The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-07-08

Whenever the opponents of Mr.. LINCoLNs poll
cy venture TO complain of the arbitrary and illegal
measures to which he has resorted, they met
with the fppant reply that they are themselves
encouraging unlawful proceedings, and that they
have therefore no right to object to any uncons-
tutional act on the part Of the Administration
This argument presents the two distinct asser-
tious that nobody is dissatisfied with the course of
the Government except those who have revolted
or are about to revolt against III and that snch.
persons as have engaged in rebellion or have COM
mtted any other heiuous offence, are precuded
from demonstrating against the unlawfulness of
the means which may be adopted to check or
punish them. But no two more unwarrantable
assertions have, since the beginning of this I'M
happy dispute, been embraced in a single prop
ostlon.
In the first place it is not true, as a matter of
TACT, that the opposition to the present unconstitu
tional measures of Mr.. LINCOLN comes from those
who desire the subverson of this Government
The people of the seeded States care little now
whether the steps which the President
may take to suppress the Southern revolution are
in accordance with the provisions of our Consti-
tuition, or not. As they do not contemplate a
restoration of the Union, they are perfectly iadif-
ferent about the legality or llegality of the acts
of the Cabinet at Washington. They have, it is
true, discussed these questions, but they have
only done so by way of argument, to prove that
the fears with which the South always regarded
the possible ascendancy of the Republican party
were not unfounded, that the demand of the slave
States for further guarantees for the safety of their
institutions necessity, and that their resist
ance to the domination of the anti-slsvery faction
was justifable. They do not complain now of
the arbitrary character of Mr.. LINCoLN's course,
but they point to his repeated and fragrant viola
lions of the laws and Constitution at the dctalion
of the Northern people, as conclusive evidence that
the South was not in the wrong when she said that
he and his party would, whenever it should suit
their purpose, substitute mob Law, Or the higher law,
for the provisions of the Constitution. They had
always expressed the gravest appreheusions of the
success of the radical and sectional party of which
SEWARD, GREELEY, SUMNER and CHASE were the
leaders, and they had constantly quoted the speeches
and referred to the acts Of the people of the North
10 show that their alarm was not groundess and
they lite the late proceedings of the Admins
traon merely as further evidence to vindicate the
justice of their conclusions, and the proprety of
their course But TO the South it matters little,
now that she has separated from the North,
whether this war is begun or carried on illegally
or not. 1t is not from hat quarter, then, that
complaints against the usurpatons of the Govern
ment are coming. 1t is the large minority in the
North which is demanding an account of Mr.. |
LINCOLN brief stewardship. Hundreds of
thousands OF American citizens living in the free
oua'eS, ana who expect TO abide forever under the
government OF which he is now the head, have |
oeeh dragged INTO war which they believe will |
emu ulsaatrously. They have been sadded with a |
oeo' from which they cannot now escape They |
nave been made parties to a contest which they |
think will render the dissolution of the Union in
eVitaoie and final. All this has been done without
thelr-consent Neither they nor their representa-
yves were consulted about the unconstitutional
measures which he has adopted, and whose con-
sequences 1t Is too late to remedy. These are
the people who are aggrieved by the unauthorized
acts OF the Administration, and who have pro-
tested so Indignantly against the assumption of .
despotic powers by Mr.. LINCOLN 1t is ridiculous,
therefore, to say that the cutlery against his I'M
constitutional mode of enforcing the laws comes
from those who are, themselves anxious to destroy
the Constitution.
But in the second place, even if these accusa-
tons against Mr.. LINCOLN and his Cabinet came
from those who are, like the people of Maryland,
supposed to have strong Southern proclivities, it
would be absurd to say that the latter were preclu-
ded from looking to the Constitution and the laws
for protection. 1t is a novel doctrine, and not
less monstrous than new, that men who are sup