In New England And New York Men's Minds At Any Rate Were
Bent All In The Same Direction - As Doubtless They Were Also In
Georgia And Alabama.
But here fathers were divided from sons, and
mothers from daughters.
Terrible tales were told of threats
uttered by one member of a family against another. Old ties of
friendship were broken up. Society had so divided itself that one
side could hold no terms of courtesy with the other. "When this is
over," one gentleman said to me, "every man in Baltimore will have
a quarrel to the death on his hands with some friend whom he used
to love." The complaints made on both sides were eager and open-
mouthed against the other.
Late in the autumn an election for a new legislature of the State
had taken place, and the members returned were all supposed to be
Unionists. That they were prepared to support the government is
certain. But no known or presumed secessionist was allowed to vote
without first taking the oath of allegiance. The election,
therefore, even if the numbers were true, cannot be looked upon as
a free election. Voters were stopped at the poll and not allowed
to vote unless they would take an oath which would, on their parts,
undoubtedly have been false. It was also declared in Baltimore
that men engaged to promote the Northern party were permitted to
vote five or six times over, and the enormous number of votes
polled on the government side gave some coloring to the statement.
At any rate, an election carried under General Dix's guns cannot be
regarded as an open election.
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