tain and to Antietam and find out what rav-
ages the traitorous horde, who are the expo-
nents of his views, have done? No; the gen-
tleman stopped on the Rapidan—and well he
might, for traitors have been holding high
carnival in that region of late; men who ad-
vocate the very same doctrine that is advo-
cated here, the right of a State to break up
this Union and enter into a magnificent rebel-
lion, accompanied by bloodshed and death.
The gentleman also refers, in the moat pa-
thetic language, to the defenceless women oc-
casioned by this war. Sir, I have as much
reverence for the character of women as any
man, and I would go as far to protect and
defend them. But does not the gentleman
know that the most bitter, vindictive foes lo
this government are the secesh women? Does
he not know that shielding themselves behind
their feminine helplessness, they have taken
advantage of the respect and esteem, and even
devotion which every well-bred American en-
tertains for their character, and oft times un-
der the garb of friendship have obtained
information, more than once, that has been
used against our country? And yet the govern-
ment has abused the poor women ! Why, sir,
women have become spies in this war, have
been caught within our lines with maps and
plans of our fortifications, and the numbers
and dispositions of our troops, upon their
persons. They have been arrested for carry-
ing rebel mails, (not males,) and yet this kind,
human, long suffering government has merely
arrested them and confined them lo keep them
out of harm's way, instead of being commit-
ted to the doom which every woman as well
as every man deserves when caught in the act
of treason. No, sir, war is no place for wo-
man. Her duty is at home, around the do-
mestic circle, to purify the heart, to cheer and
comfort it. Her doty in days like these is in
the hospital, beside the couch of the wounded,
ministering like an angel to the comfort of
the soldier, and smoothing his pillow for a
peaceful rest and an easy death. Let woman
"Seek to be good, but aim not to be great,
"A woman's noblest station is retreat ;
"Her fairest virtues fly from public sight.
"Domestic worth—that shuns too strong a
light.''.
The gentleman has also referred, in no un-
ambiguous language, to President. Lincoln;
and has characterized his acts as oppressive
and tyrannical; and said that the people of
Maryland were now groaning under a system
of petty despotisms on the part of irrespon-
sible officers, vested with a little brief author-
ity. Sir I do not propose to be the apologist,
nor the eulogist, of Abraham Lincoln. Elected
by majority of the people of the United States,
he took the helm of State at a time when our
good old ship was in the hands of a band of
pirates, who had stripped her of everything
that was valuable, and had taken away from |
her all her weapons of defence The ship
itself had been traitorously delivered up to
their keeping, and not long would it have
been before it reached that vortex of destruc-
tion that would have swallowed up and for-
ever buried in the deep waters of oblivion this
mighty people. But Abraham Lincoln seized
hold of the helm, with a determined will, and
an honest purpose, to rescue the Constitution
and the country from the impending danger,
regardless of what the consequence might be
to himself. His life was threatened, and con-
spiracies were even formed to murder him in
cold-blood, audit is too fresh upon the minds
of Marylanders, at least, bow he escaped from
the toils of his would-be assassins. His treasury
had been robbed, his army scattered, his
navy sent to the uttermost parts of the earth,
his munitions of war distributed to such of
the traitors as would join in the unholy
league; and, in fact, he found himself put in
possession of a Government by name, and
almost without any of its attributes, save the
love, the might and the loyalty of the people,
and the resources of the land.
For three, nearly four, years has civil war
been raging. Almost one million of men
have poured out their life's blood like water,
to defend and uphold this Government, The
spots that mark their resting places, can be
counted from the Potomac to the Gulf: and
still the war rages! Is Abraham Lincoln re-
sponsible for it? Are not the men who ad-
vocate the same doctrine as the gentleman
from Prince George's, amenable to the ven-
geance of God and the laws of man for all
this sacrifice of life—this out-pouring of the
blood of the nation, this expenditure of treas-
ure, this desolation of once happy States?
There have been arrests, but not half enough ;
traitors have been caught, but not punished
as they deserved to be. The habeas corpus
has been suspended; and should have never
bad an existence, when applied to screen a
traitor from his just doom. The Government
has not been harsh enough; it has dealt, and
is dealing, too lightly with those who have
taken up arms to destroy it and us. Sympa-
thy and a God-speed the rebel cause can even
be expressed by members of this House, and
yet no notice is taken of it. No wonder the
gentleman said we had been living as though
we had no government, for the reason that
we never felt any of its rigor, but bad always
partaken of its beneficent protection and boun-
ty. We are partaikng of that protection and
that bounty now. Maryland is this day the
Paradise of the BORDER=0 slave States. Why ?
Not because traitors would have her so; not
because sympathy with traitors would wish it
so. But because the strong arm of the Gov-
ernment has been and is now exerted to de-
fend us from the assaults of traitors outside
of the State, and treason that skulks and
works in the dark, because it dare not show
its head inside of the State. Gentlemen can |