I do this under the conviction that you will resist to the last extremity all invasions of our constitution and especially the abominable scheme of electing an irresponsible and despotic tribunal, and with full power to provide for the protection, safety, peace and defense of the State. I can assure your excellency that every good and resolute citizen without respect of party who is not engaged in this mad crusade against the principles of republicanism will stand by you and resist with their lives the plot of a revolutionary cohort. I am, very respectfully, your fellow-citizen, HENRY MAY. [No. 2.] WAR DEPARTMENT, C. S. A., Richmond, July 5, 1861. Col. EPPA HUNTON, Commanding, Leesburg: Henry May has permission to visit Harper's Ferry or any other point in the Confederacy upon his honor as a man that he will not communicate in writing or verbally for publication any fact asc: tained by him. L. P. WALKER, [No. 3.] Secretary of War. By A. T. BLEDSOE, Chief Bureau of War. FORT MCHENRY, near Baltimore, July 6, 1861. Hon. HENRY MAY, Representative of Fourth Maryland District. In haste, I am, very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, [No. 4.] Marshal of Baltimore. Hon. HENRY MAY, Washington. BALTIMORE, July 19, 1861. MY DEAR SIR: I can not feel satisfied without thanking you as a Marylander for the noble stand you have taken amongst a powerful * See Vol. I, this series, p. 619 et seq., for report of board of police of Baltimore and Mayor Brown's letter to the legislature, correspondence, etc., relating to the "Arrest of the mayor, marshal and police commissioners of Baltimore." opposition which has trampled under foot the glorious heritage once vouchsafed to the humblest of American citizens. May God protect you and give you health and strength together with every blessing. Truly, yours, HENRY M. WARFIELD. [No. 5.] Hon. HENRY MAY, Washington. BALTIMORE, July 19, 1861. MY DEAR SIR: I returned on Wednesday from Frederick County perfectly restored to health, but of course anxious to know the news. One of the most gratifying things I have read is the newspaper account of your bold and manly speech in the House yesterday* of which I will thank you for a copy. It is I know always gratifying to a gentleman holding such a position as yours to find that his course meets with the approbation of his constituents and I therefore feel I am not intruding when I tell you that the manner in which you denounced the insolent and contemptible attempt to injure you and the tyrannical usurpation which has trampled upon our rights here receives the sanction of all those whose opinions are worth anything. I am myself particularly glad that you have stood up so manfully, because I can point to your position as proof of my repeated declarations before the election to some who were not disposed to give you their votes that you would if elected do everything that could be done to vindicate the rights and protect the interests of Baltimore. The temper manifested by the dominant party leaves small room for hope that they will pause before any constitutional barrier, but it is a consolation to know that our Representative will under all circumstances remain true to us and to himself. I was sorry to see by the papers that you were unwell, but hope you have now recovered. Sincerely, yours, MY DEAR SIR: Mrs. Bayard Smith has not received your speech. She wishes to have several of yours and of Mr. Breckinridge's if you can get them for her. (Women govern men, and are not to be neglected by you politicians.) I told Mrs. Smith I should write to you to remind you to send your speech. She said, "And give him my love, if he keeps on as he has begun." The excellent little lady is very much in earnest. Old Hodge, condemning her zeal, told Corcoran, "The little woman is crazy." "Crazy?" retorted C.; "it's of such women that heroes are born." Carlisle thinks it a capital card-a great occasion for you and Charles O'Conor-the habeas corpus before Judge Nelson. You will have as fine an opportunity as ever Erskine had. I had the honor of an interview yesterday with Old Abe to procure the execution of a sentence of a court-martial cashiering a volunteer colonel for spoil and pillage. My zeal was somewhat too apparent so he took time to consider of it. Yours, faithfully, J. F. LEE, [Judge-Advocate, U. S. Army.] *For May's speech referred to in this and the following letter see proceedings of the House of Representatives on July 18, 1861, in the Congressional Globe of July 20, 1861, at p. 196 et seq. Permit me in conclusion to confess a conviction that arms in the hands of the North alone employed by an Administration elected on a principle of hostility of an irrepressible conflict against the most vital interests of the South, in which are also involved the safety if not the very existence of its people, and which Administration has hitherto manifested an uncompromising policy against those very interests since its accession to power, will not be able to preserve or restore our Union of States. But if it be otherwise and the mere declaration of a purpose to subdue their opposition has so generally united the people of the South in an attitude of hostility the clash of arms upon their soil and the terrible bloodshed that must ensue will leave but few indeed if any during our generation to feel or testify a sentiment of loyalty, or the undying hatred of a free people against their conquerors will descend to their children. And the bitter and sanguinary spirit too of the North presages a miserable future of domination, producing only discord and not union. These sad contemplations force upon me the most painful apprehensions that the tendency of events is now hurrying us into a form of consolidated government if not a military despotism, since a war of sections can only conquer peace at the expense of liberty and union. We must all therefore upon the most impressive responsibilities that rest upon men at once invoke the benign influences of peace, conciliation, compromise and preserve together and perpetuate our liberties and glorious Union one and inseparable. A detached manuscript with figure 8 on one margin, writing having every_semblance of May's, wherein he declares arms in the hands of the North is evidence of hostility against the vital interests of the South, and charges the spirit of the North as bitter and sanguinary and conducive of discord and not union and obviously leading to a consolidated or military government. FORT HAMILTON, New York Harbor, September 27, 1861. Col. E. D. TOWNSEND, Asst. Adjt. Gen., Hdqrs. of the Army, Washington City. SIR: Yesterday evening I received the following prisoners from General Wool. They are now confined at Fort Lafayette. They were receipted for to Captain Coster, U. S. Army: Very respectfully, your obedient servant, * Henry May. MARTIN BURKE, Lieutenant-Colonel, U. S. Army, Commanding. WASHINGTON, October 9, 1861. Hon. W. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. SIR: As an intimate personal friend of Hon. Henry May I would earnestly ask the favor of you for permission to visit him at Fort Lafayette upon my own and private business in which he is deeply interested. Awaiting your reply, I am, with great respect, your obedient servant, T. POULTNEY. Would the release of Hon. Henry May be granted upon his parole of honor to remain out of the State of Maryland and not to speak or write one word upon our national trouble? DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 10, 1861. Lieut. Col. MARTIN BURKE, Fort Lafayette, N. Y. SIR: Herewith I inclose to you a copy of a communication addressed to the President by John F. May relative to his brother, Henry May, a prisoner confined at Fort Lafayette. You will please allow Mr. Henry May such privileges of air and exercise as may be consistent with his safe-keeping. I am, sir, your obedient servant, [Inclosure.] WILLIAM H. SEWARD. WASHINGTON, October 10, 1861. The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. SIR: I feel it to be my duty to address you in regard to the privations and cruel treatment of my brother, the Hon. Henry May, now a prisoner in Fort Lafayette. From the interview I had with you some weeks since I was led to hope that my brother would soon be released for you then told me such was your belief, and especially did I indulge this hope from the certainty I felt that no direct charge of disloyalty against the.Government of the United States either by word or deed or thought had been brought or could be sustained against him. If no such charge has been brought against him has he not the right to ask that one should be preferred or that he should be released? Or is he to be held in hopeless confinement and subjected to the sufferings he is now enduring both from disease and the place in which he is imprisoned? That place, sir, is a casemate in Fort Lafayette and in that one apartment are now confined thirty-three persons so crowded together that their narrow beds are actually in contact, and when the condition of the weather requires that the port-holes should be closed you may imagine the atmosphere which is inhaled by a man whose lungs are diseased as will be seen by the inclosed certificate of Dr. N. R. Smith, his physician in Baltimore. The prisoners who are confined in this casemate and all the others who are in this fort (some 100 in number) are locked up at 6 o'clock in the evening and a few minutes after 9 o'clock the few tallow lights allowed them are by order extin guished and then in this crowded apartment in darkness and a foul atmosphere my brother with his companions linger night after night subjected to a treatment more suitable to a felon than to a gentleman whose honor is as pure as any man's in this land, and whose only crime is that while endeavoring to keep the peace in his own State at all times and on all occasions he has been opposed to the policy of your Administration in regard to the unhappy difficulties in which our country is now involved. I state these facts which I have obtained from a person who has recently been released from Fort Lafayette and who was confined in the same room with my brother. He tells me that his health is giving way and expressed to me the belief that he will sink under this cruel treatment if it is continued. One of my brothers, an officer of the U. S. Navy, is now dying of consumption. I have lost two others in less than two years and a fourth will in all human probability be added to the list if it is deemed proper to continue the treatment he is now receiving. I am ignorant of the proper authority to address in relation to the treatment and sufferings of prisoners arrested by order of the Government of the United States and I therefore address you directly as the head of that Government and respectfully request that this statement of facts may be recorded or filed in the proper Department with a hope that it may lead to their redress. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, [Sub-inclosure.] JNO. FRED'K MAY. BALTIMORE, September 18, 1861. This is to certify that I have attended professionally the Hon. Henry May for some six years past on account of an affection of his lungs which has rendered it impossible for him to continue his professional avocations and which at times has most seriously affected his respiration and voice. Confinement in a close apartment will in my opinion seriously affect his health. I think it of the utmost importance that he should enjoy the open air and exercise. N. R. SMITH, M. D. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 11, 1861. Col. MARTIN BURKE, Fort Hamilton, N. Y. SIR: You are authorized to release the Hon. Henry May, of Baltimore, now confined at Fort Lafayette, to attend his brother's funeral and under an engagement to return to the fort if required by the Secretary of State. I am, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD. FORT HAMILTON, New York Harbor, October 11, 1861. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. SIR: Inclosed please find engagement of Hon. Henry May to return to Fort Lafayette if required by the Secretary of State. Mr. May has been released and started for Baltimore immediately. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, MARTIN BURKE, Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding. [Inclosure.] FORT HAMILTON, N. Y., October 11, 1861. I, Henry May, do hereby give my word of honor that I will return to Fort Lafayette if required by the Secretary of State. Witnesses: HENRY MAY. HENRY E. SMITH. CUMBERLAND, MD., October 12, 1861. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Washington. MY DEAR SIR: The inclosed tells a story that I am sure will affect you. I send it as the best mode I can think of to accomplish the pur |