ar had stripped off the pretexts which enveloped the rebellion,
and it became evident that slavery had struck at the life of the
Republic, unmindful of consequences to himself, he, among the first,
arraigned the real traitor and demanded the penalty of death. The
denunciations that fell upon him like a cloud wrapped him in a mantle of
honor, and more truthfully than the great Roman orator he could have
exclaimed, "_Ego hoc animo semperfui, ut invidiam virtute partam,
gloriam non invidiam putarem_."

This man, so stern and inflexible in the execution of a purpose, so
rigorous in his demands of other men in behalf of a principle, so
indifferent to preferment and all base objects of pursuit, had a monitor
to whom he always gave an open ear and a prompt assent. It was no demon
like that which attended Socrates, no witch like that invoked by Saul,
no fiend like that to which Faust resigned himself. A vision of light
and life and beauty flitted ever palpably before him, and wooed him to
the perpetual service of the good and true. The memory of a pious and
beloved mother permeated his whole moral being, and kept warm within him
the tenderest affection. Hear how he wrote of her:

"My mother was a lady of graceful and simple manners, fair
complexion, blue eyes, and auburn hair, with a rich and exquisite
voice, that still thrills my memory with the echo of its vanished
music. She was highly educated for her day, when Annapolis was the
focus of intellect and fashion for Maryland, and its fruits shone
through her conversation, and colored and completed her natural
eloquence, which my father used to say would have made her an
orator, if it had not been thrown away on a woman. She was the
incarnation of all that is Christian in life and hope, in charity
and thought, ready for every good work, herself the example of all
she taught."

It was the force of her precept and example that formed the man, and
supplied him with his shield and buckler. His private life was spotless.
His habits were regular and abstemious, and his practice in close
conformity with the Episcopal church, of which he was a member. He
invariably attended divine service on Sunday, and confined himself for
the remainder of the day to a course of religious reading. If from his
father he drew a courage and a fierce determination before which his
enemies fled in confusion, from his mother he inherited those milder