The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1861-10-19
Political.
ADDRESS
OF THE
Union State Central Committee,
OF MARYLAND.


We are in tine ,mdst of events, fellow
citizens of Maryland, which forbid silence
or inactivity. Cliuging with devotion
to the long institutions of our
country, we have taken council concern
ing the perils which environ this State
and distract the nation. We are sim
cerely animated by one purpose alone
reconciliation of every State to ga
more perfect union "a restoration of
putlic and private confidence, and the
solid confirmation of our nationality in a
spirit of magnanimous justice, so that
the United States may continue to be
what, until a recent period, it has always
been-the refuge of constitutional liberty
against the assaults of all its enemies.
1t is proper that Maryland should be
needed in this crisis. Our situation in
the geographical centre of the country,
holding the District of Columbia and the
Capitol within our boundary, gives us an
important power and dangerous posi-
tion, which not only appeal to the for
bearing consideration of other States
whose interests might induce them to
seduce or force us into the ranks of
Secession, but, equally, to our own sense
of dlgnlfed duty to the whole nation, to
ourselves, and each of sister States. -
Thus estimating our posture, we are not
to halt in deliberatlon over the past or
in debating the disobedieucc either of
the North or of the South. elimination
and recrmination are of no avail. 1t is
a period like that of l776, during which
Washington emphatically exclaimed to a
hcSitating American &c must tell you
in plain terms that at this time neutral
character is looked on as suspicious
one, and | would, therefore, advise you
to leave country with the majority of
whom you cannot agree in sentiment, and
who are determined to assert their
liberties by the ways and means which
necessity, and not the love of war,
has obliged them to adopt" 1t is, fell
low-citizens, a period of eager conflict
between fwO elements Atone. the element
Of nafionnl protection and the element
Of nat'onal destruction. You arc SOL
emnly called on to elect between the
two You are to pass judgment on this
issue alone as free people. Day by
day, the uncomfortable " logic of events
has narrowed the field of controversy
All well-meant and patriotic efforts of
adjustment have been made in vain. -
Patient men have exhausted hope in
their attempts to produce peaceful
solution until, at last, you are sternly
commanded by every manly principle OF
your nature to decide at once between
the solid institutions framed by Wash
lngton and his conpcers, under which
our country has been free, prosperous,
progressive and powerful, and that lille
climate dominion, which, screened behind
its assumed ri ght of constitutional scces-
sion, is now, perhaps, ready to reduce
Maryland to the Subsection it is attempt
ing IN Kentucky.
The question of Maryland is the qucs-
ton of the nation. Our situation on the
national map makes the interests of all
sections our interests. Our State, from
its ncarness to the great valleys of the
West, and by its equi-distance between
the Northern and Southern extremes, is
the original terminus and mart Of inter-
nal exchange, indicated by nature her.
self IN the geography of the couptry.-
Our grand system of internal improve
uents has striven to confirm what nature
indicated. Ma'ylnnd, IN the Union, is
and must be, great central receptacle
Of internal produce and foreign distribu-
ton; while Baltimore, its capital, is the
great central axle of trade whose cir
conference should touch, gather anG
exchange the products Of every section
Our people are the people of all sections
Our institutions are the institutions o.
all sections. Our productions and indus.
tries are the productions and industric:
of almost every section. Freedom ant
slavery mingle on our soil in harnonou:
cooperation. If the South is one of oul
best purchasers, it is of the production,
of the North, East and West, and of ou
own industry and commerce. We plant
We farm, we manufacture, we navigate
we trade And so-whilc Maryland il
the sentinel of the National Capital
every element of State position, Stat,
commerce, State labor, State strength
and State progress, comes to US, unms
takably, with the broad stamp Of nationa
unity on its front.
Ingenious politicians may allure us b,
declaring that "the instant Mar Ian,
quits the Union, Baltimore will become
the New York of the Southern Confcder
acy." Trust no such dcalets in til,
dclusive brides of dGmagoguism. |
will be novelty in human history TO
commerce to become sentimental Th,
stryngholds of trade are not built in
day, nor are they dependent On legisla
ton or sectional caprice. Many a yea
must clapse before the commerce o
Maryland, at the tail of any Confcderacy
either Northern or Southern, will restor,
confidence to its former channels an,
rewarded labor to the impoverished VIII
are now suffering in our midst. No me-
nation would have the temerity to pu
its chief mart, with all its vast mcrcan
tile Accommodations, on the margin of $
perilous a border. Rather would it b
screened behind the barriers of anothc
. river. Richmond and Virginia, not Bal
timore and Maryland, would attract tn
a. -. =.