Putting Aside
Boston - Which Must, I Think, Be Generally Preferred By Englishmen To
Any Other City In The States - I Should Choose Baltimore As My
Residence If I Were Called Upon To Live In America.
I am not led to
this, if I know myself, solely by the canvas-back ducks; and as to
the terrapins, I throw them to the winds.
The madeira, which is
still kept there with a reverence which I should call superstitious
were it not that its free circulation among outside worshipers
prohibits the just use of such a word, may have something to do with
it, as may also the beauty of the women - to some small extent.
Trifles do bear upon our happiness in a manner that we do not
ourselves understand and of which we are unconscious. But there was
an English look about the streets and houses which I think had as
much to do with it as either the wine, the women, or the ducks, and
it seemed to me as though the manners of the people of Maryland were
more English than those of other Americans. 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. The two ideas had then gone together. But the
mob of Baltimore had ceased to be secessionists within twelve months
of their first exploit. In April, 1861, they had refused to allow
Massachusetts soldiers to pass through the town on their way to
Washington; and in February, 1862, they were nailing Union flags on
the door-posts of those who refused to display such banners as signs
of triumph at the Northern victories!
That Maryland can ever go with the South, even in the event of the
South succeeding in secession, no Marylander can believe. It is not
pretended that there is any struggle now going on with such an
object. No such result has been expected, certainly since the
possession of Washington was secured to the North by the army of the
Potomac. By few, I believe, was such a result expected even when
Washington was insecure. And yet the feeling for secession among a
certain class in Baltimore is as strong now as ever it was. And it
is equally strong in certain districts of the State - in those
districts which are most akin to Virginia in their habits, modes of
thought, and ties of friendship. These men, and these women also,
pray for the South if they be pious, give their money to the South
if they be generous, work for the South if they be industrious,
fight for the South if they be young, and talk for the South
morning, noon, and night, in spite of General Dix and his columbiads
on Federal Hill. It is in vain to say that such men and women have
no strong feeling on the matter, and that they are praying, working,
fighting, and talking under dictation. Their hearts are in it. And
judging from them, even though there were no other evidence from
which to judge, I have no doubt that a similar feeling is strong
through all the seceding States. On this subject the North, I
think, deceives itself in supposing that the Southern rebellion has
been carried on without any strong feeling on the part of the
Southern people. Whether the mob of Charleston be like the mob of
Baltimore I cannot tell; but I have no doubt as to the gentry of
Charleston and the gentry of Baltimore being in accord on the
subject.
In what way, then, when the question has been settled by the force
of arms, will these classes find themselves obliged to act? In
Virginia and Maryland they comprise, as a rule, the highest and best
educated of the people. As to parts of Kentucky the same thing may
be said, and probably as to the whole of Tennessee. It must be
remembered that this is not as though certain aristocratic families
in a few English counties should find themselves divided off from
the politics and national aspirations of their country-men, as was
the case long since with reference to the Roman Catholic adherents
of the Stuarts, and as has been the case since then in a lesser
degree with the firmest of the old Tories who had allowed themselves
to be deceived by Sir Robert Peel. In each of these cases the
minority of dissentients was so small that the nation suffered
nothing, though individuals were all but robbed of their
nationality. but as regards America it must be remembered that each
State has in itself a governing power, and is in fact a separate
people.
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