffrage
question which now agtates the country was
in q subsequent part OF the address thus de-
scEibed:-"Should the Supreme Court, upon a
thorough review of the national policy as
affected by the amendment, reach the conclu-
sion that. the national Constitution as amended
equality, by the outlawry or disfranchissment
of class the difficulties heretofore anticipated
from an interference by Congress with the sup
I9sed rights of the States to disfranchise at their
Pias3asuIe Will be avoided. The decision will
auect North and South alike and the question
oi suffrage on an equal basis will be opened for
Ieaul ustment IN all the States, with such condi.
lions as regards residence, inteligence and
IaI sXSUp 0T bps9Pey as each State may
If upon the first suppo.uo,, H.. ..,,,,1