The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-11-05
BALTIMORE.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1860

an end. The results of tomorrow are already !
foregone to-day and have only to be registered |
and proclaimed. No thoughtful man can look
forward to the impending termination of the
struggle except in grave and anxious suspense
Think what we will in regard TO the merits of the
controversy, and hope what we may of its solu-
ton, we cannot disguise from ourselves the So
lemnity of the issues which it may possibly in
vove. 1t is from a deep and earnest conviction
and solcitude upon this point, that we have en-
deayored, from the beginning of the canvass, to
present the views Of this journal with all possible
calmness and moderation. Recognizing the occa-
sion as one, upon which it is the bounden duty of
every citizen TO form a deliberate opinion, and of
every public press TO enforce in all proper ways
that opinion which it deliberately supports, we
have felt equally constrained by the obligation 10
add no fuel TO popular excitement or party strife
1t is to be confessed, however, that the duty of
self-restrant has not been altogether an easy one
to those who, like ourselves, have advocated the
election of Mr.. BRECKENRIDGE. The chief-almost
the only-specifc ground upon which that gentle
man and his supporters have been assailed, is that
of disloyalty TO the Union. He is placard-
ed by his opponents as the "disunion candi-
date" and his followers are stigmatized
'disunonists,'' and "secessionsts. Now, if
there be any imputation which it is difficult for
honest men and good citizens to endure in Mary
land, it is that of altering in their devotion TO the
Federal Union as it stands. No man with any
regard to truth can assert that such q charge has
any foundation whatever, as applied TO any par
ty within the borders of this commonwealth.
able individual can be found in Maryland, who
might not repel such an accusation with Justice,
and would not personally resent it with indigna-
ton. From one end of the State to the other,
opinions both publiOand private however divi-
ded and perverted upon other points, are sound
to the core and undivided upon that one For
ourselves, do not hesitate to say, that the ques-
ton of the preservation of the Union in its integ
rity as our fathers bequeathed it to us--with its
blessings and its burdens, all together is to us
the one paramount question, not only above all,
but absorbing all in every political controversy
into which it enters. Recognizing, to the full, the
aggressiyeness Of the unconstitutional encroach-
ments upon the rights of the South, which we be-
lieve to be substantially the cement and the policy
of the Republican party, we still hold TO the I'M
compromising conviction that the rights of the
South can be as valiantly, and as honoraby, and
ten-fold more successfully indicated and upheld,
under the Constitution and within the Union,
than beyond their sacred pale. We believe there
is no good to be possibly enjoyed by any State,
rs seceder from the confederacy, which would
not be incomparably more a blessing within
its circle. We are sure there is no wrong
or evil suffered in the Union, which will not
be magnifed into an intolerable curse, by its dis
ruption. We have faith which is not to be shaken
in the selfrede ming and self-preserving power of
our Republican Institutions, and especially of the
wise and well ordered Republican system under
which the Federal Union has prospered and been
so happy and so glorious until now. The CON-
munity in which we live is at this moment a
splendid illustration of the justice of the faith
which we profess, in the ability of the people to
remedy, and the ultimate certainty that they will
redress, within the limits of the law and the Con-
sdtution, the evils which may assail them through
the violation of both. No State of the Union has
ever practically suffered, from sectional aggression
one 1.-THE of the bitter wrong and outrage, which
here in Baltimore we were compelled to bear, fol
years, under the vulgar and reckless despotism O
brute force, upheld and countenanced by those
who abused the administration of the laws. The
rights Of property and person were trampled under
rufiian feet: the right of suffrage was blotted out
with blood every guaranty of our institutions
that should have made US free was spit upon and
set at nought. And yet, to-day, without VIC.
lence; without revolution: through the peaceful
processes Of the law and the Constitution by that
sure and omnipotent reaction of public opinion and
the popular sense of right which the truth, man.
fully proclaimed and battled for, has never failed tc
crown atast, with victory, we are once more in thu
enjoyment of all the blessings Of freedom, security
and good government. With such an example a
our own doors-so extreme and at the same tim
so perfectly triumphant--we cannot falter in on
conviction that the Constitution is the true an
the only sure refuge Of those whose rights are vie
lated under it-wbether they be States or ind
viduas-and that within the Union alone is TO b
found a healing for the wounds which may
inflicted under the shield of its brotherhood an,
through treason to its spirit.
Entertaining these sentiments, which, as we hav
said, we believe to be cordially cherished by tn
whole people Of Maryland as by ourselves-an
certainly not less cordially by the supporters c
Mr.. BRECKENRIDGE than by any Others of our cit
zens-we confess to some degree of indignation 8
the recklessness with which that gentleman an
his friends have been vilifed in that connection
From the advocates of Mr. DOUGLAS such imputa
tons may be overlooked, in view of the excite
ments and animOsties which were naturally prC
volled by the breaking up of the Democratic Cor
vention. From the supporters of Mr.. LINCOLN the
come as a matter Of course-being the chief stoc
in trade. Bat the friends of Mr. BELL, who prt
fess to occupy Il candid and conservative GROUND
ought to be above such dSingenuousness and il
justice They cannot really suppose that, by Il
mere force of calling themselves the "Constitl
tional Union Party they necessarily monopolii
all the devotion to the Constitution and Unto
which exists in the land. They know perfect
well that upon the constitutional question of Il
rights of shareholders in the territories and upC
the duty of the North, under the Constitution,
enforce the fugitive slave law, the opinions whiC
Mr.. BELL processes are identical to the letter, wi
those upon which Mr.. BRECKENRIDGE is before t
people. They know that no truthful man c;
point to act or word of Mr.. BRECKINRIpGE
his political or private life, which has been 9th
than true to the Union, in the fullest, deepest al
most af1ectiouate loyalty. They know that all Il
associations Of his life, and all the traditions al
opinions amid which he has grown and lived al
has been formed as public man, have been co
spicuousy devoted to the Union. Yet knc-
ing all these things and venturing to del
none of them, they insist upon identifying hi
with those whom they stgmatize as Il
''secessionists Of the South''-because in some
the Southern States those who are so stigmatiz
are his conspicuous advocates. Is this fair? N
to be plains it honest? Do the members of t
old Wing party forget, that during the prospero
times of that party, the anti-slavery party of Il
North was for the most part arrayed on its sid
They surely remember from what ranks can
SEWARD and GREELEY and WEED. And yet
party ever repealed, with manler juster scor
the imputation of abolitionism, than the VIII
party. None ever protested more vigorous
against being held responsible for the unautho
lied local heresies of portion Of their party folo'
ers, than the very gentlemen who now assail N
BRECKENRIDGE upon the same identical score.
bring the matter still nearer home-is the Be
and EVERETT party of Maryland willing to
identified with all the iniquities of the defunct a
degraded faction which once called itself Ut
"American party" among us? Honorable gent