27

Believing, as I do, that my fellow-citizens of Maryland, and
of the whole South, with few exceptions, whatever their former
antecedents, desire now to co-operate cordially in the work of
restoration, by a recognition of.the old flag, as a renewed
pledge of restored brotherhood, we should be ready to receive
the approaches of all such in a spirit of kindness.

In the part allotted to me as your Executive, 1 shall go on
as I have done since this lamentable war ended., despite detrac-
tion and abuse, come from whatever source it may. Denounced
as a traitor to principles which I have never recognized—to
extreme men who have already brought shame and dishonor
upon their State—to vindictiveness and intolerence which I
despise—to that glorious Union which I have loved better than
my life, I submit myself to the impartial judgment of the peo-
ple of Maryland, through their chosen Representatives, for the
uprightness of my conduct and the purity of my intentions.

I cannot forget that I am living in an epoch when Christian
principles are the recognized rule of human conduct. If in
the unswerving exercise of my official duties, I have saved
your State from threatened invasion by men who were ready
to plunge it again into the horrors of civil war, and the not
less disreputable machinations of revolutionary agitators in
your midst—if I have turned back the current of a bitter and
unforgiving party rancor which threatened the very existence
of your political and social fabric—If I have restored to the
people of my State their just rights under their Constitution
and laws, I may congratulate myself that my administration
thus far has not been without its fruits, in maintaining the
supremacy of the laws—the freedom of Republican institutions,
and the credit of Constitutional Government, upon which alone
our permanency as a people must always rest.

THO. SWANN.