stated. I believe that the partisan spirit is as rife
and as bitter in many parts of this State, as it can be in South
Carolina or Georgia.

"A remarkable instance of this popular feeling occurred last week, at a
large sale in Howard county. The late proprietor, an Irishman by
descent, belonging to one of the old Roman Catholic families that have
been territorial magnates here for generations, had a great fancy for
dividing his land into small holdings, rented by men of proportionately
small means, so as to establish a sort of English tenant-system,
involving, of course, much free labor. It would have been hard to select
a spot in that country where the abolition feeling would be more likely
to prevail. On the present occasion about six hundred farmers and others
were assembled. They were Southerners to a man; at least, no one hinted
at dissent when Jefferson Davis's health and more violent Southern
toasts were drunk amidst a storm of cheers.

"Twice has Maryland been taunted with her inaction, if not charged with
deliberate treachery; first when, at the outbreak of the war, she did
not openly secede; again, when she did not second by a general rising
Lee's invasion of her boundary. It would be well to remember that for
Maryland to declare herself, before Virginia had actually done so, would
have been the insanity of rashness. She could hardly be expected to defy
the vengeance of the North, while cut off by a neutral State from
Southern aid, especially since Governor Hicks' measures of disarmament,
by which not only the militia but private individuals were deprived of
their firelocks. Virginia has fought so gallantly since then, that it is
easy to forget her tardiness in drawing the sword; but it would be vain
to deny that on the southern bank of the Potomac there does exist a
certain jealousy, arising probably from conflicting commercial
interests, which has led to suspicion and misconception already, and may
lead to more harm yet. General Lee issued his proclamation inviting
Maryland to rise only one day before he commenced his retreat--short
notice, surely, for a revolution involving not only the temporary ruin
of many interests, but the certainty of collision with a Federal army of
one hundred and twenty thousand men then within the border of the State.
Had Maryland joined the Confederacy a year ago, I believe her entire
territory would be desolate now, as are most great battlefields. With
the immense means of nava