Part 30 (1/2)
The tall man merely smiled--his furious visitor starting for the door, turned and growled:
”It is absolutely useless to discuss this question further?”
”Absolutely, Senator.”
”And you will not order our regular troops to take Baltimore immediately at the point of the bayonet?”
”I will not.”
”Good day, sir!”
”Good day, Senator.”
With a muttered explosion of wrath Gilbert Winter shook the dust of the White House floor from his feet and solemnly promised G.o.d it would be many moons before he degraded himself by again entering its portals.
The President had need of all his patience and caution in dealing with Maryland. The next protest demanded that troops should not pa.s.s by way of Annapolis or over any other spot of the soil of the State.
He calmly but firmly replied:
”My troops must reach Was.h.i.+ngton. They can neither fly over the State of Maryland nor burrow under it: therefore, they must cross it, and your people must learn that there is no piece of American soil too good to be pressed by the foot of a loyal soldier on his march to the defense of the Capital and his country.”
During these anxious days while the fate of Maryland hung in the balance the Government was given a startling revelation of what it would mean to have Maryland hostile territory.
For a week the President and his Cabinet were in a state of siege. They got no news. They could send none save by courier. The maddest rumors were daily afloat. The President was supposed to be governing a country from which he was completely isolated.
The tension at last became unbearable. The giant figure stood for hours alone before his window in the White House, his sombre hazel-grey eyes fixed on the hills beyond the Potomac. When the silence could no longer be endured the anguish of his heart broke forth in impa.s.sioned protest:
”Great G.o.d! Why don't they come? Why don't they come! Is our Nation a myth? Is there no North?”
And then the tide turned and the troops poured into the city.
His patient, careful and friendly treatment of the Marylanders quickly proved its wisdom. A reaction in favor of the Union set in and the State remained loyal to the flag. The importance of this fact could not be exaggerated. Without Maryland, Was.h.i.+ngton could not have been held. And the moment the Capital should fall Europe would recognize the Confederacy.
The saving of Maryland for the Union, in fact, established Was.h.i.+ngton as the real seat of Government, though it was destined to remain for years but an armed fortress on the frontiers of a new Nation.
The stirring events at Sumter and Baltimore brought more than one family to the grief and horror of brother against brother and father against son.
John Vaughan stood in his room livid with rage confronting Ned on the first day that communication was opened with the outside world.
”You are not going to do this insane thing I tell you, Ned!”
The boyish figure stiffened:
”I am going home to Missouri on the first train out of Was.h.i.+ngton, raise a company and fight for the South.”
The older man's voice dropped to persuasive tones:
”Isn't there something bigger than fighting for a section? Let's stand by the Nation!”
”That's just what I refuse to do. The United States have never been a Nation. This country is a Republic of Republics--not an Empire. The South is going to fight for the right of local self-government and the liberties our fathers won from the tyrants of the old world. The South is right eternally and forever right. The States of this Union have always been sovereign.”