CHAPTER VIII.
Timothy Webster in Washington.—The Return to Philadelphia.—I go to the Capital.—An Important Letter.
After leaving the White House, Timothy Webster went immediately in quest of a conveyance that would enable him to reach Baltimore without unnecessary delay. He expected to encounter greater difficulties in obtaining what he desired here in Washington than he had met with in Baltimore, for the reason that in the capital he was a comparative stranger, while in the latter city he had numerous friends, who believed him to be in sympathy with the Confederacy, and whose assistance he could rely upon on that account. His only hope, therefore, lay in his being able to find some friendly Baltimorean, upon whose influence he could depend to procure him a mode of conveyance for his return. Having arrived late on the preceding evening and being terribly fatigued by the journey he had made, Webster had retired almost immediately after he reached his hotel, and consequently he was surprised at the busy scenes which greeted him now. The capital was swarming with soldiers and civilians. Regiments continually arriving and were being assigned to quarters and positions around the city, and the streets were filled with eager and excited multitudes. The position which Maryland had assumed was vehemently discussed everywhere, and the riotous conduct of the Baltimoreans was loudly denounced by Northern men, and secretly applauded by those whose sympathies were with the cause of the South. The prompt action of General Butler, with his regiment of Massachusetts soldiers, who followed quickly after the sixth, in going by boat directly to Annapolis, in order to reach Washington without hindrance or delay, and his patriotic and determined response to those in authority, who sought to induce him to change his plans for reaching the capital, were everywhere warmly commended. There could be no doubt that the North was thoroughly aroused, and were dreadfully in earnest in their determination to suppress a rebellion which they believed to be causeless, unlawful and threatening the future of a great country.
As Webster walked along Pennsylvania Avenue, carefully scanning the faces of every one he met in the hope of discovering some one whom he knew and who might be of service to him, he recognized the driver who had brought him from Baltimore on the day before, and who started in astonishment at finding the man whom he had last seen a prisoner in the hands of United States troops now walking the streets free and unattended. This man was accompanied by three others, with two of whom Webster was slightly acquainted, and he at once advanced toward them and greeted them cordially.
"Why, Webster, is that you?" inquired the foremost of the party, a well-known "sympathizer" of the name of John Maull. "We heard you had been taken prisoner—how did you get out so soon?"
"That is easily accounted for," said Webster, with a laugh; "I was simply arrested on suspicion, and when they could find nothing about me that was at all suspicious, they were compelled to let me go."
"This country is coming upon strange times," remarked a sallow-faced Baltimorean who boasted of having been one of the most prominent of the rioters a few days before, "when a man can be arrested in this way and have no means of redress."