16 A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF BALTIMORE.

terprising; or unless the people of Maryland, misled by prejudices which are
as unfounded as they are injurious, overlook the fact that their interests are
inseparably connected with those of Baltimore; and that whatever tends to
her emolument, tends to the advantage of the State at large.

At the same time, all parties must be assured that the city, in thus claiming
the friendly offices and the good will of patriotic citizens, acts no merely self-
ish part, and desires no advantages or assistance at the expense of the country.
If Baltimore be made a place of greater trade and increased facilities for the
exchange of commodities, the agriculturist, the miner, the manufacturer, all,
will derive an immediate benefit from her means of cheap and rapid transport-
ation, her active market, her fair prices and prompt pay. All Marylanders
have an interest, then, in the speedy completion of those great works, which,
with an admirable foresight, have been planned to diminish in effect the dis-
tance between the city and the interior, and which are advancing, in the face
of every obstacle, to a completion.

It is true, there are difficulties yet to be overcome, and wants yet to be sup-
plied ; but modern cities, although sometimes of mushroom growth, are not,
any more than ancient cities, to be built in a day. The unfortunate condition
of the finances of the State, and the consequent weight of taxation, constitute
a heavy burden; but with the right spirit this may be borne, until measures
are adopted and carried into execution calculated to afford relief. The lack
of foreign packets has also been dwelt upon by some, with much earnestness;
but this is rather an imaginary than a real obstruction. Thus far, our capital
has, for many years, found its most profitable investment in other than foreign
commerce;—but when such a state of things occurs as will warrant the em-
ployment of capital in this department of commercial action, it will certainly
come. Every step made towards uniting our city with the interior of Mary-
land and the adjacent States, and the distant but productive regions of the
West, is a step taken towards extending our relations, not only with our At-
lantic cities, but with every quarter of the globe.

Let Baltimoreans, then, and all who have the good of the city and the State
at heart, stand shoulder to shoulder in every effort to draw closer the bonds of
union between the city and the country ;—and may the reward of their united
labors be—a State untrammelled by debt and prosperous in the productive
employment of its great mineral, manufacturing, and agricultural resources, and
a city noted for its enterprise and prosperity, and exhibiting, as its proudest
monuments, the honesty, the integrity, the intelligence, and the patriotism of
its citizens!