The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-07-04

In accordance with custom, the Office of the
Da"y Erchdnge will be closed to-day; and we
shall, therefore, issue no paper tomorrow morn
ing. We publish elsewhere the Declaration Of
Independence, which will we doubt not. be
studied at this time with unusual interest by the
people Of Maryland. No man, we are sure, can
peruse, without the deepest emotion, the language
IN which our fathers protested, eighty years
ago, against the usurpatons of the Government
10 which they then owed allegiance. Read in
connection with events which are now trans
pirng around us, its stern and solemn words
assume deeper import than we have
been wont 10 attach to them heretofore:
and the honored figures of the patriots who
framed it seem to loom up from the past in
more mai ,stical proportions We can do full JUS
tce now to the selfsacrifciug spirit which led them
to denouuce the wrongs Of their rulers, and 10
resist the cocrclye measures to which the latter
resOrted to sustain the government and 10 enforce
the laws. We can realize now the dangers in
which resistance TO tyranny involved the men
who achieved our freedom, and we can appreciate
The generous a'dor which impelled them to drive
the British legions down the slope of Bunker's
Hill, and 10 PROSTATE the banner of old ENGLAND
in The dust at Yorktown. More warmly than
ever, therefore, do we welcome the return of
day that cur fathers made SO glorious, and which
brings Us, if not bright hopes, at least proud re-
collections. Bat, though mindful of the blessings
and pryi'f ges We have heretofore enjoyed and dis
posed to keep alive forever he glorious memories
which are so ma uralIy ushered in with each sue
cgssive recurrence Of to-day, we cannot but feel
that this present anniversary will be best kept by
those who shall devote ii 10 serious thoughts and
sad reflections. This is not the hour for pomnous
pageantS or festive merry-maings The citizens
Of Maryland are surely in no heart to participate
in the noisy ceremonies with which the Fourth of
July is annually celebrated. Looking abroad
they see the Republic destroyed, the country d.
vlded, ami the people of the discovered sections
confronting each other the battle field. At
home they find as little cause for REJOICING,
They know they are a eubiugated people
and they feel that they have been stripped
Of every right which was won for them in
the great Revolution Of l77G. They know
that the deliberate violations Of the Constitution
which have already been Committed will he sane
toned by the representatives of q dominant fac
tlon who are about to meet at Washington. and
that the futile war winch has been so illegally be-
gun Is to he pushed, by Il Fanalical Government,
10 the bloodlest and most disastrous consequences
however bright, then, may be the "reminiscences of
the past which to-day suggests they cannot dis
tractus from the present aud prospective gloom and
danger of our situation The people of MARYLAND
will read the Declaration of Independence but they
cannot forget that strange bayonets keep guard
over them; they will talk about the Constitution.
but they will remember that its every provision is
now rnthlessiy disregarded BIZ the Government.
they will watch the waving of their familiar flag
and they will recoect that it floats now at Fort
Mctienry over men who have been not less despot-
ically imprisoned than are the victims of the Gar
or Sultan. 1t will be, therefore, with a strangely
mingled feeling Of pride, anger and humiliation.
that the brave and honest hearts which are still
left in the old State will hail the return of dav
that was once greeted, from one end of the Con
tnent to the other, with storm of Joyous accla.
nation.