subject, and be prepared to reply more fully
when the report of that officer was received ;
but he begged me to convey to your honora-
ble body the distinct and earnest assurance,
that if, at any lime, the military forces of
Virginia should trespass or temporarily oc-
cupy the soil of Maryland, it could only be
justified by the pressing exigency of a mili-
tary necessity, in defence and protection of
her own soil from threatened or actual inva-
sion, and certainly with no hostile intent to-
wards the citizens of the State of Maryland,
and that any and all damages to persona or
property, consequent upon such occupation,
should be fully and liberally compensated
for."
Then follows a letter from Mr. Jefferson
Davis, to that body, that wanted so much to
preserve the Union, in which King Davis
sends his congratulations to the "Union"
men of Maryland for the sympathy which
THEY felt for him, and Gen, Thos. J. McKaig,
(a gentleman for whom I have always bad the
highest respect, and with whom I studied
law, and I think a PERFECT gentleman; tout
who has been in the fort once more than be
ought to have been, ) in his report to the Gen-
eral Assembly says:
"Your committee, in performance of their
mission, proceeded to Montgomery, Alabama,
and were there received by the President of
the Confederate Government, a majority of
the Cabinet being present, with a frank cor-
diality and that consideration due to the re-
presentatives of the sovereign State of Mary-
land. In answer to the resolutions thus pre-
sented, the President of the Confederate States
caused to be delivered to your committee the
paper accompanying and made part of this
report."
I can imagine the gentleman, when he stood
in the capitol of the Southern Confederacy,
and received from King Jeff. Davis this letter,
and all the high-toned dignity he must have
assumed—for lie was a big man—when that
letter was handed him, and the gentleman
told me about his trip back to Richmond,
over the railroad, in the company of Beaure-
gard, and that when a crowd in a little town
in North Carolina called on Beauregard to
make them a speech, he called upon Mr. —
to reply; and he said that although be was
very much inclined to make them a speech,
yet inasmuch as he was sent by the State of
Maryland as a peace commissioner, he could
not make a speech for a General. Now here
is King Davis's letter :
" I receive with sincere pleasure the assur-
ance that the State of Maryland sympathizes
with the people of these States in their deter-
mined vindication of the right of self-gov-
ernment, and that the people of Maryland
'are enlisted with their whole hearts on the
side of reconciliation and peace.' "
They could not have enlisted anything else
They would have enlisted arms and ammuni- |
tion if it had not have been for Gov. Hicks;
but he nobly came forward and wrested the
arms from their hands, and they could only
enlist their hearts. King Davis goes on to say :
"The people of these Confederate States,
notwithstanding their separation from their
late sister, have not ceased to feel a deep so-
licitude in her welfare, and to hope that, at
no distant day, a State whose people, habits
and institutions are so closely related and as-
similated with theirs, will seek to unite her
fate and fortunes with those of this Con-
federacy."
Poor Jeff. Davis ! how prophetic were his
hopes! It is known to everybody in the
State of Maryland, how the people acted, who
at that time sympathized with Jeff. Davis, and
who at this time are so much in favor of help-
ing the Southern Confederacy out of its diffi-
culties. When the first raid was made into
Maryland, there was, of course, hardly a seces-
sion man from St. Mary's to Allegany county,
but flocked to the standard of Jeff. Davis, and
tried to make good this profession. But was
that so? The fact is, that when Jeff. Davis,
or rather his general, Lee, came to Frederick
City, and his troops commenced singing "My
Maryland," and invited those who sympa-
thized with the South to rally under their
standard, as Bradley Johnson said they
would do, I do not believe half a dozen men
came to that. standard, but they staid away,
a great deal more frightened than the Union
people were. I assert it as a fact, that when
that first raid was made, the men who most
deeply sympathized in the rebellion were the
men who most devoutly wished that Lee and
his force would get out of the State of Mary-
land. That is a fact; it may not be histori-
cal, but it is the fact, nevertheless.
I am much obliged to the Convention for
their courtesy in extending my time. In con-
clusion I would ask gentlemen who come after
me to answer the argument I have endeavored
to adduce in favor of the three propositions
which I started out to prove, and which I
think I have satisfactorily made out. And
also to answer the historical facts I have re-
ferred to in this work, (Journal of 1861,) in
regard to the status of Maryland, and whether
the men who were then in power would have
saved the State of Maryland, if they could,
and have brought back peace to the then dis-
tracted country, if they had had the power.
I think I have proved every proposition I
started out to prove, and I will now close by
thanking the Convention for the attention
they have given me.
Mr. SYKES. There are a number of gen-
tlemen here who desire to take the accommodation,
which leaves the city at two o'clock.
It will not be icing enough before that time
for any gentleman to submit another argu-
ment upon this interesting subject. We all
wish to bear everything that is said on this
important question, and; therefore, I think |
