I Do Not Say That They
Were On This Account Better.
My English hat is, I am well aware,
less graceful, and I believe less comfortable, than a Turkish fez
and turban; nevertheless I prefer my English hat.
New York I regard
as the most thoroughly American of all American cities. It is by no
means the one in which I should find myself the happiest; but I do
not on that account condemn it.
I have said that in returning to Baltimore I found myself among
secessionists. In so saying I intend to speak of a certain set
whose influence depends perhaps more on their wealth, position, and
education than on their numbers. I do not think that the population
of the city was then in favor of secession, even if it had ever been
so. I believe that the mob of Baltimore is probably the roughest
mob in the States - is more akin to a Paris mob, and I may perhaps
also say to a Manchester mob, than that of any other American city.
There are more roughs in Baltimore than elsewhere, and the roughs
there are rougher. In those early days of secession, when the
troops were being first hurried down from New England for the
protection of Washington, this mob was vehemently opposed to its
progress. Men had been taught to think that the rights of the State
of Maryland were being invaded by the passage of the soldiers, and
they also were undoubtedly imbued with a strong prepossession for
the Southern cause.
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