The Chesapeake and its tributaries are
natural high roads for the transport of freight to the ports of
Virginia, and thence into the interior. Before these troubles, the trade
of Maryland was almost exclusively with the South; and, unless violently
diverted, it must always remain so. The South is now straining every
nerve to establish a formidable steam-navy. It is not too much to say
that the adhesion of Maryland is absolutely indispensable if this object
is to be attained. She can not only offer superb harbors, in which the
South is palpably deficient, but her natural productions--ship timber,
iron ore (the largest and toughest plates in the United States are
hammered here), and bituminous coal, the best for steam purposes south
of Nova Scotia--would be invaluable."
With this State the South would retain all the material advantages that
the restoration of the Union could offer; without her, neither would the
territorial line be complete, nor the internal resources adequate to the
requirements of a powerful nation. President Davis has repeatedly
promised that the free vote of Maryland as to her future shall be one of
the prime conditions of any treaty whatsoever, and the Southern Congress
have confirmed this by a nearly unanimous vote. On this point there
surely ought to be no doubt or wavering.
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