"The Federal Government, at least, does ample justice to the
proclivities of Maryland. The system of coercion, hourly more and more
stringent, speaks for itself. The State is at this moment subjected to a
military despotism more irritating and oppressive than was ever
exercised by Austria in her Italian dependencies; more irritating,
because domestic interference and all sorts of petty annoyances are more
frequent here; more oppressive, because it is considered unnecessary to
indulge a political prisoner with even the mockery of a trial. Nothing
is too small for the gripe of the Provost Marshal's myrmidons. There was
a general order last week for the seizure of all Southern songs and
photographs of Confederate celebrities. One convivial cheer for
Jefferson Davis brought the 'strayed reveler' the following morning into
the awful presence of Colonel Fish, there to be favored with one of his
characteristic diatribes. The duties of that truculent potentate are
doubtless both difficult and disagreeable, yet one would think, it
possible for an officer to act; energetically without ignoring the
common courtesies of life, and to maintain rigid discipline without
constantly emulating the army that swore terribly in Flanders. The oath
of allegiance--that is the touchstone whose mark gives everything its
marketable value.
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