The Federal Government did not free the slaves in Delaware, Maryland, and Kentucky. The results of the war rendered slavery impracticable, but that was all. "The truth is that the South could at any time during the war have secured the institution of slavery at the sacrifice of the right of secession. That sacrifice she would not voluntarily make, and she lost both her sovereignty and her slaves. She was the unfortunate, innocent, last holder of a dishonoured bill, and the emitters of it turned upon her and called to the world to see how they would punish her for holding it. "EDWARD MCCRADY, JR." To this it may be added that, under the old territorial laws of Illinois, persons were allowed to bring slaves into the Territory under the name of indentured servants. As such they might be held in bondage for a term of ninety-nine years or less. This was in direct violation of the spirit of the ordinance of 1787, which interdicted slavery or involuntary servitude in all the territory north of the Ohio River. The first Illinois State Constitution, adopted in 1818, prohibited the further introduction of slaves, but did not abolish this species of slavery by liberating the victims of the old Territorial enactments. Thus slavery existed in Illinois in defiance of the ordinance of 1787 until the adoption of the Constitution of 1848, which contained the following provision:-" There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this State, except as a punishment for crime." After the adoption of the Constitution of 1818, the first Legislature re-enacted the law "respecting free negroes, mulattoes, servants, and slaves" of Territorial times. No severer law was to be found in any slave State. It forbade negroes or mulattoes to settle in the State without certificates of freedom. No person was to employ any negro or mulatto without such certificate, under a penalty of $1.50 for each day. To harbour any slave or servant, or hinder the owner in retaking a slave, was made a felony, punishable by restitution or a fine of two-fold value, and by a whipping not to exceed thirty stripes. Every black or mulatto without a proper certificate was subject to arrest as a runaway slave, to be advertised for six weeks by the sheriff, when, if not reclaimed or his freedom established, he was sold for one year, after which he was entitled to a freedom certificate. Any slave or servant found ten miles from home without permit was liable to arrest and thirty-five stripes, on the order of a justice. For misbehaving to his master or family he was punishable with the lash. Indeed, punishment with the lash to the number of thirty-nine and forty stripes was prescribed for each of a long list of offences, real or of legal construction. Even after the adoption of the Constitution of 1848, which required the General Assembly at its first session to pass such laws as should effectually prohibit free persons of colour from immigrating to, or settling in this State, and should prohibit the owners of slaves from bringing them there for the purpose of setting them free, the Legislature passed an Act, February 12th, 1853, which imposed on every such coloured person a fine of $50. If the fine was not paid forthwith he was to be advertised and sold to any one who would pay the fine and costs for the shortest period of such person's service. A case under this law was carried up to the Supreme Court, and decided, so late as 1864, to be valid. Other provisions of these enactments, which were known as the Black Laws, were almost equally detestable. On February 7th, 1865, they were repealed. Had it not been for these Black Laws the census of Illinois would not be blotted with an enrolment of "168 slaves" in 1810; 917 in 1820; 747 in 1830; and 331 in 1840—the last census that carries such a stain. Fortunately, the masters and people at large were better than their laws. D. THE GROWTH OF THE COLOURED RACE. The following table shows the white and coloured populations of the whole of the United States at the various decennial perio ls from 1790 to the present time :— INDEX. Abolition of slavery, 19 Advantages of getting rid of the negro, 208, 209 Africa for the negro, 195, 201, etc. African Steamship Co., The, 210 Alabama, Reconstruction in, 32 XV., 39, 64, 67, 86, 151, 153, American institutions unsuited for Anglo-Saxon antipathy to miscegen- Appeal to Cæsar, An," 90 Appeal to Pharaoh, An," 131, 165, Argentine, Suggested migration to Arkansas, Cotton raised in, 194 Democrat quoted, 192 Arms, Length of the negro's, 69 Assisted emigration for the negro, Atlanta Constitution quoted, 73, 192 Ballot, American system of, 81 Bigelow, J. and P., 214 Birmingham Age-Herald quoted, 190 blood, Prejudice against, 87 Blank resignations, 59 Transcript quoted, The, 164 Buckalew, Mr., 28 Buenos Ayres Prensa quoted, 190 Bullock, Governor, 50 Cable, G. W., 91, 93, 102, 214 Carpet-baggers, 27, 33, 39, 52, 55, Caste, Colour, 218 First, 3, 4 Chamberlain, Governor D. H., 46 News and Courier quoted, 80, Sun quoted, 226 Cincinnati, Race prejudice at, 98 Civil Rights Bill, The, 65, 68 Cleveland Gazette quoted, 195 "Cobb on Slavery" quoted, 225 Coloured majority, States having a, 5 National League and Voo- people, see also under Mulatto, Colour line in the North, The, 181, Coloured race, Increase of the, 232 suffrage in, 74 Congo, American negroes for the, Advantages of the, 211 Congress may limit the suffrage, 86 Thirty-ninth, 24, 27 Connecticut, Slavery in, 227 of negro Republican party, 58 Cotton-fields, The negro not neces- Dangers of the situation, 16, 143 Death-rate of the white and the Debt of the U.S. to the negro, 185, of the United States, 206 Democrat, The Southern white is Democratic Legislators arrested, 61 Diseases of negroes, 108 Disenfranchisement of ex-Confede- rates, 29, 54 Douglass, Mr. Fredk., 98, 163 Duty of the United States, 210, 213 Edgington, Col. T. B., 153 Education as a suggested panacea, Education, Negro, 75, 116 Emancipation a failure, 125 destructive of miscegenation, 177 in the North, 225 Emigration as a panacea, 181 from the South, White, 10, 11 The negro's willingness for, the only cure, 182, 188, 189 Expulsion by force impracticable, 198 |