The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1871-10-14
Who are the Democratic Standard.
Bearers.

If the ticket nominated by the Democ-
racy is examined, it will be found thor
ough representative of the old secession
element.
On the delegate ticket we find Penning-
ton, who, with some two or three others,
in '62 or '63, left the county and got on
board vessel, somewhere in Delaware
River Or Bay, and sailed for Nassau. There
two of the party-Penningto and E. S.
Jones-took passage on board blockade
runner, which was captured in the attempt
to enter Charlestown Harbor, by one of
the Government cruisers. The Cecil cap
tives were sent to Fort Lafayette, where
they tarried till released by President Lin
coin, or the Secretary of War.
Mearnes always prided himself on being
one of the most thorough-going of the
inland secessionists, who assisted the .sCon-
federacy" by all the moral power they
could bring to bear against the Government
by denouncing Lincoln" as a tyrant, and
the war as an outrage upon "our Southern
brothers,, So earnestly did he espouse
the rebel cause, and lend it his entire SYM
pathies, that he was honored by the firm
belief, on the part of the Union men, with
being one Of the agents of the "under-
ground mall which was believed to be
regularly carried between the rebels in
arms and their friends in the North, in
'61-2-3.
Groome being a States Rights theorist,
always denied the charge of being seces-
sionist, while Maryland remained in the
Union, but was always ranged on the side
of the rebellion by a neutrality that chilled
enthusiasm for the Union cause, and never
rebuked the most blatant rebel.
Suppose our legislatures had been made
up of this class of members during the
years from 1861 to '65, wouldn't Maryland
have been a pleasant place for Union men !?
We put the question to men who have
since the overthrow of the rebellion, been
aiding that party by their votes, who
term themselves conservatives, and even
Union soldiers, how they can look their
own conscicnces in the face, if we may be
allowed the expression, and vote this ticket !?
What did they contend for during the war;
in opposition to all these men strove so
earnestly to accomplish The secession
party, and the party of u Southern Confed-
eracy, to be sure, accomplished nothing
but ruin and devastation; but their leading
spirits have sworn to never give up the
pursuit of the object they set out to accom-
plish, and their way to the fulfilment of
that purpose is to gain control in the States
and National Government; and how long
would they be in gaining that CONTROL if
the great body Of the Union men of the
war should vote as these conservatives
have been voting? AS soon as they gained
power in this State, a Commission was
formed, and record of all the slaves,
which had been emancipated by the war,
was made, and is now filed among the
archives of the State, awaiting the time
when the Democratic party will gain power
in the nation, and a President and Congress
of that party give laws to the country;
then our Maryland claimants for slaves
intend to make their demand, and if Con-
gress refuse to indemnify them from the
Federal treasury, the old Democratic dogma
of States Rights will he asserted and they
will claim the indemnity from Maryland.
The only reason this is not now being
carried out to the letter, is that because
the party that stamped out the rebellion in
1865, are still in the ascendant in the
nation. Elect enough of such men as have
been placed on the delegate ticket by the
Democratic party of this county, and it
will not be long in coming to pass.
That these things have not been accom-
plished, is no fault of the Democratic party,
nor is it of the original Union men of this
State, who have so persistently aided that
party since 1856, to do all they can in
Maryland for the revival of the "Lost
Cause" Without their aid the Demo.
cratic party could never have laid the heavy
burthen Of debt upon the State since the
war, that it now groans under. 1t is not