The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-05-20
BALTIMORE.
MONDAY, MAY 20, 1851.

1t appears, at length, to be certain, that before
many days elapse the first grand movement in the
bloody drama of civil will develop ITSELF al
ready we hear of the most active preparations
being made for concentrating immense bodies
of Federal troops around Fortress Monroe; upon
Western Virginia; and upon Harper's Ferry. The
invasion of the Eastern, the Middle and the
Western portions of that Stale, by three great d.
visions of the Federal forces, it is currently re-
ported will take place simultaneously; but incl
dents that have recently transpired lead to the
belief that it is at Harper Ferry that the Northern
and Southern armies will first come into collision
1t Isl moreover, probable, that the attack on that
important and almost impregnable post will be
made from three different directions. From the
West across the Alleghanies; by way of Chambers
burg and Hagerstown, where heavy detachments
of troops from Ohio and Pennsylvania are now
encamped; and from the East by taking military
possession of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway
The object of these contemplated movements, at
this time, and which appear to be well known to
the authorities of Virginia, is ascribed. by the
Richmond ETamtncr, TO the desire of General
ScoTT to prevent, by an armed demonstration
the people of Virginia from voting on the ord-
nance of secession on the 23d of this month The
Eaominer states, upon what it asserts to be good
authority, "that it has, for half lifetime been
"the frequent boast of General ScorT, that he
"could have prevented the notification ordinance
"of South Carolina in 1882, By receatig an cleo
'f5on, as he would certainly have done had he
"been allowed to have his own way then" 1t is
f,,ita 10 4l,,t
sanction of the Administration, and that it will
be carried out. 1t is entirely in consonance with
the inefftble meanness and duplicity which has
marked It's policy from the 4th of March TO the
present time. Every step which it has taken has
been a tortuous one; every pacific declaration
which 1t has made it has deliberately falsifed:
every important act it has performed has been in
direct violation of the Constitution under whose
provisions it claims 10 exercise the functions
OF Government. The statement of Judge CAMP
BELL, which was published in the EXCHANGE
OF Saturday last, proves, most conclusivclv
the utterly disrepulable conduct of the Admins
tratlon, in reference to Fort Sumter and the per
1ect recklessness with which pledges were given
by Mr.. SEWARD. which, as the event showed
were never intended to be fulfilled A more fla
grant instance Of diplomatic chicanerv has seldom
been recorded, and the narrative of .Judoe Gavin
BELL must put to rest, forever, all doubts as TO
VINO Is 10 ne held responsible for the attack upon
Sumter and for the awful civil war which il
now opening upon US in all its tremendous pro-
portions. 1t was to be expected that so unbolv a
war should be preceded on the part of those who
are about to prosecute it to extremity, hv inet
such acts and revelations as would more ftlv
stamp lis Character. What those have been all
men may now know, and what the final result
OF such war will be, it is not difficult 70 nredict
1t matters tut little whether the programme i'm
p"'ed 10 General SCOTT be put in force or with
Drawn; or whether the Eirginians are permitted
10 vote upon the ordinance of Secession, or are
prevented from doing so by the presence of on
army OF invasion. 1t is we'll known that niro-
tenths OF the people of that State are. at tbiS
tlme in favor of joining the Southern ConGedera-
cy, and that, by the alliance which has been
formed with the new Republic they are even
now, 10 all practical interests and purposes-out
OF the UNION. To suppress the free and unem-
barrassed manifestation of the popular will ot ho
point of the bayouet, is far more likely to make
enemies oil those who were formerly opposed TO
secession, than to convert the secessonists into
warm friends of the UNION. We know that such
has been the case in numerous instances here in
Mary and as like causes are very apt to pro-
duce like results, and as human nature is rrettv
much the same everywhere, we see no reason to
uouot 'hat any attempt TO develope the UNION SEN
tlment In Virginia b. an armed invasion of the
o''e' Will produce the contrary effect by destroy
Ing utterly, what little of it now exists, except
perhaps, in few of the counties adjacent to the
Pennsylvania line.