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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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8 r i : i ; o H 
 
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 S. TEACEE W ALUS, |-sq. 
 
 As Delivered ;u ike Maryland Institute, 
 On Friday Evening, February 1st, 1861, 
 
 VI I I.. M.-.-U,,;; 1 I..|,| , ,,.!.•,• ,1..- loll. >xx I. , K < nil : 
 
 The i 
 11:1,1 "' "'- 
 
 ' 
 
 S. Tbacklb Walub, Esq., who v. id with loud and 
 
 appl id: 
 
 -' -T think my friend who has jusl taken 
 
 I*** i, with 
 
 himself, for the • 1 j t> m , 
 
 ■■■1 the questions j.r 
 that in rising to aim, I an 
 
 fulness with which ho has 
 tion. I , . 
 
 ou is aln 
 tions which*the i . announ ■ ■ unanio 
 
 which th 
 and their re 
 
 ments, (applause,) and th< 
 speaks to you, but I 
 you have already 
 
 Printed and Published >>>: MruniY & I 
 
 / 
 
 

 w* 
 
 0.0^2 
 
 But, my fellow-citizens, I have a feeling in addressing you this even- 
 ing, which overcomes all consciousness of embarrassment, and that is 
 the feeling of intense, personal indignation at the position in which I 
 am compelled to stand before you, and in which you are here listening 
 to what any of us may have to say to you. (Applause.) The Governor 
 of the State of Maryland, who would have been at best your servant, if 
 he had been chosen by your suffrages — (" That's so," and applause) — 
 but who was not chosen by your suffrages and yet insists on being 
 your master — has given it to be understood, that those who do not 
 a°ree with him in thinking it the bounden duty of Maryland to be 
 voiceless and motionless in this great crisis of the Republic — you and I 
 and every honorable and patriotic gentleman around me — are but a 
 horde of disorganizes and disunionists — not fit to be heard upon the 
 question of saving your country and mine. (Applause.) 
 
 Not merely b} r his illegal and unconstitutional course has he con- 
 demned us to silence and helplessness; not only has he held us up to 
 public and private denunciation as foes to the Union — weakening the 
 confidence of brother in brother, and poisoning with suspicion the rela- 
 tions of friendship and good citizenship among us — but he has permitted 
 the Governor of Pennsylvania, in an official letter, unrebuked, to insult 
 lis, citizens of Maryland, lry charging that those of us who advocated 
 the call of the Legislature were seeking to " swerve " him — the Gov- 
 •r of Maryland — "from the path of duty." (Applause.) Speaking 
 for myself, and for the friends whose sentiments I know, and in whose 
 action I have shared, I pronounce the imputation false — whether it be 
 official or unofficial — whether it come from the Governor of Pennsyl- 
 vania, or from the Governor of Maryland, or the clique behind him. 1 
 sav it is an imputation which the people of this meeting, of this city, 
 and of this State, if they respect themselves, should resist and denounce. 
 (Great applause.) 
 
 Not love this Union! In the name of the God who gave it to us, 
 what higher stake has the Governor of Maryland in it than you or I? 
 (Applause.) Who kindled a heart in his bosom, to beat in truer or 
 • fervent and grateful sympathy, than yours or mine, with all the 
 glories which this Union has brought us — with its countless blessings 
 its magnificent hopes? Is it that the Governor and his counsellors 
 understand these things better than we? Do they mean to tell us that, 
 like the friends of holy Job, "they are the people, and wisdom shall die 
 with them ?" (Laughter and applause.) 
 
 My fellow-citizens, I was taught, from my childhood, to love and 
 cherish the Union, and there is not a reflection or conviction of my 
 
manhood thai ha thened my devotioD to it. and 
 
 htened my zeal for its perpetuation. When I wascalled upon, dur- 
 ing the lasl Presidential canvass, to choose between Mr. Breckinri 
 and Mr. B ... n( j m g the preference which I entertained for 
 
 the former gentleman, because of his peculiar position in regard to the 
 bitutional questions <>l the day — I e6y and especially led to 
 
 his support by the conviction (as I more than once publicly stat< d, j that 
 the electoral t '■ pland, rendered in his behalf, would place her 
 
 side with her Southern sisters, in a position to counsel pi 
 
 tion, and keep unbroken the blessed bonds in which our 
 
 fathers bound us together. (Applause.) 
 
 It \ i here during thai canvass, as we all know, in public 
 
 . by gentlemen who claim to represenl us in Co . that 
 
 there was no reasonable apprehension of disunion — thai the tin-rats of 
 
 South were all bluster, and would amounl to nothingwhen the : 
 
 cam'-. It was manifest, nevertheless, to those who looked at the pasl 
 
 and the future with the calmer and juster ey tesmanship, that 
 
 an issue had for a long time been approaching which mighl al any mo- 
 
 menl be precipitated upon the country, and thai unless the fanaticism 
 
 North should cea a, and demagogues, nol of the 
 
 h, should cease to play into its hands, the poinl of resistance musl 
 
 soon be reached, and the question of Union or Disunion be met and 
 
 ■ •■I forever. To suppose thai it could be evaded or ignored was 
 
 simple folly. To hope for the maintenance of the Uni.ni, without 
 
 the causes which were daily converting into hatred and aliena- 
 the brotherly feeling on which the Union is and without 
 
 whichil can never stand, and will not be worth preserving — was equally 
 futile. 
 
 of the humblesl of those to whom the future presented this 
 threatening aspect, 1 c ild not resisl the conviction, thai there was bul 
 one hope of relie us — in c ling should be powerless, 
 
 and »uld 1><- r and thai r all the 
 
 and rights were in peril, and who desired to 
 maintain the Onion an 1 the Constitution, to unite in one phalanx, and 
 with one vo j to the -"Here is the Rubicon — you 
 
 Bhall nol p A I, my fellow-citiz ly as 
 
 i live and 1 I yen the border States alone of this Union, two 
 
 months ago — with Maryland in their midst, speaking for herself, and 
 her greal stake in th R i iblic — had taken thai manly ground, m 
 rand calmly — without threats and without insult, but with : 
 and immovi solution — the point would have been gained, the 
 
appeal would have been responded to, the wrongs would have b 
 righted, the agitators would have been silenced, the crisis of the Repub- 
 lic would have been over, with all its sorrows and dangers, and the 
 places of industry and labor and happiness, now desolate, would be 
 blossoming like the rose. (Great applause.) Over the waves of 
 fraternal discord, the people of these central commonwealths had 
 only to stretch forth their hands, and the divided Waters would 
 have been a wall to them on their right hand and on their left, 
 and they could have walked dry-shod through the midst, with the 
 Union and the Constitution. (Applause.) It was the high destiny of 
 working this great and glorious good that I, for one, would have had 
 Maryland win for herself. It was Cor this that I would have had her lift 
 herself from the criminal supineness in which she has lain, and which, 
 until of late, the Border States have too far shared with her. But Mr. 
 Hicks has willed it otherwise, and it has come to this, in the order of Prov- 
 idence, that since this crisis has been upon us, there has been no State 
 of Maryland, but Mr. Hicks and the clique around and behind him. 
 ( Laughter.) 
 
 And even now, at this present, and anxious, and almost despairing 
 moment, when the Union is well nigh in the throes of its dissolution, 
 and Virginia has called together a council of her sisters, to save it, if 
 they may, in its last hour — even now, the people of Maryland have no 
 voice of their own, wherewith to speak in its behalf. The represent- 
 atives who stand in her place in that council, speak neither your voice, 
 nor my voice, and have authority to represent nobody but Governor 
 1 1 icks and themselves. (Great applause.) Nay 'I am wrong. They do 
 represent something more than a mere absence of authority. There yet 
 .linger, in this Hall the echoes of the speech which was made here, not 
 long since, by my able and venerated friend — the Honorable Reverdy 
 Johnson, now one of the Commissioners — the conciliatory burden of 
 which was a legal argument, to show that the people of the .- 
 States were traitors, and might be punished for their treason. In com- 
 mingled echoes comeback to us, also, the suggestions of the add 
 which my eloquenl friend, Mr. Bradford, another of the Commissioners, 
 delivered at the same time, and in which he told the "friends of the 
 Union," that in considering the solemn issues which divide the nation, 
 they ought to concentrate their efforts upon ihe open revolutionists of 
 the South, and not waste their strength upon the Northern aggressor as 
 the first wrong-doer ! With these ideas of what is demanded for fra- 
 ternal reconcilement — for the healing of wounds, and the. re-establish- 
 ment of peace among brethren on the basis of right — I regret to believe 
 that the distinguished gentlemen whom I have named do represent pos- 
 
\ 
 
 
 itiv • : " to the rooted and solemn con- 
 
 Commonwealth. 1 speak witli all 
 t h e | i due to their nigh character and talents, 
 
 :m ,l ,,'■:, a ll loyaltj onal friendship, [f, by their efforts and 
 
 imli: »n, or aid in savin- it. as it has been 
 
 . r, there will qoI rise to heaven a 
 
 f thankfulnes '"1 unqualified than mine. Be 
 
 their mission, nei ffhal it may, it is due to our- 
 
 .., that the acl which d them their 
 
 al usurpation. I Applaus 
 
 In commenting thus far upon the action of the Governor of Mary- 
 
 l an ,: i ■ to do him no injus- 
 
 and 1 am prepar rify what 1 have said and mean to say,and 
 
 lished friend, i Mr. McLane,) in regard 
 to his own published let- 
 and addi 1 hold in my hand his various and pro 
 
 titutional literature and jurisprudence — (laugl 
 — « which — pardon me 1 do nol mean to read." The Btarting-point in 
 from which he broughl the rudiments, is very far 
 rem »u, from the point which he has attained in his com- 
 
 munication 1 »ner from \ .Lei me invite your 
 
 m for a i to the pr his ideas. 
 
 On 27 '• ■ ior Hicks addressed a lei 
 
 [onorable Thomas G. Pratt, and other gentlemen, who pra 
 
 nd discharge his duty, by calling an extra 
 • ire. lh- declin id to comply with their 
 
 ■• l cannot islature in extra 
 
 at this time, would only have the >i increasing and 
 
 • now pervading mtry, and now appa- 
 
 itly on tl heralded by the sensitive 
 
 c tuntry as evidence, that 
 "Maryland had abandoned all hop,' of the Union, and was preparin 
 
 ::■ ft ft 
 
 » Yo only b 
 
 «ati their own 
 
 "inl 
 
 in furthering schem 
 
 "n 
 
 Ncvecth rtainly 
 
"be respected in this matter," and after insisting on the propriety of 
 waiting until we should "hear from the National Executive," from 
 "the other Border Slave States," and from "the congregated wisdom of 
 "Congress," he declared, " I shall hold myself ready to act promptly, 
 "when I shall believe the honor and safety of Maryland require me to 
 "act in the premises." Time wore on. The National Executive Lad 
 been heard from, and, it seems, without much consolation, for the Gov- 
 ernor had waxed nigh to being a "secessionist." On the 6th of Decem- 
 ber, lie addressed a letter to Captain John Contee, of Prince George's, 
 which st eppi 1. as it seems to me, far over the boundaries of what he 
 now supposes to be treason. 
 
 "If the Union must be dissolved," he saj^s, "let it be done calmly, 
 "deliberately, and after full reflection on the part of a united South." 
 
 He then discusses the Personal Liberty Laws, and proceeds to declare, 
 that 
 
 "These laws should be repealed at once, and the rights of the South 
 "guaranteed by the Constitution, should be respected and enforced. 
 " After allowing a reasonable time for action on the part of the Northern 
 "Slates, if they shall neglect or refuse to observe the plain requirements of 
 ll the Constitution, then, in my judgment, we shall be fully warranted in 
 •'demanding a division of the country. 
 
 " We shall have done our duty to the Constitution, to the memory of 
 "our lathers, to ourselves and posterity, and the South can honorably 
 "take such steps as patriotism' and honor may demand, either in or out of 
 "the Union." 
 
 In conclusion, he adds : " I shall be the last one to object to a withdrawal 
 "of our State from a Confederacy that denies to us the enjoyment of our un- 
 "doubted rig/its; but believing that neither her honor nor interests will suffer 
 "by a proper and just delay I cannot assist in placing her in a position from 
 "which we men/ hereafter wish to recede. When she mores in the matter, 1 
 II it to be side by side with Virginia — our nearest neighbor — Kentucky 
 "and Tennessee" 
 
 If all this be not rank " secession," as the Governor now understands 
 it, I cannot, understand him. 1 do solemnly pronounce it treason, for 
 which lie ought certainly to be hanged — (laughter and applause) accord- 
 ing to his doctrines, I beg you to understand me — not according to 
 mine. But whether it be treason or not, 1 ask you emphatically to 
 the sentiments declared, from the executive chamber. I ask you 
 to bear witness from the Governor's own unequivocal, and I trust con- 
 scientious Language, thai on the 6th of December he called for the action 
 .,1' "a united South;" that he recognised the right of the South to 
 "demand a division of the country," if its constitutional guarantees 
 
were not protected, and I "either in 01 ou1 of the Union ;" i 
 
 thai he declared he would be "the Las1 man to object to the withdrawal 
 
 of our State" from the Union, in such a contingency. All thai h 
 
 for waa " reasonable" delay—all that he olaimed for Maryland, was that 
 
 she should be "side by side with Virginia, Kentuoky and '! 
 
 Time still wenl on. Upon the 9th of December, it became the duty of 
 
 id to the communication addressed him by a 
 missioner from Mississippi. Again his plea wa "that time 
 
 given, and opportunity afforded for a fair and honorable adjustment. 
 
 lopted, in case thai adjustment could nol 
 made, he had neither doubt nor difficulty. " Fraternal concert with the 
 other Borde] - still his alternative. Here is his language: 
 
 ■ ■ |; { may have 1 after full consullai 
 
 with the ■ B •der & we, '"" / they, 
 
 1 otht rs '"in/"' 
 
 "lam tow in corr ih the Governors of those States, and I 
 
 ait with solicitude for t) ' pursued by t 
 
 " Wh> n this is made know, 
 ll duty and ini ■ and 1 
 
 u are ready to go with ' States for weal or woe. 
 
 Anil he added—" 1 fully agree with all thai you have said as to the ne- 
 -it v for protection to the rights of the South : and my sympathies are 
 "entirely with the gallanl people of Mississippi who stand ready to re- 
 it any infringement of tb I aestly' hope they will 
 
 "acl with prudence as well as with c< 
 
 On the 3d of January, 1 N »'>1, being pressed by a majority of the Sena- 
 tors of Maryland to call the L* jislature together, he published an 
 u ,l,l: •, in which he protested and enlarged upon his own 
 
 patriotism in refusing to convoke it: denounced the motive- and 
 principles of "the men embarked in the scheme"" of calling it together: 
 charged the a conspiracy to capture the Capitol and 
 
 . which, he intimated, was at the bottom of the movement 
 hev« ting ; and endeavored to rallj the citizens of the >und 
 
 himself and his polic appeal to their fears, their sympathies, 
 
 their credulity and their prejudices. Yel even in this, the mi 
 
 and pa did uol \ enture to deserl the plan 
 
 of consultation and united action witb th< the Bo der. 
 
 ■• B e^ in . " that th< 
 
 u with those of thi Border & 
 il pa . ill interchant ws with the G Ken* 
 
tuclj, Tennessee and Missouri, with a view to concerted action upon our 
 
 ': ™ 6Se ™sffons, which are still in progress, I feel justified in 
 
 ^ have resulted in oood; sa that when the proper time for action 
 
 . these s,Mer Stairs, bound up in a common destiny, will, 1 trust be 
 
 "prepared to act together: 1 ' 
 
 And, he adds, with increasing emphasis: 
 
 t " ] f nnl ;" M " ' the salvation of the Union depends upon the 
 
 Border Slave States. Without their aid, the Cotton States could never 
 command the in and credit and men essential to their existence 
 
 , T " ^ lth ° Ut tl "" 1 t]i ° ^ ort!lCni half of ^ ^public would 
 
 be shorn of lt s power and influence. Within the Union, I firmly 
 
 „ elleve 1 W ° < ; U1 SeCUfe - u; "' :,,,1ees for ^r protection, which will re- 
 move these distressing causes of irritation. 
 
 "#™ Whereafter that the North shall, after due deliberation refuse to 
 give them, we will, in a united body, demand and receive a fair division of 
 the national domain." 
 
 On January 12th, a committee of most respectable gentlemen depu- 
 ted by a conference from all portions of the State, and held in the Law 
 Buddings of this city, had an interview with the Governor The Con 
 ference had deferre<l to his declared objections to the convocation of the 
 ilature, and the committee were instructed merely to solicit that 
 he wouId 'ssue his proclamation inviting the people to determine by 
 their ballots, whether they desired a Convention to be called In case 
 of an affirmative response to the appeal, the Governor was requested to 
 natc a day for the election of members to the contemplated bodv 
 Governor declined. He still desired delay. "He preferred wait- 
 l 1 ;- ( accordi ag to the announcement in the Baltimore American) "until 
 : Unttendens compromise resolutions should be finally acted upon 
 before taking anv decisive step upon the subject at issue." On the 24th 
 "I January, to the astonishment of every body, excepl those initiated in 
 mystery, there appeared in the Annapolis Republican, a copy of a 
 ' b iarm S date as far back as the 8th of that month, and addressed 
 i ■ Hon. J. L. Corry, Commissioner of Alabama, wherein every pre- 
 vious suggestion of the Governor, and of everybody else, looking to "a 
 
 m of the Border States," "a unit,,! body" a 
 position "side by side with Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky," an a'sso- 
 '•' : """< "for weal or woe," with those States, or any other States "in a 
 common destiny," is utterly repudiated and denounced, as a flagrant 
 V1 .° atlon " l the Constitution— a step to which "the people of Maryland 
 will never consent!" Such "fraternal concert" for anv purpose or in 
 ■ '- lol (ho says; lo,- a n instant to be tolerated. Let us hear 
 
the ' ■ in which tl ine ia proclaimed, from tl 
 
 by whioh the people of Maryland v. 1 have 
 
 shown you, that the identical course, now so bitterly denounced, was 
 i , rvernor's heart. Ee speaks thus, 
 "I cannot see how, while th< i itional prohibition stands 
 
 L pacts or agreements between any of tl any "mutual league 
 
 "can be had, even between those v. ho la are alike. 
 
 | if this prohibition has 1 een judicially declared to include 'every 
 "agreement, written or verbal, formal or informal, or implied, 
 
 "by the mutual understanding of th< ■-.' then 1 am unable to 
 
 "imagine how any league or covenant or understanding whatever, un- 
 "autl or unapproved b l even though it should be in 
 
 therance of the laws and for I ' ' ederacy, ■ 
 
 l, be otherwise than in plain violation of the clearesl provisions of the 
 "supreme law oi the land." 
 
 Instead, therefore, of hearkening to any Buch treason— instead ot 
 proc with the Border 5 "in a united body, to demand and 
 
 ive a division of the national domain;" instead of "demanding a 
 division of the country;" instead of having our Governor to lead us, "in 
 fraternal concert with the other Bordi " in the ultii lica- 
 
 tion of our common rights and "common destiny" — instead o 
 certed action, upon our part," with the people with whom we 
 •• ready I re to do whal A de by the action of C 
 
 "The < - of the I ' i :; " : '- "offers the 
 
 only mode, authorized by thi ition, for consultation and ad 
 
 ment among the several S ' ' '• look with • 
 
 fidence for such enactments as shall secure our jusl and equal ri 
 and shall satisfy all excepl those who are determined to be satisfied 
 with nothing but revolution, and the hopes thai to them 
 
 anarchy and confusion.'' 
 Fellow-citizens! does no1 this Buffice? T> ii no1 as plain as facl and argu- 
 ment can make it. that the Maryland have been deluded and de- 
 ceived '.' Is it not manifest that they have been entertained and kept quiet by 
 assurances of a desire and a purpose to unite them, in the vindication of 
 their position, with the Bordei - should the disruption of the Union 
 bi inevitable, and that all tho were hollow, and are now to 
 be repudiated and abjured '! fa it no! demonstrated thai the States, which it 
 was declared would be "prepared to act together," are no1 to be allowed 
 acl together," if Mr. II rhe result of tho whole is per- 
 fectly palpable. It is intended that Maryland Bhall be kepi inert aud silenl 
 nnder one pretext or another, until the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, and then 
 her people are to be rallied to his support •vn- 
 
10 
 
 ment and the Union, and their love and devotion to the Union are to be their 
 lure and decoy into the practical support of the Republican party. (Cries of 
 " Never, never.") I welcome the declaration, not only as your sentiment, but 
 as the feeling of the whole people of the State. The scheme nevertheless is as 
 plain as the sunshine — as transparent as the moonlight. Happily it is a bar- 
 gain which it takes two to make, and which you can thwart. (Applause.) 
 
 In attempting to expose it, I have had no desire to throw one single spark of 
 excitement into a controversy which the conduct of the Governor and his parti- 
 zans has rendered exciting enough. But as a citizen and a gentleman — involved 
 with whole masses of the good people of this State, in an imputation of treason 
 and perfidy to that sacred constitutional Union, which I cherish more than all 
 things else, in my relations, as a patriot, to my country — made too, in common 
 with those whose opinions are like my own, the subject of insolent reproach to 
 the Executive of my State, by the sympathizing Executive of another, I have 
 felt it due to all of us that the course of Mr. Hicks should be made so plain, as 
 that lie who runs may read it. (Applause.) And I do solemnly declare, that 
 I have never entertained an opinion, nor do I understand the resolutions before 
 you as asserting a doctrine, in regard to the course to be pursued by Maryland 
 in the contingency of a dismemberment of the Union, wdnch goes one step 
 nd the doctrines of Governor Hicks upon the same subject, so repeatedly 
 and ardently proclaimed by him, and now, at the last, repudiated. 
 
 A word upon another branch of the same subject. The Constitution autho- 
 rizes, and in my judgment directs, the Governor to assemble the Legislature 
 upon extraordinary occasions. Even upon his own theory he is bound to ex- 
 ercise that power now; for whatever his previous opinions may have been, the 
 very fact that he has sent commissioners to Washington, for the purposes set 
 forth in the invitation of Virginia, is a concession that one of the most extra- 
 ordinary occasions which could shake an empire has startled and affrighted this 
 Republic. Nevertheless, he will not assemble the Legislature. The stars 
 have said it. He has assumed, and his friends and advocates have assumed 
 with him, that its convocation is not desired for any other purpose than to (ling 
 this State forth, madly from its sphere. He and they contemplate, or profess 
 to contemplate, nothing hut secession, and secession in the wildest shape, and 
 for the mosl corrupt and infamous purposes, as the result of the meeting of the 
 General Assembly. Fellow-citizens — Xo man has a better right to know, and 
 no one has a more incumbent obligation on him to do justice to the present 
 lature of Maryland, than I have. 1 was before them, last winter, long 
 and often, with friends who are around me, in the successful effort to restore, 
 by proper legislation, the rights and order of this community. (Applause.) 
 1' is to their patriotic and conservative action, altogether, that you are in- 
 debted for the freedom with which you assemble here to-night to speak your 
 sentiment-, ami for the security which will attend you to your homes when 
 you separate, ii is only because of thai conservative action of theirs, on 
 your behalf and mine, that red-handed murder no longer writes election returns 
 
11 
 
 among qb, for Congressmen who misrepresent as, and Governors who asnrp 
 our prerogatives. (Tremendons applanse.) Ami I tell yon, fellow-citi; 
 thai the Belf-same reasons which make the Governor of Maryland distrust 
 thai Legislature, onghl to be your reasons and mine for trusting it li 
 is aatural that you and he should view with different eyes, the principles 
 and condud of those representatives of the people, by whose interposition we 
 were enabled to break down the brutal d< spotism which made him Governor of 
 Maryland, (Applause.) I repeat, therefore, thai I have reason for confidence 
 in thai Legislature, and thai the proper mode of giving utterance to the sentiments 
 of our people, is through a convention which thai Li gislature shall call. If the 
 Governor persists in refusing to give the people that legitimate and constitu- 
 tional opportunity of being heard, the responsibility is on his head, and they 
 must do the next best thing they can, by calling a convention themselves. 
 (Greal applause. ) 
 
 In the presence of whal crisis and what necessity do we stand, fellow-citizens? 
 Lei us look at it like men. - this Confederacy have gone oul from 
 
 it. God knows that their departure from this Union has given me only an- 
 guish. The ringing of bells and the booming of cannon, seem to me no proper 
 pari of the demonstrations which belong to an event bo Bad. I feel as it' every 
 true-hearted man should bow to such a dispensation — inevitable as it mig] 
 — in the spirit with which he would follow his mother to the grave. (Sensation 
 and applause. ) But whatever he the feeling with which we regard the fact, it 
 is a fact nevertheless. Sis States have gone from among us. Call it revolu- 
 tion, or - or rebellion — call it anything you please — still they have gone 
 out of the Union, and it depends upon the result of the conference, which is 
 aboul to take place in Washington, whether the remaining Slave States South 
 ami Wesl of Maryland — the whole broad bell and border from the Atlanti 
 the Mississippi, ami beyond — shall not go out likewise. And while this greal 
 problem of our destiny is being solved, ami hov ma] be Bolved, we are 
 told that our interest ami our duty — our obligations t'> the Republic ami our- 
 selves — require ns to be Bilenl and quiet — to surrender ourselves to Gov. II 
 and " cling to the Union I" Cling to the Union? I to what? What is 
 tin* Union into which Maryland entered, and to which she belong \ reat 
 
 Republic, • and undivided, almost covering a continent Where is she in 
 
 that Union ? A central State — the tendrils of her prosperity fastening, upon 
 every Bide, t" the confederated communities around her. Von break that con- 
 federacy in the midst, leaving her a border province, with a foreign nation, ami 
 perhaps an enemy, beside her, ami you tell her to cling t<> the Union still — to 
 cling to what then i longer, in love "i' associ 
 
 Oh! hut saj our constitutional where — t! I 
 
 will not bo dissolvi 
 
 tutional — everything, therefore, will be tu it \ od W irylond must i 
 
 to it ! An' we talking with men, or an to us as childn ■■ tu 
 
12 
 
 look at abstractions and statute-books, or are we dealing with the great and pal- 
 pable, and if you please, the terrible facte of a revolution '( I have heard no ar- 
 gument to prove to Maryland that the States which have left and may leave the 
 Union, in fact, must still be regarded as part of it, which would not prove with 
 equal demonstration that the Tinted States of \merica are still the colonies of 
 I Britain. I have heard no logic that establishes the constitutional right of 
 hall' the Union to call itself the Union, because it preserves the forms of the 
 government, that would not equally prove Massachusetts to be the United States, 
 if .very other State were to leave her, provided she chose to retain the national 
 name, and had army and navy and strength enough to enforce her pretentions by 
 
 arms. 
 
 The Cotton States, then, are out of the Union. The responsibility, it is true, is on 
 their heads— but still they have left it, The Border States to the South and West 
 of us, unless it pleases heaven to permit a compromise, will go out also. What 
 is the State of Maryland to do ? To tell her to cling to the Union then, is to bid 
 her ding to the North, and clinging to the North, means clinging to the Repub- 
 lican party. (Applause.) And this— when she knows that if the line he drawn 
 on the Slave border, the right is on the one side and the wrong is on the other, 
 and the Republican party is the champion of the wrong. In the olden times, 
 when the people of Maryland acted on such questions, and had found the right, 
 they did not doubt whither their course lay— nor did it take them three months, 
 with a volume of correspondence, to distinguish the right from the wrong. (Ap- 
 plause.) 
 
 But there is a theory, as you are aware, my fellow-citizens, upon which the 
 fact of any possible disruption of the Union is seriously challenged in argument— I 
 mean the theory that the Federal Government may of right coerce into allegiance 
 the States which have abandoned it. I desire to speak upon this branch of the 
 subject, without expressing the indignation with which I think it deserves to be 
 treated. Speaking as a lawyer, upon a subject within the range of my profes- 
 sional studies and reflections, and having anxiously sought to get at the truth in 
 
 regard to it, without prejudie ■ passion, I assert the deliberate opinion— as 
 
 strongly and as conscientiously entertained as any I have ever formed— that the 
 " ,< ' :| "'' 'oercing a State or its people, when that State, in its corporate capacity, 
 has declared itself out of the Union, lias no color or support whatever from the 
 ral Constitution. Everything I have read convinces me, with equal 
 positiveness, that any attempt to force such a principle into the Constitution, 
 would have been utterly fatal to the possibility of its adoption. (Applause.) 
 [challenge any man to read the records of the Convention which framed the 
 Constituti m, or search the pr f ,],,. g tate Conventions which ratified it, 
 
 ami deny the fact, that whenever t>he surest ion of coercing a State was made, 
 °rof i ii V force any revolutionary State action, the men of mark and eon- 
 
 trolling influence in those holies denounce! it as impracticable and absurd, 
 involving of necessity the bloody and hopeless disruption of the Union they 
 were forming. I state the proposition as one standing by itself— unconnected 
 
13 
 
 witli tin- question of the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of 
 true in ei I of thai question. Andis it not right? Does it doI carry ■• 
 
 with it every interest of oivilization and Immunity- every principle and theoi 
 which our governments, both Stat< and national, were founded ? 
 
 [ eon fee I cannot realize what gentlemen mean when they talk with 
 
 riousness about hanging and shooting men back into brotberh 1 and union with 
 
 u-. [ do not understand their idea of perpetuating the Republic, by drenching 
 
 its broken fragments with fraternal gore. A. Hove all, I cannot < iprehend the 
 
 philosophy of those who, believing thai secession ii unconstitutional, .-till believe 
 that the people of the South have be< I toil \>\ unconstitutional wi 
 
 and would execut them for treason nevertheless, because they are not quite pa- 
 tient enough in enduring it. The Union is a great blessing aud a glorious privi- 
 lege, but there is no law of God or man which will uphold tin- doctrine ol ce- 
 menting it with blood, under color of maintaining :i government, which 
 upon two leading principles; the one, that all government is founded on the 
 will nf the governed; th< other, that the doctrine of non-resistance to arbi 
 power is slavish and absurd. (Applause. ) 
 
 1. for one, have those who arc bound to me by the closest ties of kindred and 
 affection, in two States, whose Conventions have solemnly repealed the ordin 
 which bound them to the Union. There are a thousand men before me, each of 
 whom has Borne clos< bond ol friendship or of family, where the old political ties 
 have been sundered. To Bay to you and t<> me, thai it is our duty, under tho 
 Constitution we have sworn to uphold, to go among them with fire and Bword, 
 and to ravage and despoil their heritage, in order that they may lovi us and 
 cleave to us hereafter, is to announce a doctrine, in support of wbioh no govern- 
 ment can ever raise the arm of one free man in Maryland. (Applause.) 
 
 This is not sentiment merely. It i- reason, and truth, and manhood— and any 
 theory that the Union is to be preserved by compulsion will fall to the ground, aud 
 sink in it, of its own weight. What, then, is Maryland to do if compromise sb 
 fail, and the line of actual separation be drawn along her border? It becom 
 to he ready for that issue She has a right to Bpeak, and it is her duty and her 
 interest to Bpeak. Let her do it. ( Applause. ) Down to this time, no man is able 
 to Bay with authority what her will is. The people of the North have believed her 
 Bilence to be Northern Bympathy, and they have resisted compromise. The people 
 of the South have been discouraged by it, and they have precipitated action. 
 has not only held her own hand from the good work of mediation, but she lias 
 strengthened the hand- besides, that were already too Btrong for the Constitu 
 Thank heaven, the .-in of her withdrawal from the field where her lal 
 due is not on your beads or mine, [f ever history should writ* I of the 
 
 disruption of this government, the blackest of it- II be that <>n which 
 
 written the uamos of those whether States or men— who ought to ' up 
 
 between the living and the dead, vet did it not. Let the *vil of such r proacfa 
 hang over us no Ion Lppluuse.) Let us at nr Convention 
 
 (dare our resolves, and m> Ion shaped for us by the will and 
 
 usurpation of ■ single man. It maj be thai Governor II r than nil the 
 
14 
 
 reBt of the Union put together. Tt may he that he has sources of information, "not 
 sible" to anybody else. It may be that the Convention, when assembled, may 
 represent his sentiments, not yours or mine. If it should do so — very well — I 
 will ol v. [fit should not, 1 desire him to obey. But it is time we had insisted 
 upon having the point finally determined. Tt is not only due to our independence, 
 our interests and our patriotism, but our self-respect and self-vindication demand 
 it. Wars and rumors of wars, conspiracies and tumults, riots and routs, have been 
 flitting in terrible array through the Governor's imagination, convincing him that 
 we were not lit to be trusted with our own government and our own affairs, and that 
 it was his paramount and sacred duty to keep us quiet and attend to our business 
 himself. T suppose he has believed in all these visions and dreams, (laughter) — 
 at all events he has acted upon them, — and it is high time we had made up our 
 minds to say whether they are true or false, and whether the Governor is the only 
 man among u<. in public or private station, who is honest and wise enough to be 
 trusted with our stake in the Union or our destiny in the event of its disruption. 
 If he is right, let the Convention say so. If we are to go to the North, let the 
 majority so rule — if we are to be spared that journey, let us know it! 
 
 As to the questions which may come before the Convention, when it meets to 
 deal with the great contingencies of the future, and the terms of our possible rela- 
 tion to a Southern Confederacy, I am only now prepared to say, that they involve 
 much complication and embarrassment, demanding all the resources of wise and 
 patient statesmanship. There may be difficulties in my way, which will not be in 
 yours, and difficulties in yours, which may appear none to me. The ballot-box 
 will settle these differences, fairly and peacefully, and only the ballot-box can so 
 deal with them. It is as far as possible from my purpose to say anything tending to 
 excite, but I am as cert tin as I am of my existence, that if the Governor of Maryland 
 were able to carry out -his plan of preventing the people from thus determining these 
 matters for themselves, it would create domestic strife among us, as surely and as 
 sadly as coercion elsewhere would breed civil war. By temperament, and from 
 conviction, I am a man of peace, and I turn therefore to the pacific arbitration of 
 the ballot-box, as our refuge from the horrors of such an alternative. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, 1 have finished what it has seemed to me proper to say to you. 
 I repeat to you, so that no man may misunderstand me, that I desire, above all 
 things, this glorious Union and Constitution to be preserved, for they are the best 
 heritage bequeathed to us by our fathers, from whose dust every blessing of our 
 politieal existence has sprung up to us. If that Union cannot be preserved by 
 fair concession and honest and becoming compromise, I desire the State in which 
 T was born to take her stand with the right. That it is right is reason enough, 
 but I believe, besides, that with nations as with men, wherever right is, there 
 every true interest is sure to be likewise. (Applause.) Whatever the decision 
 of Maryland shall he, in that decision I shall acquiesce, for my home and my 
 destiny are here. But one thing I am sure of, and that is, that any reconci- 
 liation that may be patched up, will be a wretched and melancholy failure, 
 ominous of future and bloody discord, unless the question of slavery be 
 
15 
 
 taken from the Congress of the United States, and the discussion of the ,ns ,tu- 
 tionandthe principles which surround it, be removed forever from all polity 
 
 temptations. The pie of the Sonth will not-the people of Maryland » 
 
 wfflL.otott to have religion and morality manufactured for them by Massachus- 
 etts. (Laughter and applause We will never consent to accept Llymouth 
 Rock aa the touchstone of right and truth. (Applause.) 
 
 One word more and I have done. What I have said to you I have said alto- 
 gether as a private citizen, speaking his individual sentiments only, and desiring 
 
 to represent no one but himself. [ believe that o, casions ol public difficuly 
 
 like the present, it is the duty of every man to form his own conclusions patiently 
 
 and deliberat ely ; to express them frankly, and take th nsequences. (Applause. ) 
 
 That done, his duty ends, and it is for the majority to settle the rest. I belong 
 
 to no party 1 say this, because I desire to be undersl 1 as speaking in the inter- 
 
 estsofnoparty, and to please none. I an, nc politician and do not cove! being 
 rded as one, for no man can I,' more wholly devoid than I am of political 
 aspirations or ambition, [f you believe me to be a .nan of truth I ask you to 
 believe thai 1 mean precisely what I say. For the opinions I have expressed 
 to-night, I -■lain, no indulgence, unless it 1- such to have them -leak with a, hon- 
 est, whether yon or th, community concur with them or do not. 
 
 [Mr. Wallis took his seat amid immense applause and cries of " go on, go 
 on."] 
 
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