,5- 
 
LETTER 
 
 HON. REVERDY JOHNSON, 
 
 ox THE 
 
 prot^nliiiflfj Et the pteding, 
 
 HELD AT 
 
 Maryland Institute, January 10th, 1861. 
 
 Baltimore, January 11th, 1861. 
 To the Hon. Reverdy Johnson: 
 
 My Dear Sir: — These are perilous times, and, among others 
 of our distinguished and respected citizens, you have assumed 
 to offer your advice in regard to them. This is proper, and but 
 a part discharge of the duty which you owe to the State of your 
 birth. As one of your fellow-citizens I have, in common with 
 thousands of others of them, to regret in what you had to say 
 last night at the meeting at the Maryland Institute there was no 
 plan for the composing of our diificulties suggested by yourself. 
 You seem on that occasion, judging from the published report 
 of your speech, to have fallen into the worn-out road of mere 
 eulogy on the value of the Union, without in any manner, pro- 
 posing any mode by which it can be reconstructed, it having 
 been already disrupted. Entertaining for you a sincere respect, 
 indeed, I may say a warm and habitual personal attachment, 
 and having the utmost confidence in your love of your State, I 
 deeply regret that you did not on that important occasion, which 
 you are capable of doing, lift yourself above the mere rhetoric 
 of the ordinary political declaimer and point out some plan of 
 reconciliation for the adoption of those who value the Consti- 
 TUTIO^^ which made the Union. I also regret, that before you 
 undertook to enlighten your fellow-citizens as to the history of 
 the country you had not better qualified yourself for the task, 
 "by refreshing your memory by a reperusal of it. It is my pur- 
 pose in this communication to recall to your recollection a few 
 memorable facts which appear to have entirely escaped it. In 
 doing this, my only purpose is, — in the hope that its ' fulfill- 
 ment may do good in this trying crisis — to show that the con- 
 duct recommended in the speeches delivered at the meeting to 
 which I have referred, is almost identical with that pursued by 
 the adherents of the Crown in the days of the revolution, and 
 in direct opposition to that of the whigs of that period. 
 
 In the eulogium which you thought proper to deliver on 
 Massachusetts you say, and truly, that in the great struggle for 
 independence the first blow was struck in that State. But you 
 also say, that ^Hhe hones of her citizens almost literally ichitened the 
 soil of every State, and the stripes and stars ichen in their hands 
 were ever the certain pledge of victory or death J'' I suppose you 
 mean by this statement to convey the idea, that her sons have 
 
 iliirphv i. Co. Printers, Baltimore. 
 
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 fallen in the contests for freedom and independence waged on 
 the soil of almost all the States. If you do, then, sir, 3'ou are 
 entirely without authority for the declaration. There is no his- 
 tory that gives the slightest Avarrant for the assertion. On the 
 contrary, all history, — as is the fact, — testifies that, not even a 
 single company of soldiers ever left ^lassachusetts, or any of 
 the other Kew England States, to fight the battles waged for 
 independence on Southern soil. Kone of them ever proceeded 
 farther South, in the great struggle of the Eevolution, than 
 Long Island, and even there, the}^ were saved from utter 
 destruction by the steadiness, skill and courage of the " old 
 ]\Iaryland Line,'' under the command of Genl. Smalhvood. The 
 shame of treason, in the Avar of 1812, is indellibly stamped upon 
 her forehead. You, sir, are old enough to recollect that, during 
 the last war with Great Britain she refused to allow her troops 
 to go beyond her own territorial limits, and that in her bosom 
 was hatched the treasonable project, (treasonable because dui-ing 
 war,) of separating the New England States from the rest of the 
 confederacy and re-uniting them iciih ohl England. Moreover, 
 that on the occasion of the annexation of that Texas which she 
 is now so anxious to compel by force to remain in the L^nion, 
 by her Legislature declared such annexation ipso facto dissolved 
 the Union, and thrll Massachusetts was from that day out of the 
 Union. All this, sir, you ought to have known ; and if you did 
 know it, your eulogium of her at the expense of gallant States — 
 you must pardon me for saying it — is wholly unjustifiable. 
 
 Mere clap-trap declarations are to be expected i'rom the design- 
 ing and weak, but are unbecoming a man of your gravity and 
 well-established character for sound sense and patriotism. We 
 ought not to be surprised that knaves who wish, for their own 
 seltish purpose to mislead others less informed than themselves, 
 or, that simpletons, who are incapable of understanding the 
 importance of the prin-ciples involved in the present contro- 
 versy, should indulge in frivolous objections to the present 
 attitude of some of the Southern States; but, when a similar 
 line of policy is ado])ted by those to whom Ave ha\'e a right to 
 look for counsel and di)-ection in times of difficulty, Ave cannot 
 but feel mortification and pain. 
 
 The meeting at Avhich you performed your part has been held, 
 and those Avho composed it are again dispersed among their fel- 
 low-citizens. I beg to inquire of you, sir, hoAV it tended, in any 
 Avay, to settle the present difficulties? It suggested no plan of 
 adjustment. It neither recommended negotiation Avith, or the 
 forcible coercion of the seceding States; I deiy any man, after 
 he shall have read Avith tlie greatest care the proceedings, to say 
 Avhat it is the meeting Avished to have done. Parlvriiiut moutes, 
 nascitur redicnlus mus. True, it is, they distinctly enough de- 
 clare devotion to the Union. But, the integrity of the Union 
 has not only been threatened, but its ligaments have already 
 been torn asunder and war declared, if, indeed, the slaughter has 
 not actually begun, 
 
 Bt tratisfo- 
 JAN 21 190i? 
 
"What said the meeting on the all -important question, whether, 
 with their consent and approval, Southern cities shouhl be dnnnJ. 
 ished and conflagrated, and Southern homes made desolate hy the 
 slaitr/hfer of fathers, and of brothers, their natural protectors ! 
 
 Nothing! absolutely nothing! So far from there being any 
 expression of a tender solicitude for, or the exhibition of a sym- 
 pathetic apprehension for the safety of Southern fathers, of 
 Southern matrons, maids and children, there was, touching these 
 matters, a silence as profound as that of an Egyptian mummy. 
 Unless, sir, I have greatly mistaken both your head and heart, 
 you cannot cooll}^ and approvingly contemplate tlie massacre of 
 our countrymen and the desolation of their firesides. And yet, 
 your presence at, and participation in the proceedings of such a 
 meeting, will be joyously hailed by every northern fanatic as 
 another pledge given for the humiliation and subjurjation of 3'our 
 southern brethren. If these people understand at all any part 
 of the teachings of Jesus, it is His saying, that he who is not for 
 us is against us; and rest assured, sir, that however contrary the 
 fact may be, and however repugnant to your real sentiments it 
 may be, your indorsation of the stereotyped resolutions of the 
 meeting, as a panacea for the distressing ills Avhich afflict the 
 country, will procure for you the approbation of the most rabid 
 republican in the land. The " Republican" party, swollen with 
 the consciousness of power, for the first time by them possessed, 
 insolently scorn all thoughts of conciliation and peace, and in 
 their arrogant demonstrations of warlike purposes, confidently 
 point to those in the South who think they fulfill their whole 
 duty to the common weal, and establish their claim to statesman- 
 ship, by joining in ptens to the Union, as part and portion of the 
 Hosts which are to subdue, into slavish submission, any south- 
 ern State whose people are old-fashioned enough to think con- 
 stitutional LIBERTY has a real and substantial value. 
 
 This delusion, on their part, is the real and only difficulty in the 
 way of a speedy and satisfactory adjustment. And it grieves me, 
 sir, to know, that instead of the meeting at the Institute con- 
 tributing in any wise to dispel the infatuation of these people, if 
 it have any practicable effect at all, it will be to strengthen into 
 conviction their present belief, that the people of j\Iaryland are 
 with the North, and not with the South, and that as against the 
 latter, they are ready to co-operate wiih the North in compel- 
 ling, at the expense of both blood and treasure, a submission of 
 the South to the yoke of a galling servitude. 
 
 A most lamentable fatality appears to characterize, at this 
 time, everything done by those in authority in Maryland. It 
 was but the other day, in a manifesto issued by the Hon. Henry 
 "Winter Davis to the voters of the fourth congressional district, 
 that the ground was taken that Maryland had suffered no wrong 
 at the hands of the North ! Has Mr. Davis forgotten tl)e murder, 
 at the very portals of the halls of justice, of Mr. Kennedy, of 
 Washington county, by a Pennsylvania mob, becau.se, and for 
 
no other reason, that he was in that State looking after a nin- 
 away. Had the horrid details of the brutal murder, under the 
 very eyes of the Governor of Pennsylvania, of Mr. Gorsuch, one of 
 the most venerable of the citizens of Baltimore count}-, also es- 
 caped his recollection ? Or, to speak of an event more recent, 
 has his memory no trace of the case of Mr. Myers, of Carroll 
 county, who was decoyed over the boundary line into Pennsyl- 
 vania, tried for kidnapping, because he had reclaimed a runaway, 
 convicted by an abolition jury, and who would now be in the 
 penitentiary"^had not Governor Packer granted him a pardon? 
 Such insensibility to the wrongs of Marylandere is in fit keep- 
 ing with a proposition, at this time, from a representative of a 
 southern constituency, to render their slave property of still less 
 value, by requiring of them, after they shall have incun-ed the 
 trouble, risk and cost of capture of a fugitive slave, to submit 
 to the additional outlay, of a trial by jury, in the place whence 
 he shall have escaped and to which he shall have been returned. 
 This is demanding southern rights with a vengeance. 
 
 But, sir, my purpose in addressing you on this occasion is, to 
 point out in some degree, the similarity of the acts occurring at 
 the dawn of the Kevolution with those of the present day. 
 
 And here let me remind you, sir, that although the first strug- 
 gle in the Kevolution was on the soil of Massachusetts, that at 
 that time neither Maryland, nor South Carolina were joined in any 
 union with her, nor were they under any legal obligation to 
 assist her in her difficulties. Their commercial interests were 
 in no way connected with hers, and they rested under no sense 
 of favors bestowed by her, ior she had bestowed none on either 
 of them. Whatever aid, therefore, they extended to her in her 
 time of need, proceeded from that generous appreciation of the 
 conduct of those who were struggling for their rights which 
 had been outraged by special legislation of the British Parlia- 
 ment. The interference of South Carolina in behalf of Massa- 
 chusetts was manifestly against all her pecuniary interests; her 
 interference was a pure, unseljish sacrifice, in the cause of 
 human liberty. 
 
 "When the tea, on which a duty had been imposed by Par- 
 liament, was brought into the port of Boston, it was thrown 
 overboard by a portion of its merchants and other })eople, dis- 
 guised as Indians. The contemjiorary history of the event also 
 informs us, that nearly all, if nut entirely all, of the merchants 
 supposed to have participated in this (.taring achievement very 
 soon thereafter "clandestinely" signed a petition, asking that 
 they should not be punished for the act, and promising to pay 
 the value of the tea, with the objectionable duty added. In the 
 lapse of time, this performance has come to be considered, in all 
 Plymouth Rock celebrations, as a wonderful aiVair, and when 
 alluded ^o in a speech, never fails to add to the self-sufficiency 
 of all genuine Bostonians. South Carolina, at the time it 
 occurred, supposed the act to be one of heroism and sac li ace, 
 
and, accordingly, her magnanimous soul was moved to active 
 sympathy for those who had performed it. She sent forth to 
 Massachusetts, rice and other necessaries of life to sustain her in 
 her need. She is repaid for her sympathy then, by Massachu- 
 setts urging, the devastation of her hospitable homes and the 
 massacre of her people now I 
 
 You are, sir, I believe, a native of the ancient city of Annapo- 
 lis. Into that place, in the year 1774, a vessel — the Peggy 
 Stewart — brought a large quantity of tea "on which the owners 
 of the vessel made haste to pay the duty." How, sir, did the 
 people of that day treat this act of submission? Eecollect, sir, 
 this was nearly two years before the Declaration of Independence 
 had been made. The people regarded the act of the owners of 
 the vessel, as likely to call in question the fidelity and honor of 
 the Province; and ivilhont disgtu'sing themselves as Indians as 
 was the case in Massachusetts, they compelled the owners of the 
 vessel to ask forgiveness in the most humiliating language; nor 
 did their resentment stop there; the penitent owners were 
 required to go on board of the vessel, and, whilst her sails and 
 colors were flying, in the presence of a large multitude, they 
 themselves set fire to the packages of tea, all which, together 
 with the vessel and every appurtenance thereof, was consumed. 
 The manner in which was performed the two acts of burning 
 the tea, illustrates what at that time was the difference between 
 the tempers of the people of Maryland and Massachusetts; the 
 one, open and above-board, the other indirect and unreliable. 
 
 I am sure that if some of the " Union-savers" hereabouts, had 
 been consulted on the occasion of the destruction of the Peggy 
 Stewart, they would have advised a "masterly inactivity," and 
 talked long and dolefully, of the power of Great Britain just as 
 they do now, of the wonderful length of the border line of our 
 State; but enough, for the present, of this. 
 
 Of one thing there can be no doubt, and that is, that South 
 Carolina has spoken in plain language, and in this particular, if 
 in none other, her convention resembles the great congress of 
 the colonies of 1774. At that time there were, as there ever 
 will be, obstinate and short-sighted persons in authority, who 
 could not see where laid the real cause of grievance of the 
 colonies, and who thought the repeal of the stamp act would 
 remove all cause of complaint, just as we have among us per- 
 sons who think the repeal of the so-called personal liberty bills 
 ought to satisfy the South. But Chatham lived in that day, 
 and he clearly foresaw and predicted, that if the work of coer- 
 cion was persevered in, the Crown would lose its brightest 
 jewel. His counsels were disregarded, but his prediction was, 
 to the everlasting regret and chagrin of his contemners, verified. 
 His words on that occasion ought to be carefully weighed now, 
 by those who so inconsiderately urge war on the people of the 
 South. Speaking of the demand of the colonies, he said: 
 " They do not ask you to repeal your laws as a favor ; they 
 
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 claim it as a right, they demand it. They tell you thev will not 
 submit to tliem ; and I tell you the acts must be repealed. But 
 repeal will not satisfy this enlightened, spirited people. It is 
 not repealing this or that act o^" parliament ; not the annihilation 
 of a few shreds of parchment, that can restore America to your 
 bosom. You must repeal her fears and resentments, and vou may 
 then hope for her love and gratitude." The advice of this great 
 man was unheeded, and whilst, to use the language of Burke, 
 " the western horizon vet blazed with his descending glorv," 
 ships and armies were sent to subjugate the colonies, just as is 
 now proposed to be done in the case of South Carolina and 
 other seceding States. 
 
 South Carolina is now menaced by a military force in her 
 harbor, and rash men clamor for its immediate and large in- 
 crease, apparently regardless of the disastrous consequences 
 which must inevitably follow such a proceeding. 
 
 What was the language of that modern Solomon and pure 
 patriot, Benjamin Franklin, when asked by Lord Howe as to 
 the propriety of keeping a military force^ in the presence of 
 Boston during the period of her discontent? I ask vou to 
 ponder it well. " The army at Boston," said Franklin, who saw 
 the imminent hazard of bloodshed, ''cannot possibly \o,siver any 
 good pnir pose, and maybe mischievons. iV-o accommodation can be 
 properly entered into by the Americans, while the bayonet is at 
 their breast To have an agreement binding, all force should be 
 withdrawn^ 
 
 The case of Charleston now, is almost identical in its circum- 
 stances with that of Boston in 1774. A niinistry, bloated with 
 pride and arrogance of power, turned a deaf ear to his counsel of 
 wisdom ; and, I much fear, unless persons of influence like your- 
 self, endeavor to prevent it, our Federal authorities will follow 
 the bad example set them by that headstrong and unwise gov- 
 ernment. Nothing but the stern reality convinced the British 
 ministry that the feeble, and as they foolishly supposed, cowardlv 
 pc(i]ile of the colonies, could successfully resist the colossal power 
 of England. Indeed, even among the colonists were to be found 
 those, whose fears subdued their judgments, and cooled the ardor 
 of their patriotism. It was asked, with an air of confidence, by 
 some of them — "Are we ready for war? Are we a military 
 people? Where are our stores, our soldiers, our generals, our 
 money ? We are defenceless; yet we talk of war against one ot 
 the most formidable nations in the world. It will be time enough 
 to resort to measures of despair when every well-founded hope 
 has vanished." 
 
 It was f(U- that "Kinir amoiig men," PatrieU Henry, to answer 
 questions like these, and ho did answer them as became the 
 perils of the occasion, and the inspiration of his own great nature. 
 "They tell us," said he, "that we are weak ; but shall we gather 
 strength by irresolution? Wo are not weak. Three millions of 
 people, armed in the holy cau.se of liberty, and in such a country, 
 
are invincible b_v any force Avhich our enemy can send against us. 
 We shall not fight alone. A just God presides over the destinies 
 of nations; and will raise up friends for us. The battle is not to 
 the strong alone ; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave." 
 What was the result ? A just God did raise up armies for them. 
 Then but three millions were in the whole country, while now, 
 more than three times that number are in the Southern States, 
 and among them hundreds and thousands of tested and approved 
 proficiency in military science. Think you, sir, that such a 
 people can be subjugated. As in the revolution, their fields 
 may be devastated, their houses given to the devouring flames, 
 and themselves driven to the swamps for shelter, but mistake it 
 not, for as sure as there is a God in heaven, they will reappear 
 in triumph under other Marion's, Sumter's and Pickens' to whom 
 their sufferings will give rise. Whole hecatombs of lives may 
 be sacrificed in the mad and wicked attempt to crush the South ; 
 but never will that gallant people bow their necks to receive 
 the badge of seridom. The only harvest to be reaped from a 
 ruthless war on oiir brethren will be one of death, ill-will, dis- 
 comfiture, and everlasting shame and dishonor. Unless all his- 
 tory be delusive in its teachings, this will be so. 
 
 if we are to judge by the doings at Washington, the Consti- 
 tution, which ought to be the stij^reme law of the land, seems 
 to have been rudely pushed aside, and in its stead has been 
 erected an irresponsible Military Despotism, claiming the right 
 to declare and wage war. If the people North, South, East or 
 West, tamelv submit to such an overthrow of the Constitution, 
 they will no longer be worth}^ of the name of freemen. 
 
 And how is Maryland behaving under this accumulation of 
 evils ? We are told to wait and watch ; to do nothing at pres- 
 ent. For a long time we were urged to follov/' the lead of Vir- 
 ginia. Well, Virginia is speaking, and with an unanimity and 
 force that shov/s the fires of patriotism have not died out in the 
 Old Dominion. But how was it in the times of the Eevolution ? 
 Did Maryland wait on Virginia? No, sir, not at all. In regard 
 to the proposed Congress of 1774, we are told by history, "that 
 so universal was the zeal of her people, so rapid their organiza- 
 tion, that their provincial convention met in Annapolis on the 
 twentj^-second of June, and before any message had been re- 
 ceived from Salem, they elected delegates to the Congress. With 
 a modesty worthy of their courage, they apologized to Virginia 
 for moving in advance ; pleading as their excuse the inferiority 
 of their province in extent and numbers, so that less time was 
 needed to ascertain its sentiments." And when, as is the case 
 now, the then Governor refused to co-operate with the people, 
 "they invited a voluntary ofi'ering, to the amount of ten thou- 
 sand pounds, for the purchase of arms and ammunition ; and 
 taking the sword out of the hands of the Governor, they elected 
 their own officers to defend Massachusetts and themselves." Let 
 the conduct of Marylanders of that day be contrasted with that 
 
of those of this. Look upon that picture, and then upon 
 this. Hyperion to a Satyr. If Maryland is to exercise any 
 influence whatever in restoring the Union, or in determining 
 its destiny, she must speak and act ; and she can do neither 
 efiectively, unless her people be organized under the forms of 
 law, either in the Legislature or in sovereign convention. Al- 
 though the task would be a very easy one, I have not thought 
 it worth while to show, by reference to the history of the 
 formation and adoption of the federal constitution, how utterly 
 opposed your expressed views are to those of its framers and 
 ablest advocates. But, in my opinion, any further discussion at 
 this late day, o^ the mere abstract right of secession, would be 
 just about as productive of an}-- useful purpose, as would be the 
 discussion of the right of the American colonies in 1776 to se- 
 cede, as they did, from a union with the mother country. The 
 undeniable fact is, that several States have seceded, and it is 
 equally certain that, in a few days, others of them will do like- 
 wise. 
 
 Let me, my dear sir, by that love which you cherish for tJie 
 Union founded by our fathers, and your devotion to constitu- 
 tional liberty, adjure you to employ, earnestly and at once, all 
 3'-our powers to induce the federal government to withdraw its 
 forces from the waters of South Carolina, and to commence the 
 work of negotiation and reconciliation. Her people are our 
 kith and kin — " all of one nature, of one substance bred" — and 
 should not be dealt with as though they were aliens and ene- 
 mies. And, if it be found on a foir experiment that we cannot 
 live in friendship with each other, then, let us agree to part in 
 peace. Let us not be unmindful that much of that renown and 
 glory of which we are justly so proud, is due to the valor, 
 patriotism, and wisdom of the sons of Carolina, exhibited in 
 every era of our political existence. History has taken note of 
 the fact, and no ebulition of passion can wipe out the record. 
 The advice of Fuankljn should be now followed by the Presi- 
 dent. It is exactly adapted to the present emergency. His 
 declaration will be found as true and as full of wisdom now, as 
 it was when made : — " Ao accommodation can he properly entered 
 into while the bayonet is at the breast. To have an agreement bind- 
 ing, all force should be wit/idraion.^^ He who claims to be wiser 
 or more jiatriotic than Fi-anklin, may scolf at the suggestion, 
 but you, I am sure, will give to it the consideration to which it 
 justly entitle^l. I have written hastily, but at the same time 
 feeling as ardent a love for the Uju'oji, and its preservation under 
 the Constitution as you or an}"- other Marylandcr. 
 
 With sin<-''i-.^ .'^toem, I am. 
 
 Your friend and serv't, 
 
 John C. Legrand. 
 
LIBRPRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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