r /osses- sion or settle, or even explore the splendid domain which we have inherited, aiul whose gathered trophies are now the wonder of the world. To those who recog- nize the influence of Providence upon the affairs of () moil, it is not ditfieult to divino the cause of this seelii- sioii so loiii;- mid so carefully maintained. The old world was becoming new. England Mas ])assing through the trials and throes of a political and religious revolution in which the minds of men were clarifying as to popu- lar liberty and the consciences of men were shaking off the bondage of an ancient superstition which had served its puri)ose and was now to be set aside. The new learning clothed in the language of the country Avas beginning to diffuse itself among the people. The power of the Barons had been broken in the war of the Roses, and feudal tenures were gradually passing away with the system upon which they depended for support. A new class of society, neither noble nor yeoman, but midway between the two, was making itself felt both in town and country — that steady, sober, conservative body of men called the middle class, who have done so much to advance the glory and prosperity of England in arts and in arms. Science, too, drugged by the old philosophy, was waking up from its long stupor and rubbing its eyes in the light of a new and clearer dawn. A restless activity, a prying curiosity, a habit of (|ues- tioning and investigating, a desire tbr novelty seized the people. The Britisli Constitution, which had been assuming detinite form and shape ever since Magna Charta, was just upon the e\'e of the great trial by the Stewarts, father and son, a trial which was to deter- mine whether the will of the King, moderated only by his own sense of right or the will of the people bound u]) in immemorial customs and ancient laws, was to govern. But more important than all religious per- secutions had eur.scd tlic kin^-dom ; the dying- embers around one set of martyrs sorvini;- for fire to lio-lit tlie fagots for another. The law of humanity seems to be tliat perfection can alone be developed by suffering — that national as well as individual character, takes on its highest polisli and finest temper in the furnace of aiflictioii. Out of th(^ long contest waged between the people and the crown, was slowly evolved that deep sense of law, which Lord Coke fitly expressed to King James, when he declared that the king was under no man, but sub Deo and std lef/e, by the very nature and constitution of things, — so was created and so must live. Out of the fires and the scatfold, where martyrs to conscience, from one creed or another alternately fell, was painfully evolved a sense of religious toleration, a sentiment of slower growth working its way up through a bloodier environment than even ciA'il libert}'. These were some of tlic influences under wliich a correct and chastened sense of freedom was slowly springing up, u}>on English soil, to be transplanted from its precarious nursery, to this chosen spot of the world, where the sword of the Almighty had flamed for a century to keep oft* or drive out all intruders, until the fulness of time had come. N'ow far be it from nu? at any time, still further on this occasion o-f national cheer and good fellowship, to utter one word, or give expression to one sentiment, to which even an exaggerated state pride or sectional jealousy could take offence. 8 I recognize the propriety of preserving whatever has been accomplished for human advancement b}' any of the States which make up our national system, as a common heritage of which all are possessed in the whole and in every part. I count that man a public enemy who would destroy the unity of possession, by apportioning to Maryland one moiety of this glory, and to Massachusetts another, it matters not upon what principle of exact justice the division is to be made. In its very nature the estate is incapable of parti- tion, can neither be weighed or divided, is too subtle and intangible for the scale or the compass. It is like the universal air we breathe or the light which streams from the sun, the common blessing of all. Discarding, therefore, as a sentiment unworthy of the occasion, any attempt to magnify the achievements of one State at the expense of another, the severest historical jus- tice declares that it was neither at Jamestown, nor on the bleak shores of Massachusetts Bay, that civil or religious liberty, the tree of life, was planted in the new world. It was in Maryland, our own little State, less showy in the evidences of material develoj)ment, than some of her more populous and prosperous sisters, but rich as the richest, in the far more pre- cious memorials of human worth. Civilization is too often confounded with the mere advance in wealth, population, the arts, and all the appliances and com- forts Avhich a splendid materialism gathers for its support. But properly speaking, it is the science wliich teaches men the principles upon which happy and useful lives can be spent under tlie civil compact which binds society together. It is the art of self-go \Trnnu'nt lifted out of the narrow sphere of individual, into the broader held of national, action. Tested by this definition, the state which extirpates a vicious prejudice which has dis- turbed the repose of the Avorld, and substitutes in its stead a correct principle of living, has done more towards civilizing men, than if she had fiUed all these buildings with the treasures of her genius and art. The Plymouth Pilgrims were distinctively separa- tists, both in Church and State. They laid the foundations .of their religious and social polity, upon principles of the strictest seclusion. They had scarcely huddled together like sea-fowl upon their barren rock, shivering under the wintry blasts of the Atlantic, before they drove off the Episcopalians, and ere long murdered the Quakers. To exercise any political right, or enjoy any franchise among them, it was necessary to be a member of their Church. Roger Williams unfortunately held that punishment for any matter of conscience was perse- cution, and they drove him out into the wilderness. Poor Mrs. Hutchinson, would rather be saved by a covenant of grace, than a covenant of works, and this was enough to doom her to banishment. It is clear that the free institutions of the United States, have nothing in common witli intolerance like this. ^Yc must look elsewhere for the germs of principles, which are now firmly rooted in every 2 10 state polity in tlio T'nioii. It is well known that the first Lord Baltimore died, before the Charter of IMaryland, generally believed to have been the work of his hand, passed the Great Seal on the 20th of June, 1632. Jlis son and heir, Cfecilius Calvert, obtained the grant which had been promised his father, and on the 22nd of JSTovember, 1633, sent out a colony under the direction of his brother, Leonard, to take possession of Maryland. This little company of two hundred souls, after a tempestuous voyage, landed at St. Mary's in the latter part of March, 1634. It has been doubted whether the terms of the Charter, "God's holy rights, and the true Christian religion," any interpretation contrary to the furtherance of which w^as forbidden, evinced an intention on the part of Calvert to establish toleration as a cardinal principle of his government. It has been contended by eminent authority, that even conceding such was the intention of Calvert, he is entitled to no particular merit for it; because, owdng to the peculiar situation, of the Catholic Church at that time, he had no liberty of choice in the matter. Without reviewing the grounds of the controversy, the evidence seems to be conclusive that while the ambiguous language of the Charter was used possibly by the senior Calvert to screen his intentions towards the disciples of his own faith, the oath of office pre- scribed for the Governor of the Colony, as early as 1636, by Ca'cilius, estal)lishes beyond doubt the pur- pose of this benevolent and far-seeing statesman to tol- erate every Christian sect upon princii:)les of enlight- ened justice and public ])olicy. The material part of 11 this oath enjoined it upon the subscriber that he would not, directly or indirectly, trouble, molest or discoun- tenance any person professing- 1<» believe in Jesus Christ, for or in respect of religion; that he would make no diiference on the same account in conferring offices, favors, or rewards, and that his public aim should be public unity. Religious persecution was then rife in Massachusetts, and six years later, the Puritans were driven out of Mrginia and settled in Maryland near Annapolis. To establish by law, what had already been sanctioned by long continued practice, the Act of 1(349 ^vas passed, declaring Christian toleration to be the settled policy of the proprietary government. There is a still stronger proof of the mild and benignant spirit which animated the early founder of our State, which is in entire harmony Avith the tolerant regard with which he treated the religious scruples of his fel- low beings. The little colony which dropped anchor in the peaceful waters of the Saint ]Mary's, seem to have been the first white people ever landed upon these shores who had any proper conception of the rights of the native population. Before their appear- ance the Cross was looked upon not so much as the symbol of love as of punishment and cruelty. Such were the friendly, social and religious relations estab- lished between our forefathers and the natives, that no Indian w^ar desolated our soil, while Massachusetts and Alrginia were the frequent scenes of terrible outbreaks and atrocious massacres, in wliicli natives and whites were alternately slaughtered. Tlie author of a policy so beneficent in its results must have been a laru'e 12 li(\Mrte(l, IminniK^ and liberal ,a'cntlcman; and if this is so, surely there is jiothin^- in the possession of such (]ualities incom])atible ^vith the character of a Chris- tian, tolerant alike in faith and practice. One of the most important events affecting the social and political economy of the province was the intro- duction of African Slavery, the precise date of which cannot now he definitely ascertained, but it was quite early in the history of the settlement. The bold and sweeping declarations as to the natural rights and equality of men, which preceded the revolutionary struggle for independence, were scarcely compatible with the continued servitude of the colored race. The condition of the free colored man, living in a commu- nity with which he had no ]^olitical ties, was still more anomalous and alarming. In 1790 this class of our population had so increased as to number 111,079 souls, of whom 8,043 were free and 103,03(3 slaves. That the sentiment of ]Maryland subsequent to the Revolution was largely in favor of emancipation, is clearly shown by the ratio of increase of free colored ovcv slave. It appears by the census of 1800 that the free colored had gained 143 per cent., while the slaves had only increased about 2h percent.; and from 1790- to 18-30 the free had increased 821 per cent, and the slaves had actually decreased 12 per cent. It was the o})inion of some of the soundest and safest heads in ]Maryland that colonization in Africa afforded the only solution of tlie colored problem. The contributions of her citizens aided materially in fitting out the first expedition to the coast of Africa in 1817. To the 13 Colonization Society, afterwards chartered by tlie State, an annual appropriation was made of .$10,000. Then happened an e^'ent of which every Maryland man may feel justly proud: an event which deserves special commemoration, connected as it is with one of the most critical and interesting epochs in our histor3\ The State, as is well known, had embarked largely in several works of internal improvement. The Chesa- peake and Ohio Canal Company was organized in June, 1828, with a capital stock of $3,608,900, it having been estimated that a canal of the requisite dimensions from Washington to Cumberland could be constructed for about 1-1,000,000. To prevent a diversion of trade to the District cities, and at the same time to strengthen her hold upon the West, Baltimore determined to build the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. About the same time various other schemes for internal improve- ment were agitated, for all of which State aid Avas sought and most generously supplied. When the canal reached Harper's Ferry the appropriations were exhausted, and the United States and Virginia refusing to lend any further assistance, Maryland undertook the work single handed. A subscription of $2,000,000 was voted to aid the Canal. In 183.1 the $8,000,000 loan l)ill was passed, of which the Canal received .$3,000,000, the Baltimore and Ohio $3,000,000, and the balance was distributed among other improvement companies on the Eastern and Western Shore. Still further sub- scriptions even after this were called for and voted by the State, until in 1839 her debt had swelled to the appalling sum of $16,000,000. To discharge the inter- 14 est duo on this immense debt, tlie ordinnrv revenues of the State were insufheient, and various schemes for raisinii' the necessary funds were suggested. It was even proposed to use the scliool fund, and a stamp act was actually resorted to, so great and pressing was the financial strait in which the people of the State Avere involved. It was at this juncture that Chancellor Johnson, then Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, of the House of Delagates, aj^plied to the President of the Colonization Society for informa- tion, whether it was not possible to dispense with the State's annual appropriation. The treasury was empty — the public creditor could not be paid — the people were burdened with onerous and odious taxes — econo- my and retrenchment were absolutely necessary to save the credit of the State. But the Society needed the money, and the appropriation was made and paid to the day. Let it further be recorded, that after a severe trial of public virtue the financial honor of Maryland passed through the crisis unstained, and on the 1st of January, 1848, after a seven years suspension, the State resumed the ])ayment of interest upon its whole debt, the perfect obligation of which, during every year of default, had been sternly upheld and maintained. Depreciated at that time in value more than a half, the credit of Maryland sells to-day at a hea^y premium, and every man who takes it knows that he holds as his security the unsullied honor of a people wlio have never broken a promise or repudiated an obligation. The Railrond Company. Avliicli (lrni>-gO(l its slow length nlono- the Potomac, has loiio- since passed the Ohio, and reaching still fin-thor westward secm'ed a permanent hold upon the shores of the Lakes and the Mississippi. With its cooperative connections it has grappled the commercial centres of the South and Southwest, and linked with hooks of steel the Atlan- tic to the Pacitic. Chartered at a time when tlie assessed value of all the property in Baltimore, both real and personal, was only about |2o,000,000, it represents with its connections to-day $170,000,000. In 1839 it operated 81 miles of road, exclusive of the AYashington branch, with 26 locomotives, and earned in the transportation of passengers and freight $407,000 in round numbers. To-day it has 560 loco- motive engines, running over 2,460 miles of track, and earning upon the average nearly $15,000,000 in the year. During the j^ast crop year the receipts of grain in Baltimore, by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, amounted to 17,000,000 bushels. In 1860 the receipts were only 531,000 bushels. With the contributory aid of the Xorthern Central, it has poui-cd into I>altimore during the past year ending on the 1st of August, more corn from the West than passed during the same period into the combined ports of Xew York, Boston and Philadelphia. Xor is this a mere tem- porary spurt. There are substantial reasons why the ascendency which Baltimore has reached as the export- ing depot for Western grain, should bo maintained as a permanent feature in her commercial history. 16 She has lirst tlic^ ndvantage of distance and the relatively cheaper cost of transportation which a short line necessarily insnres. The average distance in favor of I^altiniore, to Chicago, as compared with Xew York is 156 miles ; to Cincinnati, 255 miles ; to St. Louis, 259 miles ; to Omaha, 172 miles ; to South- ern and Southwestern centres of commercial import- ance, 196 miles. To this natural advantage, which, like nature, is permanent and eternal, she has added the best terminal facilities to be found in an Eastern port, with the lowest rates for handling grain. She has also established a system of elevator inspections which has given the Baltimore shipped grain a local reputation in Great Britain. This, with the deepening of her harbor, so as to make her wdiarves accessible to vessels of the largest draft, with the cheapest and best fuel for steam purposes in the world, completes the superb circle of her unrivalled facilities. The practical result of them has been, that not only does the Western shipper do better by sending his grain to Baltimore, but the foreign purchaser is benefited by an average saving of three cents per bushel. In this connection it would be pro])er, if time y>cy- mitted, to refer to the resources of Maryland. I might speak of the wonderful fertility of her soil, the splendid mineral treasures which slumber beneath it, her temperate climate Avhich favors every cereal pro- duction of value, the profusion of fruits, wdiich give her the lirst standing among the States as a fruit grower, the untold wealth of her waters in tish and in oysters. I might draw a picture of the State, toAvering ill iiiajestic l)eaiity from tlie shore of tlie Bay, until lier head is hxst in the chnuls of the Alleghanies, drawing after her a trailing robe of splendor, as the summer lily begins to fade, and autumn blushes in all her cheeks, while plenty crowns with fruits and flowers the queenliest mouth of the year. I might take you through those beautiful valleys, watered by the Pipe aud the Patapsco, the Monocacy and the Autietam, in the full harvest time when all the land is waving with gold and the air musical with the songs of contented labor. I might point you to the Chesa- peake, the finest inland sheet of water stirred by ocean's tides, whitened by the canvas of every nation, and roll- ing its waves over treasures richer far than sunken gal- leons or coral reefs. I might say behold the Eastern Shore, blushing like a bride amid the dowered wealtli of tield and orchard. Throughout all her borders I could point you to happy liresides, the abodes of cul- ture and hospitality, where good cheer is dispensed with an open hand and a kind heart. But Maryland speaks of the past to-day, and not the present. Her thoughts are not busy with her farms or her factories, her commerce or her arts. They are with her dead. She is travelling back to the scene of her origin, as a full grown man visits the home of his childhood, to draw fresh courage and hope from the venerable associations Avliich cluster around the old homestead, to be softened by the lin- o-erino- sweetness of a motluM-'s love — to be strenu-th- ened bv the sturdy memory of a father's example. 8 IS upon this day, (»1" all otlicr days in tlio yoar, slic has reason to say that it is n(»t in miles of railroad, not in sjtindlos or looms, not in liocks or herds, that Maryland connts her wealth. It is in the illustrious deeds of immortal sons, in the priceless heritage of iiTeat names — in the lon^- and leno-thenino- roll of deathless honor. The humble building she has set up upon this spot contains but little. ^V few Avoods and marbles, some minerals and ores, specimen pro- ducts of her waters, comprise pretty mueli all there is to be seen. But there are names and faces looking down from the walls of that building which teach us that the moral grandeur of man is not in what he possesses, but in what he suffers and does for the good of his kind. Let me attempt to reproduce the scene which this anniversary day recalls. It will be borne in mind that the province of ^Maryland, by the express terms of its charter, was exemjDted from British taxa- tion. The earliest effort, therefore, on the part of (rreat Britain to levy taxes in Maryland by means of the Stamp Act, had been resisted with a boldness nowhere else exhibited in the colonies. Independ- ently of their chartered rights, it was insisted that the freemen of ]\Iaryland, as I^ritish subjects, could not be taxed without representation in Parliament. But the union of the two rights, as guaranteed by the express recognition of the charter and the tradi- tions of the English Constitution, rendered their posi- tion impregnable. Xot only was Hood the stamp vendor dri\en out of Maryland, but Frederick county Court solemnly decided that the Stamp Act Avas uncon- 19 stitutional and void. This audacious treatment of an Act of Parliament was followed, al^ont nine years after- Avards, by a still more remarkable assertion of right by the freemen of ^Maryland. The brig "Peggy Stewart," belonging to a merchant in Annapolis, Mr. Anthony Stewart, had xentured into that port, on the loth of October, with a cargo of tea in direct violation of the compact entered into by the sons of liberty, that tea was a "detestable plant," and should not be imported as long as Great Britain as- serted the right to tax the colonies. As soon as the facts were known the sons of liberty began to assem- ble, and the greatest excitement prevailed. Stewart and the consignees of the tea who paid the duties, were at a loss to know what to do. They offered to ship the tea to the West Indies. They were ready to make any concessions, and in fact, drew up and signed the humblest of apologies. At this juncture, they applied for advice to Charles Carroll of Carrollton, in many respects the most extraordinary man the revolution produced. He was rich, had been educated in France, read law in tlie Temple, and had now returned to his native land soon to take possession of one of the finest estates in America. But he was not at liberty to vote or to hold office, or even to worship God, except in the privacy of his own chapel. It was to him that Stewart, in a crisis which he keenly felt, involved not only his character, but liis liberty also, and possibly his life, apjdied for counsel. And what was the advice? Send the brig away, with her cargo, to some other port as had been suggested. Xo. Take your 2i) vessel. Mr. Stcnvart, to .some coiivoiiient })()int, and in tlie ])resence of your fellow-citizens, whose sense of liberty you have outraii'ed. with your own hand, in broad day-light, burn her to the waters edge. The urgency of this suggestion was emphasised by the a])pearance of Dr. NA^arfield, of Anne Arundel County, at the head of a "AYhig Club," who not only insisted upon burn- ing the vessel, but were bent on hanging the owner. The advice was taken, and on the 19th of October, 1774, the offending brig was run on Windmill Point, off Annapolis, and there, in the presence of a great multitude, at the Capital of the Province, and in the face of the Provincial authorities, ^Ir. Stewart set lire to his vessel, Avhich, with her cargo of tea, was totally consumed. As the iiames kindled amid the shrouds of the doomed vessel, and flickered over the curious faces of the ardent multitude who lined the shore, the bonds which bound the old country to the new snapped with every burning cord, and as the black and smoldering wreck slowly settled in the water, it required no prophet's eye to see that a gulf as Avide as the ocean was beginning to open between England and her colonies. Remember this was six months to a day before the memorable shot tired at Lexington was "heard round the world." I am at a loss to know which to admire most^ — the sublime audacity of the act, or the man at whose instance it was done. Had Mr. Carroll been poor and irresponsible, it might be said that he risked little. l)ecause he had little to lose. But he was one of the richest men in the country. If he had been invested witli tlic rights of a freeman, it would not l)e so difficult to understand M'liy lie should have acted the part of a freeman. But he was a disfran- chised man, and the marked disciple of a despised and persecuted sect. Venerable man! iirst of citizens without a State — first of patriots witliout a country, an exile in your native land, an outlaw upon your own hearth-stone. Maryland, without a fetter upon conscience or creed — without a slave in her borders, black or white, in the presence of her dignitaries ; Avith your own distin- guished descendant as her Chief Magistrate, names you first in the long roll of her illustrious dead ! Along with Carroll stood Chase, the Demosthenes of America, the man who knew no halting, but thundered right on to his purpose, with the faith of a projdiet and the zeal of a martyr. There was Johnson, too. the first Governor of the State, and the first to mnninate George Washington as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental army. Who can tell the braAC story of ^Maryland's heroes, Smallwood, Howard, Gist, Williams, Smith, who gath- ered around Virginia's immortal son, leading the van or covering the retreat from Long Island to Cowpens ? There, too, was Tilghman, an Aid to Washington from the beginnino- to the close of the war, in everv eno-ao-e- ment in which the main army was concerned ; serving- like his chief most of his tinu^ without i)av, and dvino- at an early age with a reputation which drew from AVashinu'ton one of the bravest and tendcrest tributes 22 which one sohlier can ])ay to anotlici". Wlio can speak for tliat nameless band whose part "lu all the pdini) that lllls The ^Jummor circuit of the hills, Is that their grave is green." When the war had closed on the 19th day of Octo- ber, at Yorktown, amid the tears and })landits of a gratefnl people, it was in the capital of Maryland that Washington surrendered the commission which had been tendered him on the nomination of a ]Maryland man, and which had been so patiently, so faithfully, and so gloriously fultilled. The 19th of October wit- nessed in Maryland, in later days, a scene of which no other State can boast. On that day, in the midst of Ploward's Park, the tall white shaft which records the public services of Washington, was completed by the erection of that colossal statue which looks down with calm benignity upon the stately editices and thronging multitudes of Baltimore. The immediate successors of the reA^olutionary heroes were worthy of their sires and remembrance. ^Vnd here a tribute would be due to the "Old Defenders" of the war of '12, if time permitted, and particularly to Xey, who, as a Mary- land man, has linked lier name to that stately strain whose measured march fitly marks the time of national progress in peace and war. A school of lawyer statesmen sprung u]) in Maryland, of which William Pinkney was the most distinguished ornament. The greatest lawyer in America as Chief Justice, Marshall is said to ha\e pronounced him; he also exhibited the ■21) rarest gifts of tlio diplomat and tlic orator. Xo man can understand the full power and compass of forensic eloquence, even although he is vet glowing with the inspiration of Erskine, who has not followed Pinkney in some of his magnilicent flights, in which he soars like the eagle to unapproachable altitudes, but bears you aloft so easily, and with such a steady stroke and even strength of wing, that all jipprehension of a fall is lost in the glorious exhilaration of the ascent. AVirt, too, is not to be forgotten, who, in addition to his splendid abilities and attainments, added the charm of a graceful pen. Passed away too recently for eulogy is our own Johnson — lawyer and statesman — making and leaving his impression upon the people of the wdiole country, known and honored not only at home but abroad. There, too, was the venerable Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, Avhose monument had long been com- pleted in the recorded judgments of the Supreme Court, and crowned with the figure of justice herself, before his bust was permitted to fill its appointed niche among the worthies who grace its walls. The virtuous example of illustrious jurists like these im- pressed itself u])on the bar of ^laryland ; and not only, as a general rule, helped to mould the characters of upright and honorable practitioners, but also gave us a bench which, without exception, 1 l)elieve, has maintained its purity and integrity, unsullied by the faintest shadow of corruption. A\'(\nk judges there may have been — stupid judges possibly — although upon the Avhole the bench has maintained a high L>4 character for learning and intelligence, Init a corrupt judge — a taker of bribes, like some animal of an extinct species, was never heard of in ^Maryland. There is one reflection to which I wish to give a voice before closing, and for which I crave your considerate indulgence, because I feel that it is venturing upon dan- gerous ground. Maryland, as I have attempted to show, is not merely one of the oldest of the States, but in point of devel- opment in the growth of those principles of civil and religious liberty which distinguish the system of institutions and laws. State and national, under which we have lived and prospered, is in point of fact the mru oldest of the original thirteen. Assuming the privilege which is everywhere accorded to ripened expe- rience and wisdom, repelling with scorn and indigna- tion the very thought of party or partizanship, con- scious of her own rectitude and purity of intention, she has a word of admonition to offer, in this hundredth year of the republic, which she hopes may strengthen its foundations against the assaults of the coming cen- tury: She knows that natioujd sentiment, the instinct which we call j^^'^fi'iotism, originates, not so much either in lineage or language, as in the associations of common perils and trials. It is in the struggle with a common enemy, in the vicissitudes of the battle, in the glory of the triumph, that national character is shaped and hardened. It took seven hundred years' war with the Moor to make the Spaniard. It was in the long and bloody contests with France that the pride of the Enu'lisliman received its national imi^ulse. Ger- 25 many tu-day, in contact with the same power, discov- ered at Sedan the source and secret of a new unity. So it was with this country. It was the struggle for inde- pendence which made us a i)eoi)h\ What is to unmake us ? that is the problem. It is ai)parent that the com- mon fame of the revolution, in which we all share, and which has heretofore been the unfailing source of national sentiment, lias dried up or receded within shrivelled banks under the scorching influence of our civil war. ]\Ien are atfected by wliat is near — not by what is remote, and the glory of the fathers is not so telling when it has been equalled, if not eclipsed, by the more recent glory of their sons. Trenton, Saratoga, and even Yorktown, will some- times be forgotten by a generation which has thrilled with the living echoes of Appomattox and Gettys- burg, of Chancellorsville and the first and second Manassas. Precious the long lost dust at Long Island, where the young valor of Maryland went down amid the tears of Washington, but nearer still the graves of Antietam and Loudon Park where, in the happy spring time, eyes grow wet and hearts are heavy as flowers are strewn where sods are green. These are influences which denationalize a peoj^le, unless their tendency is carefully watched and checked by the j^roj^er remedy. The counsel of Maryland, touched by a sense of charity and toleration which have hallowed her sentiments from the cradle — the counsel of tlie land of Calvert who first opened the doors of Church and State to all — of the land of Carroll, who has left the most perfect 4 LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 2<3 006 043 477 3 example of a generous and forgiving spirit to be found in the records of our country — of the land of Pinkney and of Johnson, whose great voices were ever heard on the side of conciliation and compromise, her counsel, her prayer, is for peace between the sections. Not a smothered war, covered over with treacherous ashes, which the wind of every political canvass scatters aside ; not a policy which marshalls the sections in solid and hostile array ; but a principle based upon toleration and charity, as the cohesive elements of national unit3\ She wishes all the people to feel that these recent dead, whether they be shrouded in blue or gray, are a part of the common heritage of fame ; that all — all are Americans, witnessing by their blood their agony and their death, that heroic virtue still survives among men ; that the cause for which on one side or the other they died, may in the coming mutations of time be forgotten or sunk out of sight in some mightier convulsion, along the line of some fresh fracture ; but that the valor, the self-denial, the long suffering which consecrates the cause, will live forever. Then what was sown in weakness may be raised in strength, and the glorified bt)dy of the new Union, in strict obedience to the law of life, spring into beauty and order from the festering mould of its own corruption and decay.