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CHAPTER XLV.
During the summer of 1862, and until the entrance of the Confederate
forces under Lee, in September, Maryland was undisturbed from without.
Within she presented a state of affairs which the Consolidationists might
contemplate with satisfaction, as the fruition of their highest hopes. Though
she had offered no resistance to the Federal power she was treated as a conquered province, without a single State right, or a single constitutional
guaranty remaining. Her Legislature and the municipal authorities of Baltimore were still in confinement, untried, and their places filled with the
creatures of military power. There was not even the pretence of necessity,
military or other, to palliate these proceedings; on the contrary, with insolent mockery, the " loyalty" of her people was praised in reports of
secretaries and a proclamation of the President, and the protection of the
Constitution promised, as the reward of their fidelity.
Yet, in the face of these pledges, the people were none the less subjected
to oppression and outrage. Arrests were made, imprisonments prolonged,
right of trial denied, confiscations made, commerce interdicted, and slaves
carried off. Free speech and a free press wrere things of the past. Property
of all kinds was openly seized and appropriated by the agents of the Federal
government or its armed marauders, who dispensed with the superfluity of
judicial proceedings by pronouncing its condemnation themselves. Houses
were invaded and ransacked by night and by day; private papers seized; and
men and even women torn from the bosoms of their families and hurried away
to imprisonment or exile. A minister of the Gospel was arrested and
imprisoned for refusing to allow a flag to be displayed from his church.
Even infants in the nurses' arms, were arrested for wearing knots of red
ribbon, which the "loyalists" were pleased to regard as a "disloyal" color.
As to the conduct of a certain faction of the " loyal" citizens, the spies and
delators, we pass it over in silence for very shame. Nor can we enter into the
detahVof the insults, wrongs and outrages that were daily and hourly committed upon the people of this State, for the remembrance still rouses
indignation too hot for the calmness of impartial history.1 Their culmination
1 During this one time in our history, the Con- liament: '• The poorest man in his cottage may
solidationists had the opportunity to carry out bid defiance to all the power of the crown,
their ideal of government. The difference be- That cottage may be frail, its roof may shake,
tween their "National Republic" and a consti- the wind may blow through it, the storm may
tutional monarchy may be seen in two celebrated enter, the rain may enter, but the King of Eng-
utterances. The Earl of Chatham said, in Par- land cannot enter—all his power dares not cross
| Title | History of Maryland - 3 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000520 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | CHAPTER XLV. During the summer of 1862, and until the entrance of the Confederate forces under Lee, in September, Maryland was undisturbed from without. Within she presented a state of affairs which the Consolidationists might contemplate with satisfaction, as the fruition of their highest hopes. Though she had offered no resistance to the Federal power she was treated as a conquered province, without a single State right, or a single constitutional guaranty remaining. Her Legislature and the municipal authorities of Baltimore were still in confinement, untried, and their places filled with the creatures of military power. There was not even the pretence of necessity, military or other, to palliate these proceedings; on the contrary, with insolent mockery, the " loyalty" of her people was praised in reports of secretaries and a proclamation of the President, and the protection of the Constitution promised, as the reward of their fidelity. Yet, in the face of these pledges, the people were none the less subjected to oppression and outrage. Arrests were made, imprisonments prolonged, right of trial denied, confiscations made, commerce interdicted, and slaves carried off. Free speech and a free press wrere things of the past. Property of all kinds was openly seized and appropriated by the agents of the Federal government or its armed marauders, who dispensed with the superfluity of judicial proceedings by pronouncing its condemnation themselves. Houses were invaded and ransacked by night and by day; private papers seized; and men and even women torn from the bosoms of their families and hurried away to imprisonment or exile. A minister of the Gospel was arrested and imprisoned for refusing to allow a flag to be displayed from his church. Even infants in the nurses' arms, were arrested for wearing knots of red ribbon, which the "loyalists" were pleased to regard as a "disloyal" color. As to the conduct of a certain faction of the " loyal" citizens, the spies and delators, we pass it over in silence for very shame. Nor can we enter into the detahVof the insults, wrongs and outrages that were daily and hourly committed upon the people of this State, for the remembrance still rouses indignation too hot for the calmness of impartial history.1 Their culmination 1 During this one time in our history, the Con- liament: '• The poorest man in his cottage may solidationists had the opportunity to carry out bid defiance to all the power of the crown, their ideal of government. The difference be- That cottage may be frail, its roof may shake, tween their "National Republic" and a consti- the wind may blow through it, the storm may tutional monarchy may be seen in two celebrated enter, the rain may enter, but the King of Eng- utterances. The Earl of Chatham said, in Par- land cannot enter—all his power dares not cross |
