The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-03-22
BALTIMORE.
MONDAY, MARCH y, 1853.

The same acrid, defiant, spirit of intolerance
which characterized the pilgrim fathers OF Massa-
chusets occasionally still displays itself in the acts
of their descendants Witches are no longer burned
at Salem it is true; are quakers whipped, i'm
prsoned. or expelled beyond the old Colonial lin
it's nor are there osensibly, any restraints placed
upon freedom of conscience, as there were IN the
DAYS of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchnson
and vet men are prescribed now as they were I'M
der the old theocratical government and the recog-
milton of the laws of Massachusetts, is still demand
ed of all who reside within her borders, as the
"condtio sine qua NOM of good citizenship, even
to the extent of overriding the superior obligations
of the State as member Of the Federal Union.
Mixed up with much that is noble and praiseworthy
is also much that is narrow and fanatica The cold
Adam still keeps possession in spite of the ameli
Grating influences of time and those changes of
circumstance and condition which modern progress
has brought about. Massachusetts is st-Massa-
chusetts, the only; her laws paramount to all
other laws; her capital city is the Athens of the
New Continent and her literary and political opin-
ions are to be accepted as Vermillion edics before
which all must tremble and obey Webster, her
esq as Sydney Smith described him, was de-
nounced and stigmatized by the zealots of the
State who could not comprehend his large poiti-
cal views and his just estimate of the subordinate
relation in which Massachusetts in common with
her sister States stood towards the General Gov
----1 II a. 90 &c the constitutional
compact. But fanaticism is always on the look
out or fresh victims When Webster was gather
ed to his fathers, it was THEODORE PARKER who had
the audacity to bestow a parting kick at the dead
lion and it is THEODORE PARKER and WILLIAM LLOYD
GARRISON, with their abolition "kernes and gal
low-glasses' who have pursued Judge LoRNG
during the past five years, for doing what was
clearly his duty in the Burns case until they have
finally succeeded in stripping him of his judicial
ermine, a warning to all future holders of COM
missions under the General Government, that oaths
of office have no significance when they conflict
with injunctions emanatng from inferior au-
thority, when they are antagonisc to that indie
Unable and ever-varying something which ultrasts
and fanatics have been pleased to christen ''the
higher law" The motto so ostentatiously dis
played at the head of Garrison's ''Liberator'' de-
clares that 'The Constitution of the United States
is a covenant with Death, and an agreement with
He'll" 1t expresses with terse energy the profound
hostility entertained by this class of agitators to
the Federal Union, and their insane desire to bring
about its dissolution. At one time we find them
stimulating the passions of the populace at home
by reckless and highly colored descriptions of the
deplorable condition of the Southern slaves; at
another, distributing rifles to Kansas emigrants.
and on all occasions striving, with ingenious NAL
ice, to promote hostile feelings between far sepa-
rated sections of the Republic, by torturng words
into their opposites, and by endeavoring to make
the worse appear the better cause. Honoring Mas
sachusettS as we do for her admirable system of
public education and for the industrial triumphs
achieved by her citizens and for her noble scorn of
that false pride which but too often elsewhere
regards labor as a degrading occupation we are
not blind to many and glaring defects arising out
of the local prejudices narrow mental vision, and
intense physical activity of portion of her people
Every new 'Ism'' finds, in some odd corner of the
Old Bay State, congenial soil; every absurd no.
ton its band of credulous supporters vagaries, to
these abnormally exercised thinkers, become real-
ties; and the merest shadows acquire consstence
and tangibility. Their own laws and institutions
are, in their estimation superior to any that can
be found elsewhere
Even the laws of the United States and the de-
cisions of the Supreme Court, must yield prece-
dence to the laws of Massachusetts and the DEGREES
of her local judges, or woe betide the man who
dares to act under a different conviction-as Judge
LoRING has been recently made to experience The
removal of this honest, able, and pure minded
man, for no other cause than his fearless perform
ance of the responsible duties imposed upon him,
has not only cast a stain upon the escutcheon of
Massachusetts, but gives rise to graver apprehen-
sions for the future, when we reflect by what COM
paratively insignificant means the Legislature was
influenced in its action The war of the abolition
faction upon Judge LoRING arose out of his course
in the well known Burns case, and from the close
OF 1853, until a few days ago, has been pertina-
ciously continued. The petition to the Legislature
was signed by not more than from five to six thou
sand persons, part of whom are said to have
been women and children. Upon such a document
as this, and at the instance of WILLIAM LLOYD
GARRISON, and one BRADLEY a negro lawyer of
dishonest character acting counsel for the petit
TONERS, the Assembly consented to demand of the
Governor Judge LoRING's dismissal from his office
of Judge of Probate; the Council of State, bitten
likewise by the abolition tarantula, advised the
Governor, by vote of seven to two, to the same
effect, and Governor BANKS, promptly asserting,
the sacrifice was completed.
We cannot believe that this arbitrary measure
meets with the concurrence of the better class of
citizens in Massachusetts,. We still prefer to re-
gard 1t as the temporary success of faction At
future day we hope to learn that this great wrong
has been redressed. Even as it is, the Legislature
of Massachusetts has inaugurated a dangerous pre-
cedent, and has compromised the honor and digni-
ty OF the State by asserting to the demands of the
abolitionists, and advocating the removal of a
local Judge; not because of any act of personal
unworthiness; not because of incapacity; but be-
cause, as an officer of the United States he re-
manned steadfast to what he conceived to be his
duty. If majority of the people of Massachus-
etts should be found to sanction this act of their
representatives then indeed so far as that State is
concerned, the motto of the ''Lberator'' acquires
startling significance and the Constitution is, to
them, in reality, IA covenant with Death and an
agreement with Hell
HORRIBLE TRAGEDY.-A Mr.. James Maxwell. re-
siding In the country, on the road between Bloom
field and Bardstown, KY, and a few miles distant
from the Nashville Railroad had occasion on Tues
day last to correct two of his negro women and he