The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-11-01
TCONMuSIeATFD,1
COMMU NIcATED.T
TO THE MERCHANTS OF BALTIHORE.

TO THE MERCHANTS OF BALTIMORE.
have lately seen an effort to get the merchants
in this city enlisted on the side of Bell and Ever
EFT, and cannot refrain from expressing to you
as briefly as possible the views of one who feels
deep interest in the prosperity of Baltimore and in
the preservation of the Union. Trading politicians
of all parties are always anxious to hold on to old
issues and old names, because they understand the
first, and unfortunately too well know the hatred
which party contests always engender. Hence
they endeavor to make men vote to break down the
Democratic party at all hazards, or to dsappoint
the expectations of the Wing or Of the Union party
| and ignore the real questions at issue. But mer-
chants ought not to allow that kind of influence;
patriot ought to allow it, for although not always
dangerous it is sometimes so, and now may lead to
fatal results.
There is progress in all other of the affairs of life
in science, in mechanics, in agriculture and in
mercantile pursuits, which has to be, and must be
accepted by men as the truth of to-day, on which
they obliged to act, retire from life and bu-
siness.
If so, why may there not-why must there not
be progress in politics also? Can government be
carried upon the principles of past age or gen
Grafton any more than any other business of life
and is it not absurd to hang to the names, and
questions, and hatreds, and dslikes of the past,
when all the results OF activity may be endangered,
if not destroyed?
The old Democratic party, before the election of
General Jackson, had nominated William H. Craw-
ford in its caucus. But there were then pressing
upon the world new issues, which the old leaders
would not or could not recognize. They were left
behind in the race, and the new issues led to
antagonists, in which men who before seemed to
agree, found themselves Numerically opposed to
each other. new party organization was the
result, and federalists were as influential any,
and old names and prejudices were necessarily
abandoned and soon forgotten.
And what could show more clearly than the re-
cent division of the Democratic party the effect of
pro in noliti and hnu whit far
while unseen, or il seen, unappreciated, ripen
into antagonism, and even hostility?
For while it was all looked upon as mere
contest of politicians, but great fires smoul-
dering underneath, and have now found their ali
mental atmosphere
If those who agreed once now divided, and
find themselves in violent hostility to each other,
ought not practical men to inquire whether they
are not being lured to abide by the pattudes of
the past for the advancement of the personal ends
or to crafty the old preudices and diskes of the
regular army of politicians? If men whose mani
fest interest would seem to have commanded union
and harmony, cannot unite, and cannot even con-
cea their differences, why should others try to abide
by old questions and issnns which have had their
dav and been settled or forgotten?
The truth is, all progress is pressed upon the
world by the wants and eXigencies of the day, and
no wise man patriot, or practical business man,
can long ignore them, except to the serious in jury
of the country and his own personal loss.
The disputes of men are never unmeaning. There
are always many hanging on to the past and there
are also many pressing forward to the future; and
the present must be controlled with reference to
both These disputes soon become real, however
abstract they may have appeared, and must be set
tied
1t is very remarkable that some of the greatest
improvements of age did not come in to use cen
turtles ago only because't there no pressing de-
mand for them; and when pressing demand came,
physical as we'll as moral difficulties made to
vanish. Navigation by steam was invented in the
sixteenth century, and we know that vessel was
propelled by steam under the control of captain of
Charles 5h at the rate of three miles hour, and
Fulton at first only made five miles an hour.
The power-loom was invented by clergyman
who happened to be in company with some manu-
facturers of Manchester. They expressed their ap-
prehensiOn that the machinery then in use would
produce much cotton yarn, that it could not be
woven for want of hands. He suggested a machine
for weaving, when they proved to him, by argu-
ments he could not understand, that the thing was
impossible. He went to work, however, and hence
weaving by machinery.
| DR.. Lardner proved that ocean steam navigation
was impossible but the pressure of the times made
it possible. So it is with all progress. So it is
with men. 1t is beautifully recorded that Caesar
and Pompey, when viewed by Eneas, were friendly
and of one mind
"Concordes anime ct dunn nocte premuntur." a
But when they came to act on the theatre of life,
they differed in every thought and action.
| | mention these things to show how open we
ought to keep our minds to the necessities of our
own time, to all its developments, all its disputes
all its demands quite as much in politics and trade
as in the arts and sciences.
| Why, therefore, should merchants, any other
class of men, now act upon the issues before
| Democrats or Wings members of the Union
party? The thing to be done is to preserve the
Union, and that thing can be done only by accept
ing the teaching of the present. and hence learning
that it is in danger. fit be in danger, what ought
we to do? where ought we to go? now ought we
| to vote?
Concession and persuasion may be very we'll in
| nm WI tvn hpau mt
for battle, and the cannonading has commenced,
what must be the fate of those who stand between
them, even with uplifted hands? Philosophers
may choose to be idle, but practical men must act
and to be useful must take Sides If they take any
| part, they must join those who organized,
| however unwilling they may be. They must work
with those most likely to advance their mate
| rial interests, and who contend for truths which
they adhere to-. Then names become nothings.
The thing to be done is the thing to be thought of
and the power to do it is the thing to be sought for.
1t cannot have escaped our people that violent
attack has been made-is being made-upon the
South, which has violently agitated that whole re-
gion, has affected property, has disturbed the
equanmity of our fellow-men and led to appre-
tensions nearly as bad in their consequences as a
decisive battle. These people are our friends in
every view in which look at them. We
working for them, we are trading with them, and
they engage the sympathies OF every true man in
city.
Where ought we to be? Ought we not to be with
counsels, to think calmly with them friends-not
as those who in the hour of their need were care
less about their suferings their fears, whether
| well grounded or ill grounded?
| If we be with them, we are with those whose
social sympathes with us. What influence
may Maryland not exercise, in the worst condi-
ton Of things, if she be found side by side with the
South? The South is in danger from the agrees
sive spirit of the North. Let US strengthen her,
because she is right, and because, in the Union
she is politically weakest; because, in the Union,
| she is in every way our friend; because, in the
Union, she ls every day contributing immensely to
the wealth of the nation; because, out of the Union
she will be nothing to us, and we shall be nothing
to the North; and because, out of the Union, she
| would carry away from us, from our trade, and
| from this nation, chivaric people and the rich
est part of the world now known to humanity.
Our vote, the vote of Maryland, may arrest the
conflict and give time for thoughtful consideration
| at the North. We may do great work Do 1T,
then. Let not friends, the merchants be led by
deluded or wavering or fossil politicians. Let them
| look firmly at the present, and do what becomes
| calm, thoughtful men to do. Let them consider
| that there is but one issue, and that there is
middle course; that whatever we may have wished,
however we may regret it, the great issue that
| has been for years threatening us has come upon
us. 1t is vain now to inquire how, or BY whom or
by whose Encouragement or fault or ambition or
folly ii has come upon u.s. 1t is too late for such
| considerations. We must meet it like men of calm
Judgment and practical every day sense
The Breckenridge party, for veal or woe, has met
the issue fully and completely. 1t has abated moth
ing it has lodged nothing, and it is ready to sink
or swim with the great truths for which it is
tending. Help it-strengthen it-make yourselves
now part of it. And as You may moderate the
South il you 60 with the South, so may you moder-
ate that great party if you now act with that party
in the holy cause in which the South is engaged
the cause of right, of Constitutional freedom and
of the Union.
Other people may talk about the Union and
praise it who could do well enough without it, and
1 ~ rafo m off its
| ance or dissolution. But with us the Union is vi
tai. With us the friendship of the South is vital
Every man, therefore, who casts his vote in Bati-
more ought to feel that he is deciding for himself
by that act the fate of his trade of his possessions
| Of his friends, and of his country.
Curtius of old leaped into the gulf and sacrificed
himself for his country. No such task is imposed
upon us. We need make no sacrifice but the sacri-