The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-05-27
BALTIMORE.
MONDAY, MAY 81, 1861.

MONDAY, MAY 81, 1861.
Surprising for the sake OF argument that the peo-
pie Of section of the country are thirstng Tor
the blood of their brethren in another-lnfiamed
by quarrel the right of which is all on one side,
the wrong all on the other-that the South has
for years grumbled without cause-and that its
citizens engaged in unprovoked rebellion
against the Governmental would still be wise
for those who view our present crisis from that
stand point, to consider whether the evils they
seek to avert more dangerous than the rene
dies they are sanctioning.
Our torefathers who shed their blood-endured
privations-and achieved acts of heroism une-
qualed elsewh here in history to free US from the tyr
amy Of one domination, completed their good work
by bequeathng to US Constitution to preserve
our liberties forever from future Entertainments -
Knowing the natural greediness of men for power.
that the appetite tor it grows with what it feeds
on, they provided system of checks upon those
to whom they entrusted it, which will keep US
freemen as long as they are operative. Destroy or
derange them, and an uncertain future is before
US, OF anarchy, or despotism more hateful, because
more irresponsible, than that from which we were
rescued Our only safety consists in watching
with unsleeping vigilance our sacred heritace-in
seeing that our Constitution shall not be tampered
wth-that the powers conferred by it shall not be
transcribed. If that compass be thrown away, or
its faultess index not needed, we will drift where
the storms of popular passion may drive us, or
where wicked and skilful pilot may direct our
prov.
No one can close his eyes to the sad truth that
the wickedness or weakness of soma one has
brought upon the Government crisis of fearfu1
responsibility. If Mr.. LINCOLN is not clothed with
powers adequate 10 meet it, that fault is not his, but
that OF wiser men who thought it safer to leave
him without them than run the risk of their abuse.
No well informed man is ignorant that the posi-
bility of such an exigency was contemplated by
the trainers of the Constituton-and that they
refused to vest not the Executive merely. but the
whole Government-executive, legislative and iu-
dicial together, with coercive power to meet it
Our wlsest statesmen foresaw that the exercise of
such powers was inconsst tent with the spirit of
our Government, and would lead, as it has done
10 resistance and disunion. But whether or not
they meant, by implication, TO Leave powers need
Jul Tor such an emergency to the proper depart
ments OF the Government combined, it is clear
that such as Mr.. LINCOLN has been exercising
were expressly refused TO the Executive. He has
more than quntupled the army, in spite of the
restriction that Congress alone may increase it.
While our Federal Courts are in uninterrupted
operation, competent, and alone competent to
prevent and punish crime he has caused our cti-
zens to be arrested, taken from the discharge of
their public and private duties, and has himself
determined whether they should be held in duress
or discharged. Without form of law he has
caused our houses 10 be searched, and when his
minions have condescended to ask for warrants
-blank warrants have been issued, which every
Bill of Rights, since people dared talk about
rights, has declared TO be an outrage not to be
endured. He has suspended the writ of haJeas
corpus; or when our Courts have issued such,
he has permitted his officers TO disobev them,
and 10 lecture judges about the insubordination
of our people. He has administered to his army
Illegally mustered, new and altered oath of nj
legiance; caused it to take possession of our
State-our captal-our chief city-wlile the
proclamation which announced our subiugatiop.
Landed our loyalty. The sanctity of private cor
respondence has been invaded, and the records
OF the telegraph openly seized. Our city has bee7
robbed of its arms in open day. And while the
States North of Mason 4 Dxon's line have been
applauded for their patriotism in arming, and
while the Constitution is yet in force DECLARING
that ia well regulated militia being necessary 10
1.-THE security of a free State, the right of the
"people to keep and bear arms shall not be in
"frlnged," we have been, in effect, told that we
are not free State-that we shall not have
militia unless federal General approves Of it, and
that 1t we dare attempt to Fkeep and bear arms,
II Will be treated as an act of hostility against the
general government. All this while we are vet
Ill the UNION; while Mr. LINCOLN is DECLARING to
foreign powers that constitutional remedies sra
and have always been open even to the seeded
States what these remedies are we should he
glsd TO Know and to apply them to our WRONGS
Inc outrages upon us are justified by the plea
vi puoic necessity, to which tyrants always re-
sort, or, as Mr.. DAVIS expresses it, because thew
cannot stop to inquire whether writ of eiectment
VIII ile 1t the President has to exceed his con.
sututonal power to maintain his position does
1t not show that the position is unconstitutional
and ought to be abandoned? Constitutions were
maze Tor our protection against precisely such
hangers as now threaten US. They were intended
lor our security at such moments as these wben
popular passion is let loose and mower as
sails us on the ground of military necessity. It
can never be necessary or proper to break the law
Tor the purpose of maintaining ito commit q
crime in order to prevent one And when the
highest of our public functionaries is found doinc
SO, the inquiry is irresistible, where will he sion
and what will be our condition when his purposes
are all accomplished? The President and b;s |
party stand upon platform fraught with DANCER
TO US. They owe their political existence and
growth to open disregard of the laws
uhuer winch we live. His chosen apostles and
eAponents avow their allegiance TO a sshirher
law" Scarcely was his VOW to maintain the
constitution in7iolate uttered before he BEGAN to
weaken the arm of coordinate branch of the
goVernment-to persuade us that a decision IF tho
supreme Court, to which he owed obedience nc
-"F,'el'V as The humbest citizen of the land,
ought not to be respected. Scarcely had he done
distributing the spoils of his victory, before he
began to uSurp the@p0wers of Congress-to defv
anu himself to exercise, thsse of the Courts-con.
ceh'raung in his own hands, in three short
.-oH'"', All Inc powers of free government II
10 oe lie mas issued his proclamation for the CON-
'ening OF congress, which may attempt to legalize
"nal he mas done. But it and he topether are
incomp etent to legalize his usurpations--to heal
oy an indemnifying act the wounds that have
oeen ihhlc'ed upon our Constitution. The sama
necessity which justified him in exerc0irc, ;a;a;oI
functions while the Courts were in sesaio, nro,,Ia
equally Justify the continuance in his hands of Iegs
iatlve power If legislators prove refractory q
powerful army may close their DOORS as history tells
US has been done BEFORE 1t is in vain to trnst to
the restraints of public opinion If that upholds
him in all he has DONE it may in all he desires TO
DO. We, therefore, earnestly entreat those who
wao think they are only rallying in support o. a |
Tree government, to pause and consider to what |
the aggressions they are sanctioning must. aad in
tue end Will, lead. The warnings of history ougbt |
not to be forgotten
IL any thing could be amusing, in this hour of
gioom' 1t would be the disgust of the Admins
tratlon presses and their allies at the letters of Mr.
RUSSELL, the correspondent of the London Times
Our patriotic and critical neighbor, the american
informs us that they ''create general feeling of
disappointment" The Boston Post is positive