The late election in Maryland.
The Baltimore Exchange, in an editorial upon the late election, expresses the following views in regard to the present position of
Maryland:
‘
"Most of the
Northern journals have altogether misapprehended the import of the late election in this State, and are congratulating themselves upon it as an indication that the people of
Maryland intend to adhere, henceforth and under all circumstances, to the government of
Mr. Lincoln.
Much as the "Union" men here have exposed themselves to misconstruction, yet the majority of them have certainly done nothing which warrants the
Northern press in treating them as cordial and faithful allies.
There are, it is true, some few individuals whose sentiments thoroughly coincide with those of the dominant faction in the
North, and who would be content to witness the subjugation of the
South.
There are some few who are willing that this war shall be prosecuted until, in the language of
Governor Thomas, the valleys of
Virginia shall be filled up with bones, or who, like
Mr. Fiery, would devote one half of the
Southern States to destruction if the remainder could be thus reduced to obedience to the Administration.
But the number of persons who approve these views and sentiments is absolutely insignificant.
Nine-tenths of the people of
Maryland are not only anxious that this war should end, but in order to secure that result they are ready to acknowledge the independence of the
Confederate States; and we hazard nothing in saying that the vast majority of them strongly sympathize with the
South, and will insist that this State shall share the fortunes of that section as soon as they are satisfied that the
Union is hopelessly dissolved.
The "Union party" here has not, as is erroneously supposed, been fighting for the
Government.
The great mass of those who compose it have asserted nothing in the late canvass which is inconsistent with a determination to identify themselves with the
South, if the disruption of the old Confederacy is an inevitable event.
They are merely in the position of men who are unwilling to realize a painful fact, who hesitate to prepare for an unwelcome though irremediable change.
They can not bring themselves to the belief that the
Union is destroyed; they cannot forego the hope of its reconstruction on its former basis.
They and their opponents merely differ about the practicability of restoring harmonious relations between the people of the dissevered sections, and of preserving in their integrity the old political connections between the States.
They have no sympathy with the motives which prompt the
North to carry on this contest.
They have no feeling in common with the anti-slavery faction, and they have no disposition to enter upon a struggle for the maintenance of the commercial or political supremacy of the
Northern States.
They are only clinging desperately to hopes which every one of their fellow citizens also cherished a little while ago but which a large proportion of the people of the
State have been reluctantly compelled to
abandon. But when they do come to the conclusion that a reconciliation between the North and South is hopeless — that inexorable fate has decreed the disruption of this Republic — then the bulk of the "Union party" will, we are satisfied, declare for the
South.
There will be upon that point, whenever it shall come fairly before us, an unparalleled unanimity of sentiment in
Maryland.
At what moment the "Union party" will recognize the necessity of accepting and setting that issue, is, in our judgment, solely a question of time.
That they must meet it sooner or later we cannot doubt, and we are equally sure how they will determine it. They, therefore, greatly mistake
Maryland who suppose that the late vote is indicative of a disposition on the part of her people to ally themselves with the
North upon the final dissolution of the
Union.
’
