The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1863-01-10

81 know not what to think of the
rumor from Annapolis but if the Mas
sachusctts troops are on the march from
that place to Washington, shall be in
motion very early to- morrow morning to
pay my respects to them"
During the 22d and ODD of April the
kilograms and memoranda found in the
office of the Board show they were in
communication with kenton Harper,
commanding six thousand Rebels at
Harper's Ferry and their agent ore
ported SIC thousand men ready TO come
doWn."
The lc ters found further show that
Gen. Steuart had applied to Governor
Letcher, of Virginia, General Cooke at
Alexandria, and Harper at Harpcr's
Ferry, for arms, and had obtained the
promise of 5000 muskets. Letchor's
letter to Steuart shows he ordered
1000 to be sen and 1000 did como to
he possession of the Board of Police,
and were claimed by Stcuart and
Howard wrote to Jas. M. Mason to
know if he should deliver them to Steu-
ar: for the Sta of Maryland.
Fourteen hundred of them are now in
Fort McHenry the correspondence is
in the hands of the Government officers
So open and complete was the state of
war, that Hunter, commanding the
Uni ed States receiving ship in the har-
Dor, wrote to the Board on the 23d of
April, stating he had occasion to employ
steamtug in the service Of the United
States, and requcs ing them to authorize
him to use one on that day in the har-
Dor Of Baltimore and tho adjacent
wa ers and that request was respectful
ly declined by The Board.
| These acts Of war were fully crowned
by the order Of the Police Commission
ers forbiddlng the display of the Nation
al flag, and the arrest Of loyal men who
refused to obey them.
The attempt which has occasionally
been made to explain those acts as pre-
eau ions for the preservation of the
internal peace of the State, or to repel
!awlcss incursions of armed men from the
North, is unworthy Of further notice.
|
miSlcd by them.
In this state Of open war the Police
Commissioners went through the forms
of an election, by which. on the oath of
April, you were returned to he Legis-
!ature to represent this rcbellious action,
by 5000 votes out of 30,O00-21,UO0
having staid at home, and no one having
dared to oppose the armed rebellion,
headed by the Police Commissioners
In the flush of confident success YOU
and your colleagues met at Frederick
on the Goth on the 9th you furnished
the sincws of war to your confedcratcs :;
and Force bill was reported to the
Senate and passed to second reading
by IA to 8, by which the Sta militia
was reorganizcd and placed under the
power of the six Commissioners named
in the bill, all avowedly enemies of the
United Sta es the Governor was
stripped of all power over it; large
SUN of money was appropria ed to arm
and equip it, and the bin, if passed,
would have placed the State under an
absolute military despotism of the
enemies Of the Government al their
mercy.
But the small vote revealed the radi-
cal weakness of the rebellion in Balti-
more; on the 2Sth the Police Commits
soners began to apologize for their con-
due, and put a softer color on il; the
Force bill caused great public indigna-
lion the Legislature was threa cned by
the loyal people of Frederick with cx-
pulsion if they dared to pass it, and on
the Sd of May Baltimore added her pro-
test and menace of resistance and the
leaders in he Legisla ure and their con-
federatcs out of it began to think of
safey while waiting events.
The Force bill was dropped; on the
Sh Legislature passed bill of indcm-
nifty exenpting from prosecution or pun
ishment the Mayor and Police Commits
sioncrs and all persons who act uade,
Their orders in their effort to maintain
peace and good order, and prevent fur
tier strife on and after the occurrences
on the 10 day of April, in consequence
of such acts, and obedience to such
orders, "and repeating all laws in force
in this State at the time of said acts, so
far as regards said persons and their
acts"
In word, the Legislature outlawcd
the United Sta es and their soldiers
On the 10Th, the next day, the Com
hi tee on Federal Relations prcsen cd
their repor and resolu ions, which were
adop ed on the Nth but which you
very inaccuratcly describe as ga rcsolu-
ton against the ezpediency of even call
ing sovereign Convention of the people
Of the State"
The resolution was, that "under &C.
iStmg circumstances it is inexpedient
to call Sovereign Convention of the
State at this time.
The report shows sudden variation
in opinion on the subject; when you
met on the I'd of April, Convention was
the general wish in less than two
weeks, on the 5,h of May, the Commit
tee tell US there was aud almost unani-
nous feeling against calling Conven-
ton at the present time.
Two weeks more might, under favora-
BILE auspices, work another revolution of
opinion.
"To the Committee" the report says,
"the single fact of the military occupa-
,;,p ,f onr coil bv n, N,,+bo tr,,ne