Civilian & telegraph. [volume] (Cumberland, Md.) 1859-1875, 1864-12-08
FREE MARYLAND. AND SLAVE DELLA
''.''' WARP

| Maryland is free, and not only in the free
dom of her slaves |; in every line of her match
less Constitution, in every regulation and pro-
vision of the varied departments of her State
Government, her Convention has breathcd the
spirit of freedom to both the white and black
races. Not merely to the aged slave who has
toiled his life away in the sterile soil of ST.
Mary's, and who before he die5 cdh lift his
sacred hands to Heaven in thanksgiving that
at last he has gained his libcrty-not merely
to him., but to the artizan of Baltimore or
the farmer of Cecil the new Constitution has
breathcd reedom--frecdom from the ties Of
ancient prejudice-freedom from the bondage
of hereditary opinions, and freedom from the
degrading estimate Heretofore placed on labor
and the labofer.
The shackles of the past are severed; Tie
slave lords of the soil have had their power
broken in day, and it is you, white laborirg
men of Maryland who hafc won the victory.
You are no longer tie victims of brutal
code driftcd down from the barbarisit of the
Middle Ages; degrading the white laborer by
the competition of the unpaid slaves rcdu-
cling hi,t below the social level of that slave,
and creating tyranny over thougrt and
speech against which there is no remedy, and
from which there was no appeal. From all
this you are henccforth forever free, and all
this is an immediate gain. CT the gain in
future-of LIE rise in land, no longer titled
by slovenly and upaid toll, of the increase in
manufactures, Of the greater ann'al gains Of
capital, of the arrival of skilled labor from
the North, Of the emigration from abroad, it
| is unnecessary to speak.
FMarylahd, with tliis1ctf6sy tleansqd froht
her fair form, this nightmare forcyet gyne
by--if, Maryland goes forward with an earnest
heart III the path that she has chosen, no an
ticipations will be too lofty to be indulged;
and to hopes too bright to be realized The
South has tt6%i no claitn ou her. She has
setered the links III lie chain which bound
liet to tfGa56n, and no rebel lyric, no echoes
Of '' Maryland, my Maryland" waited across
the Potomac, can ever win her back .agaih
She has been purified as by fire, taught by
the tread Of armed hosts on her soil iu three
invasions, and is convinced by the stern logic.
of war of the necessary connection between
slavery and treason. Her soldiers have
learned it on the picket line, and have sworn
never to vote against the freedom of the wife
and children Of 'Ht colored soldiery who have
stood by them in the thunder Of the caruonadb
, or In lie headlong assault, . uio7t ,g.o..
But Of AL these things Delaware has learn
c1 iiotlii!ig She Rigs closer to the burden
| Maryland has cast off-when one State finds
it to her interest to emaneipate eighty seven
thousand slaves, the other finds it to her III.
terest 10 ret;tin fifteen hundred Bounded c'r
the northwest and south by free territory, she
has decided to Sill hold name and code and
system which aft a stigma to her throughout
the whole world, which encourage every do
nestle traitor, and give {" aid and comfort t.
/ the conmon encmy. ...r.....-..,. .,.r....
Sometime, however distant though in til,
future it may be, the act will be consummatct
and Delaware will be free State. The bene
fit will be rcapcd IN tie future-not now
The praise also will belong to the future tn,
present disgrace to us. In. all the history o
our State our children will end no saddle
chapter than the prcsent-the one which tell
them that Delaware resolved to remain slav,
at the November election in the gear of en-
| lightenment, Eighteen Hundred and Sixty
Four. Co.,. BE-.