Year: 1868

triots, from Maine to Louisiana, aud


from the Atlantic to the Pacific, long for


this consummation. They long for


peace, long for fellowship, long for the


restoration of all the glories of the Union


and the Constitution, as bequeathed to


Is by w WashingtoA and his illustriOus


compeers, and by the long line of sages


and patriots who succeeded them. The


palladium of our safety, of our peace, of


our progress and our future is the Union.


May that true Union be soon restored.


Let standing armies and expensive mil


itary establishments be abolished, and


the burthens of taxation be thus legiti-


mately relieved, and allow once more


aud forever the bulwarks of the Gov


ernment to be the affections of the whole


people.


We in the Border States, who, in fre-


qucnt intercourse with the leading men


of the South, learn from them and of


their people, that even rs the prOdigal


returned 20 his fathers house, SD are


they prepared to return to that Union


so blessed in its results during its long


career of progress and glory, and to join


traternally again in maintaining its


sanctity and in fulfilling its destiny.


Measurably, our own good old State
of Maryland presents what could be ac-
cOmplished since the close of the war.
Our people recognize that the incubus
of slavery is forever gone, and that the
freedmen is to be protected in all his
rights-that capacity and moral worth
are To govern; that our system of labor
is to be judiciously developed, and,
without antagonism of races, the best
interests of all are to be protected and
promoted. There is no necessary, and
certainly no proper, antaeonism be-
tween the races .Bf the South. The
white and cOlored Inhabitants are alike
identified with the country, and all in
terests will be best promoted and best
represented by the selection of the
most comprehensive intellects, and the
most cultivated and best men to par
tieipate in government. Does not the
relative prosperity of Maryland, under
present circumstances, present to the
country-with her comparatively rapid
advancement in agriculture, in manu-
factures, and in commerce, very
beacon-light to illumine the pathway of
so that they may restore our
true national unity and greatness, our
peace and our glory Sir, if wise
craftsmanship control, if the magnan-
unity of the victOrs and the appreeia-
tion OF the vanquished alike are
brought to bear and build up and reas-
sure our national prosperity, if hands
are again Joined fraternally between
the North and the South, and the East
and the West, who can picture
the magnificent future of the
United States Of America ! Such
action would soon restore all the
elements of u universal and real pros
perity. Coin would become the basis
of your financial system, taxation would
be reduced, agriculture would flourish,
and the poor man would have oppOrtu-
mites for independence again placed
within his reach, and be strengthened.
Suffering would be relieved, and the
constant wall of woe from the starving
thousands OF the South would case.
Every manufacturer, every agricultural
and every commercial interest would be
Peace, harmony, plenty and
would once more spread
abroad their blessings over the whole
land: and here in our midst, among the
varied and incalculable fruits OF such
change, Your shipwrights would be
again employed constructing fleets of
palatial and powerful steamships, to be
placed upon many routes in connection
with your great system. of railways,
which would again illustrate the genius
and capacity of Baltimore mechanics in
to maintain the grandeur and
power of our star-gemmed banner
throughout tho world!