The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-12-04
M ESSAG E .


Try has been emnenty prosperous IN all its material ln
tegests The general health has been excellent har
vests have been abundant end plenty smiles throughout
the land. Our commerce and manufactures have been
prosecuted with energy &nd industry, and have yielded
fair and ample retns In short, nation in the tide
of time has ever presented spectacle of greater mate
rial prosperity than have done until within very
cent period
Why is It, then, that discomfort now 80 extensively
prevails and the Union of the States which is the
Of all these blessings threatened with destruction
The long continued and Incorporate Interference of the
Northern people with the question of slavery in the
Southern States has at length produced its natural eff
fects The different sections of the Union
rayed against each other, and the time has arrived,
60 much dreaded by the Father of his Country when
hostile geographical parties have been formed have
long foreseen and often forewarned my countymen OF
the now impending danger This does not proceed sole
ly from the claim the part of Congress the terrific
lial legislatures to exclude slavery from the Territories
from the efforts of different States to defeat the
cution of the fugitivc-slavc law All any of these
evils might have been endured by the South without
danger to the Union las others have becn in the hope
that time and reflection might apply the remedy The
immediate peril arises not SO much from these causes
from the fact that the ncessant and violent agi-
taton of the slavery question throughout the North
for tho last quarter of century, has at length pro-
duced its malign influence the slaves and inspired
them with vague notions of freedom. Hence sense of
security no longer exists around the family altar This
feeling of peace at home has given place to apprehensons
Of servile instruction. Many matron throughout the
South etires at night in dread of what may bea herself
and her children before the morning Should this appe
henson OF domestic danger whether real imaginary,
extend and intensity itself until it shall pervade the
mases of the Southern people, then disunon will be-
come inevitable. Selfpreservation Is the first law of
turo and has been implanted In the heart Of by his
Creator for the wisest purpose and political union,
however fraught with blessings and benefits In oil other
respects can long continue the necessary consequence
be to render the homes and the esdes of nearly half
the parties to it hsbitually and hopeessly insecure
Sooner or later the bonds of such Union must be
cred 1t my conviction that this fatal period has not
yet arrived and my prayer to God that He would pre-
servo the Constitution and the Union throughout all
generations.
But let take warning in Time and remove the cause
Of danger 1t cannot be denied that for five and twenty
years. tho agitation at the North against slavery in the
South has been incessant In 1885 pictorial hand bills
and infammatory appeals, circulated extensively
throughout the South of character to excite tbs pas
ons OF the slaves and in the language Of General Jack
son, ito stimulate them to Instruction and produce all
the horrors of servile war; This agitation has ever
since been continued by the public pres by the proceed
ings Of State and county conventions and by abolition
sermons and lectures The time of Congress has been
cuped in violent speeches this ending subject
and appeals In pamphlet and other FORMS endorsed by
distinguished names have been sent forth from this
trail point, and spread broadcast the Union.
How easy would it be for the American people to settle
the slavery question forever and to peace
harmony to this distracted country.
They, and they alone do it. All that is necessary
to accomplish the object and all for which the slave
States have contended is to be lot alone and per-
mitad to manage their domestic institutions in their
own way As sovereign States they, and they alone
responsible before God and the world for the slavery
listing among them. For this the people of tbs North
lot responsible, and have right to in
tsrfere than with similar institutions in Russia in Bra
al Upon their good sense and patriotic forbearance con-
Sss still greatly rely. Without their aid it is beyond
tho power Of any President matter what may be his
own political procves to restore peace and harmony
anong the States Wisely limited and restrained IL his
power, under our Constitution and laws he alone
accomplish but little, for good for evil such
mentous question.
And this brings to observe that the election of any
Of feowctzens to the Office OF President does
not OF itself afford Just cause for dsoving the Union
This MORO especially true if his election has been effect
ed by more plurality, and not majority of the peo
pie, and has resulted from transient and temporary
causes which may probably again In order
TO justify resort to revolutionary resistance the Federal
Government must be guilty Of "a deliberate palpable
and dangerous exercise of powers granted by the
Constitution. The late presidential election however
has beea held in strict conformity with ts express prov
Ions Bow then ta MI Reason u.oe
the Constitution, all require that we shall wait for
some overt and dangerous act the part of the Pes
dent elect before resorting to such remedy -
1t Is said, however that the antecedsns of the Presi-
dent elect have been sufficient to justify the fears of the
South that he will attempt to invade their constitutional
rights But are such appehensions of contingent danger
In the future sufficient to justify the immediate destruo
on of the nobest system of government ever devised by
mortalsf From the very nature of his Office and it's
high responsibilities he must necessarily be conservative
Inc stern duty OF administering the and complicated
conesrns OF this Government affords in itself guaran-
Gee that he viii rot attempt any violation of clear
right. After ALL he is more than the
chief executive officer of the Government His province
Ia not to make but to execute the laws and it is re-
markable fact in history, that notwithstanding the
repeated efforts of the antsavery party single act
the Missouri Compromise mpairng in the slightest de-
gree tho rights of the South to their property ia slaves
And 1t may also be Observed judging from present ndi
Cations that no probability exists of the passage of such
an act by majority of both Houses, either in the pres
ent the next Congress Surely under these circum
stances we ought to be restrained from present action
BY the precept of Him who spake never man spoke
that Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof The
day OF evil may never come, unless we shall rashy bring
It upon ourselves.
1t Il alleged cause for immediate secession that
hs Southern States denied equal rights with the other
States Ia tho common Territories But BY what authority
are these denied! Not by Congress, which has
passed. and believe will pass any act to exclude
slavery from these Territories and certainly not by the
Supreme Court which has solemnly decided that slaves
are property and, like all other property, their owners
have right to take them into the Territories
md hold them there under the protection Of the Cons
hadon.
So TAR then Congress concerned the objection is
not TO anything they have already DONE but to what
hey may DO hereafter 1t will surely be admitted that
this apprehenson of future danger no good reason for
immediate dissolution Of the Union It is true that
territorial Legislature Of Kansas on the Esd of Febru-
Wy 1885, passed 10 great haste act the veto Of
he governor declaring that slavery sis and shall be-
Eerever prohibited in this Territory Such act how
sver plainly violating the rights of property secured by
Ne Consultation will surely be declared void by the u
diday whenever it shall be presented in legal form
Only three days after my Inauguration the Supreme
Court OF the United States soemnly adjudged that this
power did not exist in territorial legislature Yet
sh has been the factous temper of the times that the
of this decision has been extensively i'm
pugned before the people, and the question has given
rise to angry political conflicts throughout the country
lhose who have appealed from this judgment of our