"They
Shall Not Come Through Baltimore," Said Mr. Lincoln.
"But they
shall come through the State of Maryland.
They shall be passed
over Chesapeake Bay by water to Annapolis, and shall come up by
rail from thence." This arrangement was as distasteful to the
State of Maryland as the other; but Annapolis is a small town
without a mob, and the Marylanders had no means of preventing the
passage of the troops. Attempts were made to refuse the use of the
Annapolis branch railway, but General Butler had the arranging of
that. General Butler was a lawyer from Boston, and by no means
inclined to indulge the scruples of the Marylanders who had so
roughly treated his fellow-citizens from Massachusetts. The troops
did therefore pass by Annapolis, much to the disgust of the State.
On the 27th of April, Governor Hicks, having now had a sufficiency
of individual responsibility, summoned the legislature of which he
had expressed so bad an opinion; but on this occasion he omitted to
repeat that opinion, and submitted his views in very proper terms
to the wisdom of the senators and representatives. He entertains,
as he says, an honest conviction that the safety of Maryland lies
in preserving a neutral position between the North and the South.
Certainly, Governor Hicks, if it were only possible! The
legislature again went to work to prevent, if it might be
prevented, the passage of troops through their State; but luckily
for them, they failed. The President was bound to defend
Washington, and the Marylanders were denied their wish of having
their own fields made the fighting ground of the civil war.
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