We call attention to the following communication with which we have been favored by a distinguished citizen of the
South, who is well acquainted with the state of public sentiment, and who has recently returned from
Maryland, and was present in the
Baltimore battle on Friday:
Editor of the Dispatch:--The position of
Maryland is an exceedingly critical one.--There is imminent danger of having her forced into a position which will enable
Lincoln to recover from the blow which the
Southern men delivered in
Baltimore last Friday.--
Hicks is in favor of organizing an "Union-at-any- price" party, under the style of an armed neutrality.
But that armed neutrality will be made to include the
Capital at
Washington, the
President,
Cabinet officers, and the
Northern forces now stationed there.
A few days will suffice to enlist the sympathy of the
Maryland troops on the side of the
Northern Government, because special care will be taken by Winter
Davis, that the enemies of the
South shall be enrolled at
Washington.--With the city of
Washington thus secured, the District of Columbia will become the base of operations from which to wage an offensive war upon
Virginia, and thus gradually detach
Maryland from our cause.
Baltimore has raised the standard of resistance, and if the
Southern men there had been organized and armed,
Lincoln would have been a prisoner to-day.
Our friends are not armed as they should be. There are, perhaps, seven or eight thousand men in
Maryland armed more or less effectively.
But the hope in
Baltimore is, that the line of communication will be opened between
Virginia and
Baltimore, by the capture, at once, of
Washington.
This is the hope, and this is the expectation.
It can be done.
But now is the time to do it, before
Hicks, Winter
Davis and
Gen. Scott can divert the
Baltimore movement into an anti-Southern channel.
By taking
Washington, we are complete masters of the position.
It secures
Maryland and
Baltimore, and thus secures
Western Virginia, because
Western Virginia is more influenced by
Baltimore than by
Richmond.
It secures
Delaware, because
Delaware is influenced by
Maryland in the same manner that
Maryland is influenced by
Virginia.
It advances our base of operations beyond
Baltimore on the high road to
Philadelphia, where we would hand like an avenging cloud over that City of Brotherly Hate, with the power to reach even New York.
With
Philadelphia and New York thus threatened, we cause a diversion which will force the western troops to the
Atlantic seaboard, and thus encourage, embolden and animate the
Southern men in
Kentucky and
Missouri.
It is unnecessary to refer to the moral
prestige which we would gain by possessing
Washington.
Every dictate of policy, of chivalry, and of gratitude, should urge
Virginia to march to the relief of
Baltimore.
Our friends there are perhaps this day fighting with their hands against
Lincoln's armed hosts or the mercenaries of Henry Winter
Davis.
The Southern men of
Baltimore have literally thrown their unarmed bodies before the sword bayonets of the abolition troops, to save
Virginia.
They themselves have struck the blow, and surely we should be ready to march to their relief.
We can only reach them — by marching through the city of
Washington.
Baltimore has asked for arms.
Let us take them there over the dead bodies of
Lincoln and his abolition crew.
Texas Ranger.
Spotswood House, April 22, 1861.
