48 JOtRNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. [May 2nd

to report, That they have duty and carefully considered the
communication from his Honor, the Mayor of Baltimore,
which was refered them, enclosing £ copy of a joint resolu-
tion of the two Branches of the City Council of said city, in
the following words :

"Resolved by both branches of the City Council of Baltimore,
That the Mayor be and he is hereby requested to communicate
with the General Assembly of Maryland, now in session, for
the purpose of procuring such action of that body as may in
their judgment be most advisable to bring about as early a
restoration of the communications by the different railroads
and other means between the city of Baltimore and other
parts of the country, as may be entirely consistent with the
safety and welfare of the city and State."

It impossible to overrate the importance of the subject to
which the attention of the General Assembly is thus directed.
The almost total interruption of direct communication be-
tween Baltimore and the North, by the destruction of the
bridges upon the Northern Central and Philadelphia, Wil-
mington and Delaware Railroads, is an evil of a very aggra-
vated character, not only in itself, but in its manifold bear-
ings upon the prosperity .of the State and its commercial me-
tropolis. On the other hand, in the face of the dangers
which would seem inevitable, if facilities for invasion were
offered to the fanatical and excited multitudes of the Northern
cities—whose animosity to Baltimore and Maryland, is mea-
sured by no standard known to Christian civilization, and who
publicly threaten our destruction, without subordination
even to the Federal authority—it would hardly be consistent
with the commonest prudence, to re-open the avenues which
would bring them to our very doors. Indeed, if it were the
pleasure of the General Assembly to provide for such a mea-
sure, no security would certainly exist for its permanent en-
forcement, during the continuance of the natural excitement
which now disturbs our people.

The instinct of self-preservation is far more powerful than
any sense of obedience to law, and coupled as it is, in the
present case, with every prompting of resistance to violence
and wrong, it would be sure to over-ride all the ordinary re-
straints to which a free government is capable of imposing.
It would be of small avail for your committee to discuss this
state of facts, further than to say that it exists, and must be
dealt with, carefully and wisely. The channels of intercourse
with the Northern States cannot be effectively re-established,
without a guaranty, from some quarter, of the safety and