4 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [Jan. 2,

unusually large amount of ability and statesmanship is dis-
coverable both in this and the popular branch, comparing
favorably with the best days of the commonwealth.

There is much in the late history of the State of which every
Marylander may feel justly proud. Rocked as she has been, in
the very midst of the angry surges of war, she survives un-
injured by the storms which have beaten about her path, and
presents to day, as imposing a port, endowed with as large a
share of actual prosperity and latent strength as any State of
similar geographical limits.

If the extinction of'slavery be desirable—and the whole coun-
try, notwithstanding the annoyances and embarrassments in-
cident to the change, seems to have acquiesced in its proprie-
ty—be it remembered that Maryland was the first to shake
off an incubus so stifling to her prosperity; and although she
is unprepared now, as she will ever be, for the adoption or
sanction of any measure tending to so absurd and revolting
a result as the social equality of the races, much has been and
will yet be accomplished, towards securing to the colored man
the advantages of mental and moral improvement, as well as
suitable protection in his person and property. In this con-
nection one act of simple justice remains, without which eman-
cipation becomes a solemn mockery,—namely, the right of
testifying in the courts, a right to which every man, of what-
ever complexion, is justly and indisputably entitled. This
privilege, already conceded by a number of States south of us,
ought not to be longer delayed as a Legislative measure in
our own humane commonwealth.

But one of the chief glories' of our State is, unquestionably,
her system of public instruction; and it is flattering to the sa-
gacity of our people, that its foundations were being laid at the
moment the armies of the sections rallied for deadly conflict
upon the soil of a sister State. The collected wisdom of the
past enabled its founders to mature a scheme of common school
education more free from defects, and possessing greater ad-
vantages than attach to other State systems. The abundant
good fruits which have already crowned its progress, fully
attest its intrinsic value, and its peculiar adaptation io the
wants of our population. Mental culture is an essential con-
dition of our liberties—the foundation stone of Republican
Government. But it is not the culture of the few to the neglect
of the many. No man will have the hardihood to assert that
what is good for him is not equally beneficial for all. He
cannot, he dare not, separate himself from the mass. To be
effective Education must be universal, progressive, generous,
complete. It is gratifying to know that the people of Mary-
land comprehend these truths—that the day of Cadeism no
longer exists—that learning is respected for its own sake and
the blessings it confers upon society and the State. But it is