The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-12-22
BALTIMORE.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER %, 1859

The UNION Meeting in New York, on Monday |
evening, appears to have been, so far as its num-
bers and enthusiasm were concerned, as successful
a demonstration as its promoters could have ex-
pected, or, indeed, desired. The spacious hall |
of the Academy of Music was filled to OVERLOOKING,
and the immense crowd which had assembled on
the outside was divided between three stands
which had been temporarily erected for the accom-
mediation of the numerous orators who had no
places assigned them in the programme Cannon
roared, bonfres blazed, and rockets whizzed on
Union Square, and lusty cheers went up at inter-
walls from the brazen-throated multitude. Twenty
thousands persons, it was stated, had signed the
call, and the list of Vice Presidents comprised the
names Of some two hundred leading citizens,
''every one of whom had signifed his hearty CO.
Operation with the objects of the meetng'-
Mayor TIEMAN acted as Chairman, and the princi-
psi speakers were Ex-Governor WASHINGTON HUNT,
Mr.. CHAs. O'CoNoR, Hon. JNo. A. DIX, Prof
MITCHELL and DR.. BErHUNE. The preamble to the
resolutions enumerated various sections of the
Constitution, and of sundry ordinances and trea-
ties to prove thatour government is government
''of compacts, compromises and concessions" and
the resolutions themselves insisted on the duty Of
honestly adhering to these, and denounced call
''acs or inaammatory appeals which intend or
tend to make this UNION less perfect or to leopard
or disturb its domestic tranquility"
Subsequently TO the adoption of these reSolu-
lions others were offered and agreed to, urging
the people everywhere to form "Union organiza-
"tons in the spirit and tone' that inspired the
meeting from which this invitation emanated.
The preamble and resolutions were certainly I'M
exceptonabe, though necessarily as dry and COM
mon-pace as on such occasions familiar truths
always are; and the speeches, though containing
some things in which we cannot wholly concur,
breathed devotion to the UNION and love for
our common country that were maniestly heart
felt and sincere. Whether those who originated
this movement had any latent political purpose in
view, for the future premulgatou of which the
gathering on Monday night was artfully designed
to pave the way, we, of course are unable say.
What The Herald calls the nomination of General
SCoTT for the Presidency was the work of the I'M
organized assemblage outside, and no allusion
was made to him in the hall, where the officers of
the meeting controlled matters, save when the
Generals letter, endorsing the proceedings, was
adopt him on the instant as the candidate
in 1860, and which was made from one
of the stands in the Square, may have
been put before the people in this indi-
rect manner by the immediate agency of some of
those " no apparently confined themselves strictly
to the objects specified in the CALL and who desired
to see how the proposition would be responded to.
If this was so it was the experiment Of a few in
dividnals only, and the result is unimportant,
except in so far as it suggests the possibility of
some such nomination being made. 1t is by
no means improbable that, in a crisis which bids
fair to become a serious one a spontaneous
outburst of the popular sentiment may super
sede the necessity for party conventions
However this may be we have no reason to sup
pose that most of those who participated in the
meeting had any other objects than those they
protested, and even if they had advocated the
nomination of SCoTT, although we might have
differed with them about their action, and have
dssented from their choice of a leader, we should
not have thought the patriotic sentiments they ex-
pressed necessarily simulated. Such movement
would not have been incompatible with determ-
nation to do justice to the South and maintain
the integrity Of the UNION. We think, then, that
the meeting was such as we should hail with salts
faction, no matter what may have been the re-
moter aims of those who brought it together osten-
sby to declare an "unalterable purpose to stand
'by the Constitution in all its parts, as interpreted
''by the Supreme Court OF the UNITED STATES. ~
1t did declare its intentions so to do in broad
manly and unequvocal language. It denounced
in unmeasured, but just terms, the reasonable
assault Of JOHN BRowN upon Virginia. and the
murders he there perpetratcd. 1t put the in
ehaceable stigma of its reprobation, alike upon
the preachers or politicians, who would selfshly,
reckessly, or fanatically incite Instruction or
civil strife within peaceful commonwealth
Sirrl words ara G,n e ~..-------------4
we believe them to have been fairly spoken, we
shall not attempt to diminish their force by too
curiousIr pryng into the motives of the speakers
If some Of them were animated by a desire to
att2in to popularity prcerment, such incentives
are not so unnatural or improper nowadays as
TO ohliGe us to quarrel with them. 1t concerns
us alone to know that they have planted them
selves on the right ground, and have announced
their adhesion to principles of which we
heartily approve. They stand forth between the
extremists of the North and South, who of late
years have monopolized the right of representing
the opinions of the country, and they speak the
sentiments which we believe the heart of the
nation re-ccho. Should we not, therefore,
welcome the voice which comes TO US from New
York, and regard it as a matter of indifference
whether those who thus greet US, prefer next year
TO vote for SCoTT or DOUGLAS, or any other of the
aspirants for the Presidency?
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