SLAVERY AND THE BLACK CODE IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
Remarks in the Senate, on a Resolution for the Discharge of Fugitive Slaves from the Washington Jail, December 4, 1861.
December 4th, Mr. Wilson introduced a joint resolution for the release of certain persons confined in the county jail for the County of Washington in the District of Columbia, which was read a first and second time. A debate ensued, in which the jail and the judiciary of the District were severely handled. Mr. Hale hoped that Mr. Wilson, who had introduced the resolution, would “pursue his inquiries further, and find out where the cause of all this evil is, and apply the remedy.” Mr. Fessenden, after calling attention to the administration of justice in the District and hoping for an inquiry, concluded: “It is well, perhaps, that we should begin here; it is a tangible point; but I hope it will be followed up to any extent that may be necessary in order to accomplish the purpose.” Mr. Sumner at once took advantage of the debate, and turned it against Slavery and the Black Code.
MR. PRESIDENT,—The Senator from Maine [Mr. Fessenden] has pointed to abuses of the judiciary in this District, and he insists that at last we shall have decent men on the bench. But that is not going far enough, Sir. Something more is needed. We must have decent laws. A Black Code still prevails in this District, imported from the old legislation of Maryland, which is a shame to the civilization of our age. If any one wishes to know why such abuses exist in prisons and in courts as have been so eloquently portrayed, I refer him to that Black Code. There you will find apology for every outrage. If, therefore, Senators are really in earnest, if they are determined that the national capital shall be purified, that the administration of justice here shall be worthy of a civilized community, they must expunge that Black Code from the statute-book: but to do this is to expunge Slavery itself; and here we are brought precisely to the point.
Senators mistake, if they treat this question merely on the outside. They must penetrate its interior. Why is that prison so offensive as I know it to be?—for it has been my fortune to visit it repeatedly. It is on account of Slavery, with the Black Code, which is its offspring. Why is justice so offensively administered in this District? It is on account of those brutal sentiments generated by Slavery, and manifested in the Black Code, which the courts here but enforce.
I listened with gratitude to my distinguished friend from New Hampshire [Mr. Hale], when he reviewed this subject, and announced that he would soon bring in a bill to remove the evil. He did not tell us what the bill would be; but the Senator is apt to be thorough. I doubt not that he understands the case; but I am sure, that, to meet it, he must deal directly with Slavery, the fountain and origin of all the noisome inhumanity exposed before us to-day.
This was the first open word against Slavery in the District since the breaking out of the Rebellion.