The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-08-17
BALTIMORE.
SATURDAY, AUGUST II, 1861:

The nomination of AUGUSTUS w. BRADFORD,
Esq, of this city by the ''Unon" Convention, on
Thursday, as a candidate for the GOvernorship of
Maryland, WILL doubtless, be very acceptable to
the party for whose benefit it was made. Mr..
BRADFORD is gentleman Of considerable ability;
an extreme coercionist, from the outset, and as
Incorporate in the expression Of his opinions as
his opinions themselves are violent and proscrip-
tive. The most Unconditional supporter Of the
Government in all its arbitrary outrages upon the
Constitution and laws, could not desire uncond-
tionality more absolute than that which Mr.. BRAD
FORD embodies in his feelings and ideas with regard
to the miserable strife which has torn the Union
asunder. Nor can the Northernmost of Northern
men find any reason to complain Of lack of ardor
in his Northern sympathies. AS far back as the
meeting Of "the friends of the Union' held in the
Mary land Institute in January Iast-long before
war upon US, and while conciliation and COM
promise were upon the lips and in the hearts ofother
men-Mr. BRADFORD implored his felow-citizens Of
MARYLAND to concentrate the whole force of their
t'efforts upon those open revoutionsts in the
"South" who were CONTEMPORARY defying
"eyerv authority OF the Government" and not TO
"weaken the effect of these efforts by pausing TO
.fr%a into the primary cause Of these sectional
"parties-by wasting all their strength upon the
Northern aggressor as the earliest wrong-doer!"
In other words-hIr. BRADFoRDs idea of justice
and the policy of Maryland was--to waste no
''strength' upon those who were doing the
wrong, but to "concentrate the whole force of our
'tforts" against those who were resisting it! His
present position is the logical consequence of the
II i. =, all ;.,i, 81,
and purposes SO far as the contest of this autumn
IS concerned as efactua!ly supporter of the Chi
cago platform and doing its work, as if he had
been put before the people upon it, We say this,
without reference to what his individual opinions
upon the dogmas of that platform may be, for it
IS that platform upon which the Administration
has rested its case, and for the establishment Of
which it has summoned Us to war; and any can
lidatc, therefore, who confounds the Admnstra-
ton with the Republic, and strikes with the Ad-
minisration for '!the Union, without respect TO
the Constitution and over its ruins, is as substan-
TALLY Republican candidate as Mr.. LINCOLN was
deserves the same consideration as Mr. LINCOLN
did and does-neither more nor less-at the hands
of the people of Maryland.
Upon the resolutions of the Convention by which
Mr. BRApFoRD was nominated, we shall have OPP
portunities of commenting hereafter. They are but
part of the desperate system of Misrepresentation
to which the Administration and its advocates
habitualIy resort, to disguise their own designs
and iolsliy those Of their opponents. Happily the
public mind has become sufficiently enlightened,
of late, TO understand and appreciate them Here,
in Maryland, we know pretty well what gentlemen
mean, when they invoke support to Mr.. LINCOLN
and his war, and call it ."preservng the Union"
and ''supporting the Constitution 4 State
whose civil government is suppressed by military
power-whose citizens are arrested and imprisoned.
and whose homes are searched and violated, in
contempt Of every guaranty of the Constitution
distinguishing free men from slaves-cannot be
much at loss to know what MIR. BRADFORD
represents and what his supporters intend. 1t is
needless to add 'that-with the exception of a few
DOUGLAS Democrats--the Convention was chiefly
made up Of representatives of the old Know
Nothing lodges, historically well-known for the
popularity of their attachment to the laws and
Constitution and to public order