Soon, however, these embarrassments came to an end, and the President’s policy was vindicated by its fruits.  It had been strictly his own; he alone ruled the occasion, and he did so in the face of severe pressure to do otherwise, some of which came even from members of his cabinet.  Firmness, reasonableness, and patience brought things right; Lincoln spoke sensibly to the Marylanders, and gave them time to consider the situation.  Such treatment started a reaction; Unionism revived and Unionists regained courage.  Moreover, the sure pressure of material considerations was doing its work.  Baltimore, as an isolated secession outpost, found, even in the short space of a week, that business was destroyed and that she was suffering every day financial loss.  In a word, by the end of the month, “the tide had turned.”  Baltimore, if not quite a Union city, at least ceased to be secessionist.  On May 9 Northern troops passed unmolested through it.  On May 13 General Butler with a body of troops took possession of Federal Hill, which commands the harbor and city, and fortified it.  If the Baltimore question was still open at that time, this settled it.  Early in the same month the state legislature came together, Mr. Lincoln refusing to accept the suggestion of interfering with it.  This body was by no means Unionist, for it “protested against the war as unjust and unconstitutional, announced a determination to take no part in its prosecution, and expressed a desire for the immediate recognition of the Confederate States.”  Yet practically it put a veto on secession by voting that it was inexpedient to summon a convention; it called on all good citizens “to abstain from violent and unlawful interference with the troops.”  Thus early in May this brand, though badly scorched, was saved from the conflagration; and its saving was a piece of good fortune of which the importance cannot be exaggerated; for without Maryland Washington could hardly have been held, and with the national capital in the hands of the rebels European recognition probably could not have been prevented.  These momentous perils were in the mind of the administration during those anxious days, and great indeed was the relief when the ultimate turn of affairs became assured.  For a week officials in Washington were painfully taught what it would mean to have Baltimore a rebel city and Maryland a debatable territory and battle-ground.  For a week Mr. Lincoln and his advisers lived almost in a state of siege; they were utterly cut off from communication with the North; they could get no news; they could not learn what was doing for their rescue, nor how serious were the obstructions in the way of such efforts; in place of correct information they heard only the most alarming rumors.  In a word, they were governing a country to which they really had no access.  The tension of those days was awful; and it was with infinite comfort that they became certain that, whatever other strain might come, this one at least could not be repeated.  Henceforth the loyalty of Maryland, so carefully nurtured, gradually grew in strength to the end.  Many individuals long remained in their hearts disloyal, and thousands[137] joined the Confederate ranks; but they had to leave their State in order to get beneath a secessionist standard, for Maryland was distinctly and conclusively in the Union.