It may well be so; there has been oppression and provocation
enough of late to make the scale turn once and forever.
"Meantime, Maryland has not confined herself to a suppressed sympathy
with the South. We may guess, perhaps, but no one will ever know, the
extent of the covert assistance already rendered by this State to the
Confederacy. I am not referring to the constant reinforcements of her
best and bravest--over twelve thousand, it is said--that have never
ceased to feed the ranks of the Southern armies.
"One significant fact is worth mentioning, drawn from the reports of
Federal officers--viz., out of nine thousand Marylanders drafted into
the service, there are scarcely one hundred now remaining in the ranks;
they deserted, literally, by bands.
"I speak of supplies of all sorts, especially medicines, furnished
perpetually; of valuable information forwarded as to the enemy's
movements and intentions; of Confederate prisoners tended with every
care, and supplied with every comfort that womanly tenderness could
devise; of a hundred other marks of substantial friendship that could
not only be rendered by a nominal neutral, but a real ally. It would be
hard, indeed, if any miserable jealousies were to prevent all this from
being appreciated and rewarded some day.
Pages:
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263