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 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 THIJUD ADDKESS 
 
 PEOPLE OF MARYLAND. 
 
 WILLIAM H. COLLINS, 
 
 OF BALTIMORE. 
 
 / 
 
\ 
 
THIRD ADDRESS 
 
 PEOPLE OF MARYLAND. 
 
 WILLIAM H. COLLINS, 
 
 OF BALTIMORE. 
 
 SECOND EDITIOlSr. 
 
 BALTIMORE: 
 
 PRINTED BY JAMES YOUNG, 
 
 114 WEST BALTIMORE STREET. 
 
 1861. 
 
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 Amidst all the troubles which surround us, it has been to 
 me most fortunate that the paramount allegiance I owe to 
 my country has been perfectly' consistent with the loyal 
 attacliment I have ever felt for the State of Maryland. Her 
 interests and lionor, I believe, are firmly bound up in the 
 Union. If that Union be broken, either on the Potomac or 
 on Mason and Dixon's line, Maryland will receive a heavy 
 blow. To- part her from her sisters of the South is to para- 
 lyze her left side ; whilst to separate her from her sisters of 
 the North is to paralyze the right. Maryland is still in the 
 Union. I believe her only safety is to be found in its per- 
 petuity. 
 
 It is often said that the boundaries of governments are 
 fixed and controlled by acfvantages of trade and commerce ; 
 that commercial prosperity is the first thing to be secured 
 in settling the boundaries of a people. There is, however, 
 another question which rises high above commercial advan- 
 tages. Security is the niasier-princiiile. No State can at- 
 tain high and permanent prosperity unless her boundaries 
 are defensible by her sons ; whilst her women and children, 
 her aged and infirm, are safe around their hearths, and her 
 operatives free from interference with their industrial pur- 
 suits. Liability to the occupation of the enemy during war, 
 is fatal to any State. It will break down the spirit of a peo- 
 ple. 'It exposes the women and children, the old and the 
 infirm, to a series of insults and wrongs, at the mere contem- 
 plation of Avliich the heart sickens. No race can maintain 
 
its vigor unless its borders he defensible by the courage of 
 its sons. 
 
 What would England be but for her ocean girth ? What 
 else defended her from the legions of iS'apoleon the Great? 
 What else secures her now from the armies of the nephew, 
 scarcely less great and powerful than the uncle ? Her belt 
 of sea and her command of the ocean, have kept the 
 homes, the agriculture, the manufactures, the trade of Eng- 
 land, free from the injuries and insults of a foreign foe for 
 hundreds of years. What would Switzodand be but for her 
 mountain barriers ? The Alps long sustained the decaying 
 grandeur of Rome. Nice and Savoy have recently fallen to 
 France for reasons of military strategy. They lie on the 
 French slant of the Alps. The boundary of the Rhine is at 
 this moment the subject of daily anxious thought by the 
 Emperor. No one knows better than he, how much that 
 boundary would add to the security and grandeur of 
 France. The longing gaze of Russia on Constantinople, 
 ever since the days of Peter the Great, reveals the security 
 she would feel from the possession of the Straits of the Dar- 
 danelles, and the consequent exclusive possession of the seas 
 of Marmora and the Euxine. 
 
 No nation ever had such boundaries as the United States. 
 Oceans separate her from the vigorous civilizations of Eu- 
 rope on the East, and the decaying nations of Asia on the 
 West, for thousands of miles. The Gulf of Mexico and the 
 Rio Grande on the South, divide her from the feeble govern- 
 ment of Mexico ; whilst the Lakes and the St. Lawrence 
 separate her from Canada on the North ; Vvdiich though in 
 many respects a fine country, can never prove our equal in 
 power. Give us but internal peace, and the plough, the 
 loom, and the anvil, may pursue their busy course, and our 
 firesides for centuries to come will be free from the pollution 
 of an invading foe. With free trade amongst ourselves, and 
 abundant supplies of food, cotton, tobacco, coal, iron, tim- 
 ber, and manufactures for other countries, our trade with 
 
the nations of the world will lay them almost under a neces- 
 sity to maintain with us the most friendly relations. 
 
 Such, People of Maryland, is the rich heritage you received 
 from your ancestors. Efforts are now being made to divide 
 this more than imperial domain. As a loyal son of my 
 Country, I claim to lift my voice against the profanation. I 
 speak in the interests of no party. I acknowledge no party 
 allegiance. I am for the whole country from Ocean to Ocean 
 — from the Gulf of Mexico to the Lakes, I love it all. I 
 seek the welfare and honor of the whole. It is all my Coun- 
 try. Its glory is in union ; its dishonor is in separation. 
 
 If, in some mad hour, whilst patriotism is drunk with 
 the fumes of passion, a division should be proposed, where 
 will you draw the line? If you coosult the courses of 
 streams and mountains, and a division must be had, it 
 would naturally be into three parts. One, the great Valley of 
 the Mississippi ; stretches from the Allegheny to the Eocky 
 Mountains ; and from the Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and 
 the Rio Grande. Nature says this whole region must be- 
 long to one power, either by agreement or war. Another, 
 the Atlantic slant, stretching from the Alleghenies to the 
 Ocean, includes the North-Eastern States and a large part 
 of Florida. This region is substantially the same as the 
 old thirteen States of our Union. The other, the Pacific 
 slant, stretches from the Rocky Mountains to the Ocean, 
 
 If a separation must take place these divisions would be 
 in accordance with natural boundaries and the necessities of 
 strategic defence. But the Pacific slant does not wish to 
 separate from the others. The great Valley of the Missis- 
 sippi, which is bound together by common interests, and 
 boundaries, and rivers, and outlets, can never belong to two 
 nations. The owners of the streams above must have a 
 common property with the owners of the lower part of that 
 Valley in its noble outlet, and the shores of the great Gnlf 
 into which it flows. Treaties, conventions, agreements, are 
 abrogated by war. The rich fields and prairies of the upi)er 
 
part of that great Valley, and the teeming alluvial plains of 
 its lower part, must belong to one and the same government. 
 He who shaped the world, and gave it its slants, and drains, 
 and outlets, has left stam})ed on the natural features of this 
 noble region His irrevocable decree, that one nation must 
 own it, either by agreement or conquest. 
 
 The Atlantic slant, including the New England States 
 and the larger part of Florida, if it must, in some evil hour, 
 separate i'rom the great Valley of the Mississip})!, would 
 seem to be united by common interests in one government. 
 Should a separation, however, take place in that slant, it 
 seems to me there are reasons of the most imperative kind 
 wdiich would include in the northern part the whole of the 
 waters of the Chesapeake Bay. 
 
 Before stating my reasons for this opinion, and to bring 
 the question nearer to the practical issues of the present day, 
 it is proper to say, that in the division of our country now 
 sought to be made, it is proposed to ignore the boundaries 
 imposed by nature, and to divide on artificial lines, depen- 
 dent on tiie shifting accident of the peculiar kinds of labor 
 used in different parts of the country. It is as if the wood- 
 man slioidd try to split rails against the grain and not 
 with it. 
 
 If, however, a line of separation is to be drawn on the At- 
 lantic slant, where shall it rim ? I have already intimated 
 that the Chesapeake Bay, and the streams emptying into it, 
 together with the lands which they pierce and fertilize, will, 
 for reasons stronger tlian human power, remain with the 
 northern part of our Country. If I read the map aright, 
 Nature has so willed it. 
 
 It is deemed conclusive tliat, in the event of separation, 
 the northern part of tlie Countiy will be the mai'itime power. 
 He who doubts this would scarcely be trusted by the strong 
 common sense of the American people. If any thing in the 
 future can be foretold, tliis would, seem to be certain. Let 
 the men of business, the thinkei's, the statesmen of our 
 Country, ponder this proposition well. Much depends on it. 
 
To my apprehension it is as certain as any proposition can 
 be which deals with tlie future. 
 
 Some twenty miles from the mouth of the Chesapeake 
 lies the Ham})ton Eoads, one of the noblest harbors of the 
 world. Lar^e enough to float in security the navies of the 
 earth, its mouth is narrow though of easy access. Fort- 
 ress Monroe completely guards its entrance, and renders the 
 harbor safe in war from an enemy. To the maritime power 
 of our country that harbor, as a refuge from the tempest or 
 the enemy, is of untold value. From the port of New York, 
 and along the southern coast around the peninsula of Flori- 
 da, no such harbor exists for the thousands of northern shi[)S 
 engaged in commerce with tlie Gulf of Mexico, or witli 
 South America, or around Cape Horn, or with the West 
 Indies. In peace and in Avar, Fortress Monroe is to the 
 northern part of our Country more precious than Gibraltar 
 is to England. When England agrees to give up Gibraltar, 
 then, and not till then, will the United States agree to sur- 
 render Fortress Monroe and Hara|)ton Roads. 
 
 But the possession of the Hampton Roads involves abso- 
 lute control over the commerce of Norfolk and Portsmouth, 
 as also of the James River Avhich eraj'jties into those roads 
 south of Fortress Monroe. Will Virginia ever agree that 
 the great harbor at the mouth of her noblest river, command- 
 ing the commerce of Richmond and Petersburg, as also of 
 her great commercial emporium, Norfolk, shall belong to a 
 foreign power ? She cannot. She will not. It would be her 
 utter ruin. Will the North ever agree to part with this no- 
 ble harbor, so necessary to her commerce, and with the fort- 
 ress whicVi commands it ? Never ! Never ! 
 
 The question then is, can Virginia, with the aid of her 
 southern allies, take Fortress Monroe? If the South had a 
 navy stronger than that of the North, she might take it. 
 But so long as the North is the maritime power, I suppose 
 this fortress to be impregnable. Its garrison, if need be, 
 can be relieved by fresh troops daily, its sick and wounded 
 removed, its wants supplied even to the most minute, with- 
 
out any possible interference by any troops on the land. I 
 say nothing of the Eip Raps ; though tliat fort, if finished, 
 as it can easily be^ would add greatly to the command of the 
 harbor, as also to the security of Fortress Monroe. 
 
 Here then is the state of the question. Virginia must 
 have the control of the mouth of the Hampton Roads. It is 
 indispensable to her. Under our Union, it has been guarded 
 and defended by the General Government, for the uses of 
 Virginia, as also of all the States of the Union. The North 
 cannot part with it. Virginia cannot part with it. The 
 result is of necessity. Virginia and the Northern States 
 inust belong to one government, as they have done from the 
 early colonial days. 
 
 I have spoken of the Hampton Roads as they concern the 
 Country at large, and the State of Virginia in particular. 
 As a citizen of Maryland, I have also a word to say. The 
 State of Maryland, and especially the City of Baltimore, 
 has an interest in the Hampton Roads, scarcely inferior to 
 the State of Virginia herself. It is our outlying harbor, on 
 our way to and from the sea. Its sheltering bosom floats 
 annually, millions of our commerce, and thousands of our 
 sailors. Maryland can never agree, under any circum- 
 stances, that her right to use this harbor shall depend on 
 any other tenure than its ownership by the Country to whicli 
 she belongs. The right to use this harbor in peace and war, 
 is one of the noble blessings conferred by the Union on the 
 State of Maryland. This right she can never surrender. 
 
 The great Valley of tlie Susquehanna empties its waters 
 into the Chesapeake Bay, and aifords to that part of the 
 State of Pennsylvania its cheapest and safest outlet for her 
 lumber, her iron, her coal, and a multitude of other heavy 
 articles of commerce. These now mainly stop at ports of the 
 Chesapeake, either for local use^ or trans-shipment to the 
 ])orts of the world. The interests of the Valley of the Sus- 
 quehanna, in the free use, in peace and war, of the Hamp- 
 ton Roads, thouixh not so great as those of Maryland and 
 
9 
 
 Virginia, must nevertheless be locked to in the settlement of 
 new boundaries, as now proposed. 
 
 It is perfectly certain that the great State of Pennsylvania 
 utterly repudiates even a suggestion of a separation by her 
 from the Union. She is at this moment calling into vigor- 
 ous effort her great military power to preserve the Union of 
 all the States. She proposes, and will agree, to no division 
 wliatever. 
 
 Eecent events have shown the utter impossibility of de- 
 fending Maryland against the northern part of our Country. 
 The South cannot do it— not from any Avant of courage or 
 conduct in the field— but for reasons beyond her control. 
 The North, in command of the Avaters of the Chesapeake 
 Bay, could at the same time plant her columns at Annapo- 
 lis,' or land them on the waters of the Patuxent, or on the 
 loAver borders of the Potomac, in numberless places, or march 
 them by land to Cumberland, or Hagerstown, or Emmits- 
 burg, or at the Maryland line where the Northern Central 
 Railroad passes into Pennsylvania, or at various points on 
 the Northern borders of Harford county. The Western 
 Shore of Maryland is too small, and too deficient in strate- 
 gic points, to allow for the deploying of large armies within 
 her borders. If united Avith the South, she must be, by the 
 ordination of nature, subject to the occupation of tlie North, 
 in any contest it might wage Avith the South. Liability to 
 such occupation must check the course of trade, of agricul- 
 ture and commerce. Capital is ])roverbially timid. When 
 the City of Baltimore belongs to a government that cannot 
 defend her in Avar, she may bid farewell to those hopes of 
 future greatness which her sons have fondly cherished. 
 
 People of the Eastern Shore, have any of your sons fairly 
 and frankly told you your helpless condition in the event of 
 a separation by Maryland from the North on Mason and 
 Dixon's line? The home of my ancestors Avas amongst you. 
 My early thoughts and affections first took root and form on 
 your venerated soil. My earliest memories are of your suns 
 "rising from the Atlantic and setting in tlie Chesapeake. 
 
10 
 
 The rustle of your autumn leaves still lingers on my ear ; 
 and my eyes see, as of yesterday, your woods adorned by a 
 variety and splendor of foliage equalled no where else. The 
 waters of the Pocomoke, where my ancestors, for many ge- 
 nerations, dwelt on its lower banks, still flow by the grave 
 of one, to whose self-denial and affection, I owe most that I 
 deem valuable in life ; and of another, loved and honored, 
 who stood in the place of the father, of whom the infant 
 memory of the orplian failed to record a trace. The Mono- 
 kin, on whose well remembered stream I took in tlie rudi- 
 ments of knowledge, and those still holier lessons of truth 
 and honor, gathered from the lips of a pure and noble Mo- 
 ther ; the Wicomico, scarcely less familiar or less dear, the 
 scene of many happy hours which did much towards shap- 
 ing and controlling the current of my maturer thoughts, 
 flow now, as then. These, and the kindred, and friends, 
 and people, who inhabited their banks, are still sacred in 
 the memories of the gray-haired man, as they weie in the 
 fresher days of his youth. People of the Eastern Shore, one 
 at least of your sons, who though long parted from you, 
 loves you most dearly, claims the right to tell you in plain 
 language, the dangers that lie in wait if you leave the shel- 
 tering wing of the Union, 
 
 If war takes place between the North and the South what 
 could you do? The North in command of tlie Chesapeake, 
 could you come to the aid of your brethren of the Western 
 Shore, or they go to you? The South could give you no 
 protection. She could not get to you. If twenty or thirty 
 thousand men were to march upon you from the open pass 
 at the head of the Peninsula what would be your fate? Con- 
 quei^ed, subdued, the foot of the victor planted on your necks, 
 none the more gently because you had renounced the Gov- 
 ernment under which you had been happy, and whose swa}' 
 was so gentle that you knew it only by its blessings. 
 
 People of the Eastern Shore, I speak to you frankly. 
 Many of you are the children of the friends of my youth. 
 Some of you are of my own kith and kin. I have no politi- 
 
11 
 
 cal aspirations. If I had, I trust there is manhood enough 
 about me to si^urn their gratification, except in the paths of 
 truth and candor, I speak to you fearlessly but loyally, when 
 I say tliat separation from the Union on Mason and Dixon's 
 line is, to you, destruction. It is to assume a position you 
 cannot maintain. The very Institution which would lead 
 you to separation, would perish at once under the heel of the 
 victor ; and you would receive such institutions as might in 
 generosity be dealt out to you. If it were ofteredto you to- 
 day, at your own free choice, and without question, to join a 
 Southern Confederacy, with your northern border resting on 
 Pennsylvania and Delaware, and you w*ere to accept that 
 offer, I say to you that the first war whicli might afterwards 
 spring up with the Nortli, wouhl lead to your subjugation. 
 The logic of events is irresistible. It is but another name 
 for the unchangeable relation of cause and effect. Woe be- 
 tide that man or that people who ventures to fly in the face of 
 the decrees of Nature. 
 
 It is not for me to speak to the two Eastern Shore Counties 
 of Virginia; and yet it would seem to be clear that the sepa- 
 ration of Virginia from the Union would end, and must end, 
 in the separation of those two Counties from Virginia. 
 Their destination, in that event, I do not choose to prophesy, 
 though it would appear to be indicated by signs too clear to 
 be mistaken. 
 
 The Peninsula, composed of Delaware, the Eastern Shore 
 of Maryland, and the two Eastern Shoi-e Counties of Vir- 
 ginia, lying between the Chesapeake and the Delaware River 
 and Bay and the Atlantic, with an open mouth binding on 
 Pennsylvania, and pierced in every direction by navigable 
 streams and estuaries, cannot be defended by any Soutliern 
 Confederacy. Situated between the two great Cities, Phil- 
 adelphia and Baltimore, that Peninsula has the choice of 
 the two markets of those commercial emi)oriunis, whilst it 
 belongs to our common Country. Divide that Country, and 
 under laws of Nature higher than human laws, and stronger 
 than human power, that region must cast its fortunes with 
 
12 
 
 that part of the Union which can protect it in war, and to 
 which in peace it woukl have to look for commerce and 
 trade. Such are my firm and deep-rooted convictions, and 
 in all the truth and candor of my soul I lay them before 
 the people of the other Shore, as the offerings of a faithful 
 son. 
 
 If I err not in the preceding positions, the conclusion 
 would seem to be inevitable, that whatever may be the final 
 result of the contest now unfortunately agitating our Coun- 
 try to its foundations, the States of Virginia, Maryland, 
 Delaware, and Pennsylvania, are bound together by ties so 
 strong tliat separation between them is impossible; and that 
 should a new government be formed in the South in conse- 
 quence of the present, or any future conflict, those States, 
 in the end, will stand by the Union^ and by each other. 
 Without the command of the Hampton Eoads, the com- 
 merce and maritime power of the ISTorth would be seriously 
 crippled; without the free use of the Hampton Roads in 
 peace and war, Virginia and Maryland would be crushed, 
 and Pennsylvania seriously injured. Even if Pennsylvania 
 were willing to yield those Roads, the northern border of 
 Mason and Dixon's line, if separating her from another na- 
 tionality, would be to Maryland an indefensible border, in- 
 volving her in all the horrors of military occupation by the 
 enemy during any war which the South might wage with 
 the North ; and, perhaps, in subjugation in the end. 
 
 Where then can you draw a dividing line through the 
 territory of the United States, from East to West ? I an- 
 swer, No where. If our Country ever finally separates, the 
 dividing line can only run from North to Soutli. Such I 
 believe to be the ordination of Nature. Fortunately this 
 division is not sought by any part of our Country. If it 
 were, I should regard the crisis as infinitely more apj^alling. 
 The struggle then would be to do that which, though un- 
 wise, would not be inconsistent with the laws of Nature, as 
 indicated by the courses of our mountains and streams. The 
 effort now being made, is to divide us on some line, not only 
 
13 
 
 without strategic points, but in violation of them ; dependent 
 for its course, as to whether the dwelling of the laborer is 
 now occupied by the Anglo-Saxon, or by the African race ; 
 utterly forgetful of the foct, that the productions of each re- 
 gion are for the supply of the Avants of the other ; and that 
 mutual wants and the power of mutual supply, constitute 
 one of the strongest ligaments to bind a people together. 
 This I trust is as impossible as it is unwise and suicidal. 
 
 It may perhaps be well to ask. Why is it that any part of 
 our Country seeks a division of the Union ? That Union was 
 once sacred in the eyes of the whole American people. To 
 the eye of the true statesman it never was more important 
 to the whole Country than now. Why then seek to dis- 
 solve it ? 
 
 But for the institution of slavery in some of the States, we 
 would now be a united and happy people. And yet it can- 
 not be denied, that this institution existed when the govern- 
 ment was formed, and that the people of all the States agreed 
 to constitute a common government, notwithstanding the 
 existence of this peculiar institution. As in marriage, they 
 ao-reed to take each other for better and for worse, with a full 
 knowledge of the existence of the institution now the subject 
 of difficulty and contention. Is it fair, is it honorable then, 
 to charge upon the South the evils of an institution, the ex- 
 istence of which the North knew when the government was 
 formed, and notwithstanding which the government was ac- 
 tually formed, and the Constitution adopted by all the States 
 of the Union ? 
 
 To this question, the only answer attempted by those who 
 seek to re-open the terms of the Constitution, and to make 
 war upon the institutions of a part of the country which ex- 
 isted at the formation of the government, and which arc re- 
 cognized as so existing by the Constitution itself, has assumed 
 the form of the "Higher Law." If this term means any 
 thing, it is that the system of slavery was criminal at the 
 time the government was formed, should have been then 
 abolished, and that the Constitution of the United States is, 
 
14 
 
 on this subject, null and void, because it recognizes the ex- 
 istence of an institution which is at war with the high and 
 pure doctrines of Christianity, and also with the highest 
 and soundest generalizations of the human intellect on the 
 relations which men sustain to each other. 
 
 Accordingly, the ownership) of slaves has been made the 
 test of Church membership in some of our largest ecclesias- 
 tical bodies. Works of fiction have been written with much 
 of the grace and glow of eloquence, for the purpose of hold- 
 ing up the institution to the contempt and hatred of the good 
 every Avhere ; and the most wanton abuse has been heaped by 
 one section of the Country upon the other. 
 
 As a consequence of this violent course on the one side, the 
 opinions of the part of the Country where this institution ex- 
 ists, have undergone very serious changes, and it has there 
 been held by many to be an institution based upon the high- 
 est moral and religious elements of our nature, and worthy 
 to be encouraged and propagated, side by side, with the re- 
 lations of husband and wife, parent and child. 
 
 It is respectfully submitted, that both sections of the coun- 
 try have, on this subject, fallen into grave error ; and that a 
 clear comprehension of that error would do much towards 
 restoring our brotherhood and union. The North errs in 
 supposing that Christianity undertakes to interfere with, or 
 establish, or alter, the forms of government, or the political 
 institutions where it may be introduced. This, I apprehend, 
 is not its mission. That it may in the end produce whole- 
 some ameliorations and changes in the j)olitical institutions 
 of a Country, by means of the elevating and refining influ- 
 ences it exerts on individual character, is most true. Except 
 however as it works its noiseless way in the human soul, by 
 purifying and ennobling its tliouglits and emotions, Christi- 
 anity does not prescribe any special form of government, or 
 any particular set of political institutions. It enters alike 
 the palace of the absolute sovereign, and the cottage of the 
 humble laborer ; the mansion of the popular president, and 
 
15 
 
 the dwelling of the citizen ; the princely halls of the mafster, 
 and the hnmhle cabin of the slave. In all these Christianity 
 is eqnally at home ; to all she whispers the same lessons ; 
 she bids each in his separate political sphere, whatever it may 
 be, to purify and elevate his sonl, and to accept with im- 
 doubting loyalty her pure, but simple teachings. The em- 
 peror and the laborer, the president and the citizen, the 
 master and the slave, when brought under her holy and 
 sublime teachings, each learns a lesson which makes him 
 better fitted for the political duties to which the place as- 
 signed him by the laws may call him. Christianity neither 
 prohibits nor sanctions slavery ; but prescribes to both mas- 
 ter and slave, if such there be, the respective duties assigned 
 to their state. 
 
 The political institutions of different Countries may widely 
 differ, and yet each be best adapted to the moral, intellectual 
 and physical development of its own people. To the mere 
 abstract thinker, it may be equally difficult to reconcile with 
 the dictates of reason and justice, a hereditary peerage, with 
 high legislative powers dependent on the mere accident of 
 birth ; or the transmission by law of the whole of a vast 
 landed estate to the eldest son, to the exclusion of a dozen 
 others, his equals, or perhaps superiors, in all manly and 
 noble qualities ; or a hereditary throne, perpetuated by 
 marriages in foreign Countries, resulting of necessity in a 
 line of sovereigns of a different race from that of the people 
 they are born to govern ; or the subjection of a race to the 
 condition of domestic slavery, because of the color of its skin, 
 and its comparatively recent descent from savage African an- 
 cestors. All these things may present equal difficulties in 
 the field of mere abstract thought ; and yet the Englishman, 
 as well as the American, might well stand aghast at any in- 
 terference by rude and unfamiliar hands, with their peculiar 
 institutions, interwoven as they are with the entire workings 
 of their respective political systems. 
 
 If slavery did not exist in our Country, its introduction 
 
16 
 
 would be a calamity as well as a crime. It was a great but 
 a necessary sacrifice when the framers of our Constitution 
 consented to the continuance of the African slave-trade for 
 twenty years. The formation of the Government depended 
 on that sacrifice, and it was made. Other concessions were 
 also made in framing the Constitution, and rightfully made; 
 because slavery was an existing institution, and had to be 
 provided for. Let those provisions stand. Leave the mas- 
 ter and the slave to work out their own destiny, under those 
 kindly and affectionate relations which exist between them 
 in numberless cases, to the equal honor of both. This, in 
 my judgment, is the course approved by sound reason and 
 an enlightened Christianity. It would be the crime of the 
 age to break in upon this relation, as it exists in our Country, 
 by any interference from without the States where it exists. 
 Let the Southern man alone; do not anger him by unwar- 
 ranted interference or abuse; and the North may be assured 
 that, under the kindly sympathies of our nature, the South 
 will ponder long and patiently over the ultimate means of 
 disposing of a relation which, though a necessity in many 
 places now, may, in the progress of events, cease to be so ; 
 and the removal of which by his own free act^ at some future 
 time, may take from off the heart of the master a load 
 heavier than that which rests on the slave. 
 
 ^^'ith profound difiidence, and yet impelled by a passion- 
 ate love for my country — its honor and glory — I desire, Peo- 
 ple of Maryland — People of the United States — if I may 
 dare address so imperial an audience — to lay before you the 
 thoughts of a loyal son, as to the way of removing the dif- 
 ficulties under which the Country now labors ; and which 
 will surely end her career, unless this young nation, rising 
 with lion-heart, resolves to defend the Union at all hazards, 
 and to all extremities. Honor, patriotism, manhood, in- 
 voke this high resolve. Such I understand to be the Na- 
 tional will. I share it. In the inmost depths of my soul, 
 and with its most passionate impulses, I share it. I would 
 
17 
 
 .sooner disLonor my Mother's grave, or my Father's ashes, 
 than raise my hand or my voice against the Union. Let it 
 stand — let it stand — with ever increasing grandeur and glo- 
 ry, till the sun shall cease to gild the East Avith his morning 
 rays, or to paint with golden pencil the evening clouds of 
 the West. 
 
 If the South Avere asked whether she is willing to continue 
 in the Union on any terms, what would be her answer? If 
 that answer he, No, then it is for the manhood of the 
 faithful sons of the Country, to maintain, against all comers, 
 the National Flag and the National Union. It is lawful, it 
 is honorable, to strike even a brother, if it l)e in defence of 
 a mother. Utterly as I abhor civil war, I abhor disunion 
 more. To divide our imperial domain for the sake of peace, 
 would be a national weakness. It would be to shed rivers 
 of blood in the future to save rivulets now. So long as the 
 answer of the South to the question proposed is. No, the 
 arbitrament of arms can only solve the issue. 
 
 But if our brethren of the South — for I still regard and 
 love them as such — in answer to the question will say, Yes, 
 then the whole phase is changed. That answer would 
 be received with tears and embraces. The heart of the 
 country would again beat in its old healthful tone — and the 
 cry of the Nation would be, Let a Convention be called in 
 conformity with the provisions of the Constitution. Let the 
 best and wisest National men be elected as members of that 
 august council, and let such amendments be proposed for 
 the sanction of the States of the Union as will bind our 
 people once more in the enduring bonds of brotherhood and 
 peace. 
 
 Various propositions have been made, based upon such 
 amendments of the Constitution as would be satisfactory to 
 the Country. And yet it has seemed to me that deeper cautery 
 is needed to cure the national ulcer at its root. May I then 
 humbly venture to indicate amendments to tlie Constitution, 
 
18 
 
 which, I suppose, are called for by the exigency of the 
 times. 
 
 First. — A declaratory amendment, that in all future con- 
 structions of the Constitution, it shall be held that the Union 
 of the States thereunder is, and shall be perpetual ; and can 
 and shall be sustained and upheld by the Government of the 
 United States, all ordinances of any State Legislature, or of 
 any State Convention to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 
 Second,— kw express declaration, that in all future con- 
 structions of the Constitution, Congress shall have full pow- 
 er, either by a tariff on imports, or by excise laws, or by 
 direct taxes, or by any one, or more, or all of these modes, 
 to raise whatever money may be required by the government ; 
 and that in apportioning tlie duties on imports, Congress 
 may, in its sound discretion, take into view sucli protection 
 to American industry as it may deem wise and proper. 
 
 Tliird. — An amendment, prohibiting the acquisition of 
 any more territory by the United States, except by the con- 
 sent of nineteen-tAventieths of all the Senators of the United 
 States. 
 
 Fourth. — An amendment, prohibiting the importation of 
 slaves from the Coast of Africa, or from any foreign country. 
 Fifth. — All the territories of the United States, now or 
 hereafter owned, to be open to the introduction of slaves from 
 any of the United States, or the territories thereof, and to be 
 there held, so long as the same shall remain a territory ; and 
 that when said territory shall be admitted as a State, it shall 
 be with or without slavery, as its constitution may provide. 
 Sixth. — Absolute non-interference by Congress with the 
 system of slavery in any State, in which the same may be 
 established by the laws thereof. 
 
 Seventh. — Absolute non-interference with slavery by the 
 United States, in all the arsenals, dock-yards and forts 
 thereof, located within the limits of any State, so long as 
 slavery shall exist in such State by the laws thereof. 
 
 Eighth. — An absolute prohibition of the abolition, by the 
 
19 
 
 Government of tlie United States, of slavery in tlie District 
 of Columbia, so long as any State of the Union shall permit 
 slavery therein. 
 
 Ninth. — Congress shall pass no law regulating or prohi- 
 biting the carrying of slaves from one slave State to another 
 slave State ; but that the same shall be subject only to tlie 
 laws of the respective States from and to which such carry- 
 ing shall take place. 
 
 Tenth. — An amendment, carefully drawn, by which the 
 whole duty of delivering up persons '"held to service or 
 labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into 
 another," shall be imposed on the Government of the Unit- 
 ed States; and containing an absolute prohibition of any 
 State-interference with the subject; the delivery of such 
 person or persons to be made by the United States in the 
 State from which such person or persons escaped, with pro- 
 vision for the trial in said last named State, in due course of 
 law, by the courts of the United States, in case the facts 
 upon which the proceeding is based are denied by such per- 
 son or persons. If the officer of the United States charged 
 with making the arrest or delivery of such person or per- 
 sons, be prevented from doing so by any person or persons 
 whatever, he shall return such fact to the United States' 
 Court of the State where such resistance shall have been 
 made, and it shall be the duty of said Court to pass an or- 
 der directing the treasurer of the United States to pay the 
 full value of said person or persons so claimed to be held to 
 labor to the owner thereof, and all costs of Court and twen- 
 ty-five per cent, additional for contingent expenses; and it 
 shall be the duty of such treasurer to pay the same on de- 
 mand; the said amount to be retained by the United States, 
 to"-ether with six per cent, interest thereon from the time of 
 payment, out of any monies that may thereafter be payable 
 by the United States to the State in which the officer of the 
 United States may have been prevented from making the 
 arrest, or delivery as aforesaid. 
 
20 
 
 Eleventh. — An amendment should "be made, cutting up by 
 the roots the doctrine of political proscription, and the con- 
 sequent scramble for office, which has well nigh proved our 
 ruin. This I am aware is a delicate and difficult task ; but 
 something would be achieved by requiring, in every case, 
 that the officer who has the power of removal should be re- 
 (jiiired to report, on his official responsibility, the reasons for 
 said removal to the Senate of the United States. 
 
 Twelfth. — There should be an explicit declaration as to 
 who may exercise the power of suspending the privilege of 
 the writ of habeas corpus, " when in cases of rebellion, or 
 invasion, the public safety may require it." This question 
 should be settled clearly, one way or the other. It is a great 
 question, and requires, for the safe disposition of it, an en- 
 larged statesmanship. Fortunately, this question is as 
 broad as the Country, and equally concerns the whole peo- 
 ple. No doubt there are also other amendments of the Con- 
 stitution which might be wisely proposed, but it is not 
 deemed advisable to suggest them now. 
 
 People of the North, say not that these concessions are 
 too large. People of the South, say not that they are too 
 small. Could they be introduced into our Constitution by 
 amendments made according to its provisions, all just causes 
 of complaint would be removed from every section of the 
 Country ; and the nation would once more present to the 
 world the great example of a united, free, and happy peo- 
 ple, bound to each other by indissoluble ties, and able to 
 defend our rights against all who may dare to invade them. 
 The first proposed amendment, by finally strangling the 
 hydra of secession, would be of more worth to our Country 
 than mountains of gold. The second would relieve our leg- 
 islative halls from all discussions as to the constitutionality of 
 a tariff, and leave it, as it should be left, to the sound legis- 
 lative discretion of Congress. The third would present to 
 the world a noble example of a nation contented with her 
 boundaries ; and well may we be so, for they enclose an im- 
 perial area free from the invasion of all foreign foes. The 
 
21 
 
 fourth is intended to prevent the possibility of future ques- 
 tions, and would not raise serious objections in any part of 
 the Country. 
 
 The fifth proposed amendment is a concession to the South, 
 which I think it would be right and wise to make. It would 
 cut up by the roots a question which has well nigh shattered 
 our magnificent Empire. If no more territory is to be ao 
 quired, may I not say to our brethren of the North, Eefuse 
 not this concession to your brethren of the South. Produc- 
 tion and climate will soon settle the institutions of all the 
 territory we now own. In the judgment of many, of the 
 territory now owned by the Government, there is no part 
 fitted for slave labor. Be that as it may, the concession 
 would be in the spirit which first framed the Constitution ; 
 and would aid much in the restoration of peace, harmony, 
 and brotherly love. 
 
 The sixth and seventh proposed amendments are fair and 
 just, and ought to be freely conceded. The eighth is also, 
 in my judgment, right and proper, as the southern man may 
 well claim the right at all times hereafter to take the domes- 
 tic attendants on himself and family, when he may visit the 
 Capital of his Country, either for business or pleasure. The 
 ninth is fair. Let the migration of slaves from one State to 
 another, be dependent on the laws of the respective States. 
 This right the southern man will never willingly yield. 
 
 The tenth proposition is but the Mv carrying out of a 
 clear provision of the Constitution. Honor, fiiirness, and 
 patriotism all demand that it shall be fully enforced. The 
 best plan of getting clear of personal-liberty laws of the 
 States, intended to interfere with this right, is for the Con- 
 stitution to deny all right of State interference with persons 
 held by the process of the United States, as fugitives from 
 service or labor. Surely the honor of the Government may 
 be trusted that it will see no injustice be done in exe- 
 cuting this power. 
 
 The eleventh amendment proposed, if the object can be 
 achieved without destroying the efficiency of Executive ac- 
 
99 
 
 tion, would be hailed throughout the country as giving 
 fresh life and vigor to our institutions. The twelfth deals 
 with a difficult question ; at the same time it is clearly right 
 that the Constitution should speak in clear and explicit 
 terms on that delicate and important subject. 
 
 These, People of my Country, are amendments which, if 
 adopted, would, in my poor judgment, place the American 
 people once more on the road to glory and renown. I offer 
 them to you in the fullness of my heart, as my contri- 
 bution to the welfare of a Government, in fidelity to which 
 my heart knows no shadow of turning. I invoke the grave 
 and patriotic thinkers of our land to pass judgment on 
 them. 
 
 Put down the doctrine of secession forever as to the fu- 
 ture; leave our revenues to be laid and collected, to the ex- 
 tent of our wants, to the sound discretion of Congress, without 
 any possibility of constitutional question in the future; let 
 the bounds of the Republic be closed except by unanimous 
 consent; let the foreign slave-trade be absolutely prohibited; 
 leave the territories, whilst such, free for the occupation of 
 all our citizens with their institutions; proclaim absolute 
 non-interference by the Government with slavery in the 
 States where it may exist by the laws thereof; adopt the 
 same rule in regard to all the United States arsenals, dock 
 yards, and forts where, and whilst, they may be situate 
 in slave States; give the right to all our citizens to visit and 
 sojourn in the District of Columbia with their families and 
 their attendants, so long as slavery may exist in any State 
 in the Union ; leave tlie States, respectively, to regulate 
 the passing of slaves from one slave State to another slave 
 State; let the Government undertake the entire question of 
 the surrender of fugitives from service or labor; strike dead, 
 by constitutional enactment, all power in the States to inter- 
 fere, by personal-liberty laws or otherwise, with the action 
 of the General Government in the premises, and provide a 
 fair compensation to the owner, in case such surrender shall 
 be prevented by force of any kind ; annihilate the doc- 
 
23 
 
 trine of political proscription : and make clear and speci- 
 fic constitutional declarations as to the suspension of the 
 writ of habeas corpns, and l)y whom, and you will lay 
 deep the foundations of our National Union, and restore, 
 once more, throughout the North and the South, the East 
 and the West, that deep rooted love for the whole Country 
 which must ever constitute the true strength of the nation. 
 
 Do these things, and we shall never again behold the sad 
 spectacle of American citizens dwarfing their loyalty to a 
 State, rather than enlarging it to the Country. Do these 
 things, and the words, the Union and the Constitution, will 
 once more tower in lofty majesty over those far inferior 
 words, the Nortli or the South, the East or the West. 
 Let it but once be admitted that the paramount loyalty of 
 the citizen is due to the Greneral Government, and this na- 
 tion will no more have cause to grieve over the course of 
 many of her children, who in their love for their particular 
 State, or section, seem to have forgotten that they have a 
 Country. 
 
 The Genius of America, of late, has shed bitter tears over 
 the desertion of many of her sons whom she had trained 
 under her banners, and to whom she believed she might 
 safely commit the Flag of the Nation on every field and 
 against every foe. Others have proved worthy of lier care 
 and confidence, and are ready this day to uphold the National 
 Flag against father, brother, child or state. May I say to 
 these noble men. You are treading in the track trodden by 
 heroes before you. In sustaining your Country against all 
 enemies, domestic or foreign, you show that you understand 
 full well the duties of an American citizen — a name prouder 
 and more sacred than that wliich tlie great Apostle vouched 
 as his protection and shield. 
 
 Amongst these brave and noble men, the tall and venera- 
 ble form of their great Chief stands proudly pre-eminent. 
 Virginia gave him birtli, in days when she devoted from the 
 cradle the noblest of her sons to the Country. She formed 
 his soul too great to yield its allegiance to a State or a sec- 
 
24 
 
 tion. Amidst her tears, the Genius of our country smiles 
 fondly on him, the greatest and truest of ber living sons. 
 Others have faltered ; he has proved true. In many a hat- 
 tle-field he has borne our flag so bravely, that tlie future 
 Plutarch may well hesitate, whether the greater glory has, 
 by him, been received from, or conferred on, the stars and 
 stripes. Venerable man ! a nation prays that you may live 
 to see your Country once more united and happy ; and when 
 in the fullness of time your Aveeping countrymen shall, with 
 reverent care, commit your noble form to its last resting 
 place, another will have been added to the sacred places of 
 our Country, where American youth may best learn the sim- 
 ple but grand lessons of courage, conduct and fidelity. 
 
 People of Maryland, the kindness with which many of 
 you have heretofore heard me, has encouraged me to speak to 
 you again. I shrink with apprehension lest any one should 
 suppose that I seek notoriety. Those of you who know me 
 will bear witness that_, so far from seeking the public gaze, 
 my life has been passed in the secluded paths of my profes- 
 sion. I speak to you now, because my soul is moved to its 
 utmost depths, by the — perhaps — dying struggles of my 
 Country. Hot tears have stained these pages. I am not 
 ashamed to confess it. I watch the throes of my Country as 
 I would the dying bed of a mother ; impotent to give help, 
 and yet impelled by feelings beyond my control, to attemjit 
 any conceivable aid. It may be that aid will be of no avail: 
 and yet I cannot but struggle, as best I may, to avert the 
 terrible blow which aims to strike from my soul the pride, 
 the love, the homage, the worship, which, for sixty years, 
 it has borne for the Union. If that blow tail of its fell pur- 
 pose, I will give thanks to God for the greatest earthly bless- 
 ing that could bo conferred upon me. If it succeed, it will 
 be but left for me to shed over the ruins of my Country, 
 tears more bitter, more scalding, than those which water 
 the grave of a pure and noble Mother. 
 
 WILLIAM H. COLLINS. 
 
 Baltimore, September 2, 1861. 
 
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