Year: 1861

BUt suppose you SuHccCu III dfi'lnS INC
General Government out Of Washington.
What then? Created and supported by The
patronage of the General Government, it
might revert to YOU as the original grantor.
But what would it become? Would it not
be waste and a ruin? What would be
the effect Of the destruction Of the city of
Washington on the adjoining counties Of
Maryland bordering on the Potomac? Just
such, Or nearly such, as the destruction Of
Baltimore would produce On the value Of
property in Baltimore county and other
counties adjacent thereto. What would be
the value of your railroad to Washington,
now the most profitable of all our State in
vcstmcnts!


IF the city of Washington is to become
waste and crumblinG ruin, may my eyes
never again rest on the noble pile devoted
to the government of our country May |
never again behold the lofty monument be-
ing erected to the memory of the Father of
his Country. May my feet never hereafter
tread the sacred soil of Mount Vernon. No!
Before you destroy the Constitution and the
Union, which are the true monuments of
Washineton's glory, let Virginia take his
sacred ashes and commit them to the pure
stream of the Potomac Let Maryland de-
stroy the lofty shaft on which stands the
peerless form of the mighty dead Let
Congress demolish the still loftier shaft now
rising to his memory on the banks of the
Potomac, and order the return Of every
block of marble which has been contributed
by foreign States in honor of his name, with
the frank acknowled gment that his country
men are not worthy to behold pile erected
to his honor, because they have repudiated
the work of his hands and broken to pieces
the Government of liberty and law which
he devoted. his life to construct.


If Maryland were to join new govern
mento Of the SOUTH put it, people of Mary
land, to your better judgnent-how long
would she remain slave State? With no
right to demand from the North the surren-
der of the fugitive slave, except under a
Union aud Constitution which she is sup
posed to have abandoned, and with the GER
tainty that her soil would either be occupied
by an enemy. Or else be the battle field in
all contests, wars and invasions by the North
this side Of the Alleghanies, would not poll
cy, would not interest, would not safety,
- S>"th fo- roourity, where the labor Of
the slave has long been more EQUITABLE than
with you? Under these circumstances
would you not in a year or two, Of necessi-
ty, cease to be slave owners? And what
would be your condition as free State in
alliance with the slave States of the South ?
Would they trust you, would they love you,
would they treat you as. their equal? |
leave the answer to your calm and deliberate
Judgment.


In the event Of secession by Maryland.
what would Delaware do? She is small
State, it IS true, but her course would be of
the greatest Importance to Maryland in her
new associations, as the refusal of Delaware
to 90 with us would add more than one hun
dred miles of free border to our State.
Delaware has now less than two thousand
slaves-a number scarce equal to that OF
single individuals in the South Bordering
Oh the Delaware river and bay for the larg-
er and richer part of her State, Delaware is
bound to Pennsylvania by all the ties OF
commercial, political ard social interests.
She has no heavy stake in slavery, and in
a few years, under any circumstances, will
become free State. This result would fol-
low almost Immediately if she were to 60
with the South, for reasons similar, but still
stronger, than those which would press on
Maryland. II she remain in the Union
under the present Constitution, she would
be protected Gas would Maryland also be,
under a similar course) by the guarantees
Of that Constitution as to her slave proper
ty-the passing Of of which would, in that
event, be scarcely accelerated in either State
Delaware was the first State to accept the
Constitution, and | doubt not that her pa
triotism, her duty, as also her interests,
will keep her steady at her post. If Mary
land secedes, she must count on two hun
dred miles Of free border separating. her
from Pennsy ylyania, and a hundred miles OF
free border, separating her from Delaware.
People Of Maryland, what is this right OF
State to secede from the Union Have
you held 1t in former days or your fathers
before you? Has it not been denied by a
vast majority Of the powerful intellects OF
our country--of her best and ablest states
men? Whether it assume the form of MI.


ification or secession, is it not rebellion
The noblcst orator Of our country, in the
finest passage he ever uttered, said For
the gentleman to speak of nullifcation, and
yet say that it would stop short Of secession,
rebellion, disunion, is as if he were to take
the leap of Niagara and cry out that he
would stop half way down" If secession
means rebellion | understand it, If that
rebellion fail, it is treason. Ii it succeed,


it is revolution. This also understand
Rebellion and revolution are ancient words
and have often been enacted under all the
forms of government in the world. deny,
and the vast majority of you have always
denied, any other mode of breaking up our
government than by resorting to these an
cient modes, which, for. intolerable oppres-
sion, have been practiscd throughout the
world.


70 the extent of the powers possessed by
the General Government, under the Consti-
tuition, she is unit--as much so as any