The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-11-10
BALTIMORE.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10. 1858.

The triumph of Mr.. DOUGLAS in Illinois affords
matter of congratulation to the country. Despite
the revilings the cheers of party friends foes
Notwithstanding the littleness or the magnitude
of the standard by which his capacity is meas
ured by those outside of the particular organiza-
ton TO which he belongs, his position to-day en-
titles him to the general acclaim, because the
essential principles for which he struggled must
command the appreciation ofall.
Whatever questions may have been from time
to time comprehended within the wide limits
between which the political discussions in Illinois
have ranged, we conceive the real issue to have
been presented by those who, for years past have
misrepresented the North and South alike.
The fanatics who would extrpate, at every cost,
the institutions of the South, and those who, in
the face of all objection would reopen the slave
trade-those who would make Kansas slave
State by artifcially OVERLOOKING the land with
feeble and turbid stream of emigration, and those
who would keep it free by means of sermons and
Sharpe's rifles, have latterly contributed far too
largely to exaggerate the importance of the points
about which the North and South have had their
many chickering's. For long time matters have
been vergng towards condition when an ami
cable adjustment, general explosion on both
sides could no longer be deferred. ...
High words were first banded between men who
were as foolish as they unimportant, until the
hot blood of the more determined bystanders ex-
cited them to become parties to the fray. De
nuncatons levelled at individuals rs they in
creased in violence enlarged their scope, and par
ties sections and even States grew eventually to
be the objects of assault. Political heresies have
grown strong under persecution, which would
have sunk forever under mere contempt; and party
ties have been firmly welded beneath pressure
from without which if otherwise dealt with would
of themselves have fallen asunder.
Mr.. LINCOLN, the competitor of Mr. DOUGLAS, has
been foremost among those who have sought to
fan into flame the ill feeling heretofore engendered
and have lent their advocacy to doctrines which
can only be sustained bya sacrifice of the UNION
itself. He has counselled resistance to the de-
cisions of the Supreme Court he would array
men even at the hazard of a revolution against
the Fugitive Slave Law; and he has declared
that the whole Country must be all Slave or
all Free 1t is upon such grounds as these
that he appealed to the people of Illinois
and by those only who approved them was he
supported On far higher and nober propositions
were the claims of Mr.. DOUGLAS based. He de-
manded answering submission to the authorities
as constituted and recognized by the laws of the
land, when acting within their legitimate sphere;
he upheld the rights of the respective States to
maintain or create-to abolish or prohibit slavery
within their own limits; he insisted that no politi-
cal theory in the Union could be sound unless it
could equally exist beneath Northern and Southern
skies, and might be freely spoken by free men
from Maine to Texas.
As we said some months since, there is no safe
harbor of refuge for people, if the beacon lights
to which Mr.. DOUGLAS points are only false and
delusive. 1t is because of our convictions in re-
gard to the national importance of the views he
has so distinctly enunciated, that we hail with
satisfaction his late success. We enter into no
analysis of his character, nor now seek to deter
mine whether his capacity be gigantic in little
or great degree. We do not here propose to enlist
as active combatants either side of the party
which he has divided. We disapprove of the
personal position assumed by him in his late can
vass and have no hesitation in expressing our
condemnation of the manner in which that canvass
was conducted. These are all questions for flu
ture day. As he has stricken one good blow for
the Constitution and the Union we will do him,
were he twenty times the party traitor he is called
the same honor that we would accord to the loft
lest of 'Little Giants" At this moment when
faith in the purity of politicians is waning fast
and reliance on the people, irrespective of party
organizations, is anything but firm, the spectacle
exhibited by the contest in Illinois is cheering.
In opposition to the Administration and the Re
pu0cans both-wthout either the spoils of office
to allure, or fierce fanaticism to goad them on
the people of that State have fought good fight
and won it. If the example should be followed
by the other Northern States, as we have no doubt
that when the solemn crisis comes, it will be
what shall their Southern neghbors say and do2
Shall they be out-done in proffers of con-
Citation and good will? Will they be the last
to abandon enmities and idle prejudices? Is
there no way in which they can show determi-
nation to maintain undivided the common heri-
tage of all For ourseves-we will meet these
questions hopefully. Senator HAMMOND has
Swallowed forth what we believe to be the views
of a large majority of the citizens of the South
As wise as they are liberal-as true as they are
manly-there is every reason why they should be
adopted by the South and acquiesced in by the
North Not less than Mr.. DOUGLAS has Mr.. HAM
MoND earned his need of praise. Let them have
it in ample measure, for they are leading many
misguided men out of more than Egyptian
darkness Those who have never strayed from
the right path, nor been dazzled and blinded by
false and conflicting lights, must now do some
thing more than stand by and applaud. There is
a wiser and better feeling now manifesting itself
than has been active for some time past, and the
rising streams should be concentrated into one
broad current, to which may be safely entrusted
the destinies of a prosperous, happy, and undi-
vided people.