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APPEAL TO THE NORTHERN STATES.
463
subsist between the people of both sections of our country ; and to rebuke, in an unmis-
takeable manner, those of their representatives in Congress who are wasting their time in
devising schemes for the abolition of slavery in the rebellious States."
This appeal was sent to the " executive of each loyal State," and to the
President and members of Congress, but seemed to have no effect; for on the
-6th of March, the President sent a message to Congress recommending the
adoption of the following joint resolution: "Resolved, That the United
States ought to co-operate Avith any State which may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid, to be used by such State
in its discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences, public and private,
produced by such change of system." On the 11th of March, the resolution
finally passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 97 yeas to 36 nays.
On April 2d, it passed the Senate—yeas 32, nays 10.1
1 In the House of Representatives, Mr. Henry
Winter Davis, of Maryland, voted in the affirmative ; and Messrs. Calvert, Crisfield, Leary and
Thomas, in the negative. In the Senate, Mr.
Kennedy voted in the negative; James A. Pearce
was absent. On the same day that this resolution was offered in the House of Representatives, the President invited to the White House
the delegations of Kentucky, Missouri, Virginia and Delaware, for the purpose of explaining his message of the 6th of March. At the
time appointed, these delegations, or such of
them as were in Washington, assembled at the
White House—Mr. Leary and Mr. Crisfield being
the only ones in the city, present, representing
Maryland. Mr. Crisfield, in his memorandum of
this interview with the President, states that it
was in substance as follows: " The President
■disclaimed any intent to injure the interests, or
-wound the sensibilities of the slave States. On
the contrary, his purpose was to protect the one
and respect the other; that we were engaged in
a terrible, wasting and tedious war; immense
armies were in the field, and must continue in,
the field as long as the war lasts; that these
;armies must, of necessity, be brought into contact with slaves in the States we represented
and in other States, as they advanced; that
■slaves would come to the camps, and continual
irritation was kept up ; that he was constantly
annoyed by conflicting and antagonistic complaints; on the one side, a certain class complained if the slave was not protected by the
army—persons were frequently found who, participating in these views, acted in a way unfriendly to the slaveholder; on the other hand,
slaveholders complained that their rights were
interfered with, their slaves induced to abscond,
and protected within the lines; these complaints
were numerous, loud and deep; were a serious
annoyance to him, and embarrassing to the progress of the war; that it kept alive a spirit
"hostile to the government in the States we
represented; strengthened the hopes of the
Confederates, that at some day the border States
would unite with them, and thus tend to prolong the war; and he was of opinion, if this
resolution should be adopted by Congress and
accepted by our States, these causes of irritation and these hopes would be removed, and
more would be accomplished towards shortening the war than could be hoped from the greatest victory achieved by Union armies; that he
made this proposition in good faith, and desired
it to be accepted, if at all, voluntarily, and in
the same patriotic spirit in which it was made ;
that emancipation was a subject exclusively
under the control of the States, and must be
adopted or rejected by each for itself; that he
did not claim, nor had this government any
right to coerce them for that purpose; that such
was no part of his purpose in making this proposition, and he wished it to be clearly understood;
that he did not expect us there to be prepared
to give him an answer, but he hoped we would
take the subject into serious consideration;
confer with one another, and then take such
course as we felt our duty and the interests of
.our constituents required of us." Mr. Crisfield
asked what would be the effect of the refusal of
Maryland to accept this proposal, and desired to
know if the President looked to any policy beyond the acceptance or rejection of this scheme.
The President replied that he had no designs
beyond the action of the States on this particular subject. He should lament their refusal
to accept it, but he had no designs beyond their
refusal of it. Mr. Crisfield said he did not think
the people of Maryland looked upon slavery as
a permanent institution; and he did not know
that they would be very reluctant to give it up
if provision was made to meet the loss, and they
could be rid of the race; but they did not like
to be coerced into emancipation, either by the
direct action of the government, or by indirection, as through the emancipation of slaves in
this District, or the confiscation of Southern
property as now threatened; and he thought,
Object Description
| Title | History of Maryland - 3 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
Description
| Title | 00000494 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | APPEAL TO THE NORTHERN STATES. 463 subsist between the people of both sections of our country ; and to rebuke, in an unmis- takeable manner, those of their representatives in Congress who are wasting their time in devising schemes for the abolition of slavery in the rebellious States." This appeal was sent to the " executive of each loyal State," and to the President and members of Congress, but seemed to have no effect; for on the -6th of March, the President sent a message to Congress recommending the adoption of the following joint resolution: "Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate Avith any State which may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of system." On the 11th of March, the resolution finally passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 97 yeas to 36 nays. On April 2d, it passed the Senate—yeas 32, nays 10.1 1 In the House of Representatives, Mr. Henry Winter Davis, of Maryland, voted in the affirmative ; and Messrs. Calvert, Crisfield, Leary and Thomas, in the negative. In the Senate, Mr. Kennedy voted in the negative; James A. Pearce was absent. On the same day that this resolution was offered in the House of Representatives, the President invited to the White House the delegations of Kentucky, Missouri, Virginia and Delaware, for the purpose of explaining his message of the 6th of March. At the time appointed, these delegations, or such of them as were in Washington, assembled at the White House—Mr. Leary and Mr. Crisfield being the only ones in the city, present, representing Maryland. Mr. Crisfield, in his memorandum of this interview with the President, states that it was in substance as follows: " The President ■disclaimed any intent to injure the interests, or -wound the sensibilities of the slave States. On the contrary, his purpose was to protect the one and respect the other; that we were engaged in a terrible, wasting and tedious war; immense armies were in the field, and must continue in, the field as long as the war lasts; that these ;armies must, of necessity, be brought into contact with slaves in the States we represented and in other States, as they advanced; that ■slaves would come to the camps, and continual irritation was kept up ; that he was constantly annoyed by conflicting and antagonistic complaints; on the one side, a certain class complained if the slave was not protected by the army—persons were frequently found who, participating in these views, acted in a way unfriendly to the slaveholder; on the other hand, slaveholders complained that their rights were interfered with, their slaves induced to abscond, and protected within the lines; these complaints were numerous, loud and deep; were a serious annoyance to him, and embarrassing to the progress of the war; that it kept alive a spirit "hostile to the government in the States we represented; strengthened the hopes of the Confederates, that at some day the border States would unite with them, and thus tend to prolong the war; and he was of opinion, if this resolution should be adopted by Congress and accepted by our States, these causes of irritation and these hopes would be removed, and more would be accomplished towards shortening the war than could be hoped from the greatest victory achieved by Union armies; that he made this proposition in good faith, and desired it to be accepted, if at all, voluntarily, and in the same patriotic spirit in which it was made ; that emancipation was a subject exclusively under the control of the States, and must be adopted or rejected by each for itself; that he did not claim, nor had this government any right to coerce them for that purpose; that such was no part of his purpose in making this proposition, and he wished it to be clearly understood; that he did not expect us there to be prepared to give him an answer, but he hoped we would take the subject into serious consideration; confer with one another, and then take such course as we felt our duty and the interests of .our constituents required of us." Mr. Crisfield asked what would be the effect of the refusal of Maryland to accept this proposal, and desired to know if the President looked to any policy beyond the acceptance or rejection of this scheme. The President replied that he had no designs beyond the action of the States on this particular subject. He should lament their refusal to accept it, but he had no designs beyond their refusal of it. Mr. Crisfield said he did not think the people of Maryland looked upon slavery as a permanent institution; and he did not know that they would be very reluctant to give it up if provision was made to meet the loss, and they could be rid of the race; but they did not like to be coerced into emancipation, either by the direct action of the government, or by indirection, as through the emancipation of slaves in this District, or the confiscation of Southern property as now threatened; and he thought, |
