Maryland must be secured.
The great strategic movement for the
South in the present juncture, is the securing of
Maryland to the
Confederacy.
The
North intend to risk everything else to secure
Maryland.
We do not believe that the preservation of the integrity of the
Union is any longer entertained by that section.
They had a lingering hope, until recently, from the assurances given them by our submissionists, that the
Border States might be retained.
But the uprising of the people throughout these States against the proclamation of
Lincoln,has disabused them of that hallucination.
They see now that even
Maryland is for secession; but it is their intention to detach that State from the
South, at all hazards, and at any cost.
Maryland embraces more sailors than all the
South besides.
The only species of Navy that the
South can provide within any reasonable time, is one of steam vessels.
The engineers for managing the motive power of these exist in abundance along the
Mississippi; but the sailors required for them can only be obtained from
Maryland.
The shipbuilders and machinists of
Baltimore are among the most skillful in the world, and are indispensable to complete the system of Southern economy.
The Chesapeake can only be made exclusively Southern, and brought under exclusive Southern jurisdiction, by the acquisition of
Maryland.
The securing of
Maryland to the
South makes the
Chesapeake as exclusively a Southern bay as
Albemarle Sound.
The great emporiums of Southern commerce would be located on the
Chesapeake after the separation; and the waters of this noble bay would be enlivened by as vast and diversified a commerce as now clusters around the island of
Manhattan.
The loss of
Maryland would introduce two jurisdictions, allen and social, into these waters, and would produce infinite jarring and confusion.
Smuggling with the one and the other of the Confederacies touching upon their borders would become a trade, with all of the social demoralization and fiscal derangements attending this illicit commerce.
The loss of
Maryland would be equally unfortunate in a military and industrial point of view.
The great Baltimore and Ohio Railroad would be transferred to the
North;
Baltimore, with its capital, enterprise, and mechanical skill and proficiency, would go over to the enemy, our rival; and a rural population, equal in social and individual worth to any in Christendom, would be delivered over to the uncongenial
North.
The
Maryland soldier has at no time been surpassed by any other known in American history.
The "
Maryland line" brought confidence and victory wherever they appeared in the Revolution.
Lord Baltimorewas a great and good man, of thorough cavalier blood, and the original settlers of
Maryland were altogether of that stamp.
It is of the descendants of these that the larger portion of interior
Maryland is now peopled.
They are worthy of their ancestry.
This was the leaven that leavened the lump in
Baltimore the other day.--It is the spirit of the old cavaliers burning in the bosoms of their sons that now rises up to resist the cohorts of
Lincoln. The loss of such a population to the
South would be a loss surpassing calculation.
There is a motive selfish to
Virginia, which, though all unworthy of mention in these heroic times, we will venture to put down.--The securing of
Maryland throws the border (the border as to military operations) beyond the confines of
Virginia.
It opposes
Maryland, as a breastwork and shield for
Virginia, against the assaults of the foe. The value of
Maryland to
Virginia in military strategy, is illustrated by what is now transpiring at
Baltimore and
Annapolis.
But the fact of
Maryland constituting such a shield and bulwark, imposes upon
Virginia and the
South the duty of supporting her with adequate forces.
The present attitude of
Maryland calls loudly upon
Virginia to proceed against
Washington city.
While
Maryland drives
back his reinforcements, surely
Virginia should make haste to capture the foe himself.
This very moment ought to see our long-range cannon planted on the heights of
Arlington, and the bayonets of our legions on the
Long Bridge.
Not another week should pass over our heads without witnessing the capture of
Scottand
Lincoln,and leading them in triumph through the streets of
Richmond.
