The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-03-11
BALTIMORE.
MONDAY, MARCH, IL 1861.

executing the laws and war. 1t may not be
improbable TO recur in the same connection, to
the very peculiar position which Mr.. LINCOLN
himself has assumed towards the subject, in his
Inaugural.
After an argument to show the unconstiution-
ality and legal nulliy Of the secession ordinances
the new PRESIDENT takes his ground, as follows
81 therefore consider that view of the Constitution
and the laws the Union is unbroken and to the extent
of my ability shall take the Constitution itself
expressly enOns upon me- that the laws of the Union be
faithfully executed in all the States. Deeing this 10 be
o SIMPLE uuay on my Pat sma perform h so .np
people, shall withhold the requisite means in
authoritative manner direct the contrary"
IF this amounts 10 anything at all, it indisput-
ably asserts the proposition, that its the bounden
and unavoidable duty of the President, under the
Constitution, to execute the laws in the seeding
States, and that so far in him lies, he means to
do it. He proceeds to render his duty and pur-
pose upon the point, if possible, more free from
doubt by the following declaration
81 trust this will not be regarded as a menace but
only the declared purpose of the Union that it tUiH
constitutonally defend and maintain itself In doing
this there needs to be boodhed violence and there
shall be unless it be forced upon the national au
thority.
The power confded will be used to hold occupy and
the property and places belonging to the Govern
ment to collect the duties and imposts but beyond
what be for these objects there Will be
INVASION no using OF force against or among the people
anywhere"
The concluding sentence of this quotation, by
necessity, implies that whatever sfnvasion" or
'using of force" may be Unnecessary for the
occupation of the public property and the collec-
ton of the in the seeding States just that
much will be by Mr.. LINCOLN employed to the ex-
tent of the power confded" to him. There is no
the passage from being held to signify precisely
this and neither more nor less than this In Or
der to make it still more clear, Mr.. LINCOLN af-
forwards rciterates his conviction of his duty, in
yet another shape:
The Chief Magistrate he says "derives all his author
y from the people and they have conferred none upon him
to fix for the separation Of the States. The people
themselves do this also if they choose, but the Ex
ecutive, SUCH has nothing do with it, His duty is
to administer the present government as it came to his
hands and to transmit it unimpaed by him to his
cesSor.'
And towards the close of his Address, he in
vests his previously expressed ideas of official Oh
legation in the premises with the most solemn of
sanctions. "You,"-he excaims, to his 'dissat-
''isfed fellow country men, p
"You have no oath registered in Heave en- to destroy
the Government, while shall have the most solemn
to preserve, protect and defend it,"
Language cannot make more explicit the duty
which he pledges himself to discharge, nor can it
more eXpressively announce his conviction that he
is oath-bound to discharge it. The obligation is
one which he confines to no limit or locality, and
which in its nature can be confined to none for it
is obligation which attaches itself to the laws
of the UNION and follows them wherever they 60
and this Mr.. LINCOLN asserts, is everywhere in
to the contrary Notwithstanding. The extent too,
Of the force by which the obligation is to be as.
serted and INDICATED, is limited only by the ex-
tent Of the resources with which the Constitution
and laws have endowed the PRESIDENT. 1t fol-
lows, therefore, that wherever there is
law of the United States TO be executed, Mr..
LINCOLN is bound and pledged to execute it, and
TO employ in its execution every power, civil and
military, with which the Constitution and laws
have clothed him. Such is the conclusion which his
premises necessarily involve, and which would
have been none the less logically unavoidable
even if he had not stated it so explicitly himself
So far then his doctrines are distinct and perfectly
consistent. They are precisely the doctrines for
which Mr.. WINTER DAVIS was applauded in the
House of Representatives, when he declared
that the Constitution OF United States and the
laws made in pursuance thereof must be enforced and
those who stand the path of that enforcement
must either destroy the power Of the United States it
will destroy them"
They leave no choice to the seeding States but
between submission and destruction, and if their
announcement stood alone, the issue would be
now made up.
But the inaugural has not left this unyielding
and exterminating policy to stand alone. Side
by side with its announcement, as side by side
with every uncomprOmising dogma which the
document asserts, is qualification. The careful
reader, in going over the whole paper, will be
able, unless we greatly mistaken, to trace out
the rigid tenor Of the original draught, and
the notifications afterwards interpoated, either by
the PRESIDENT himself or by more cautious hands.
The mosaic seems to US distinctly visible The
qualification to which we have especially alluded
is as follows. We invite particular attention to
its terms. The italics are our own;
Where hostility to the United States any interior
competent citizens from holding Federal offices
there l0i be no attempt force obnoxious strangers among
the people for that object.
While the strict legal right may exist in the Govern
ment to enforce the exercise of these Offices the attempt
to do acoId be Irritating, and nearly imprac
cable initial, that deem better TO foreqo for the time
the Of Such offices. The mails, unless repeed will
continue to be furnished in all parts of the Union SO far
as possible the people everywhere shall have that
of perfect security which is most favorable to
calm thought and reflection.
The course here indicated will be followed unless current
erentS and experience shall ShoW odcation change
to be proper, and in every case and exgency best
discretion will be exercised according circumstances
actually existing and with view and hope of peace
full solution of national troubles and the restoration of
fraternal sympathies and affections"
Now we suppose there can be no dispute about
the proposition, that if the PRESIDENT of the United
States, is bound absolutely by his oath, as Mr..
LINCOLN has said that he is, to see that the laws
faithfully executed, and to administer the gov
eminent according to those laws, he must be
bound to do it in any ''interior' as well as
exterior ''locality His constitutional obligation
is not restricted to the limits of the coast or the
region of the sea-breeze. 1t is attached to every
square-foot of the national terriory-hill or val
ley, sand-beach or forest. He has no right or
discretion to forego'' its ulflment, in one place
more than in another. He has no right to aban-
don its discharge, because Of "hostility'' in one
quarter more than in another. Wherever it is his
duty to appoint officers to execute the laws, there
he is bound to appoint them, and he has no right
to decline doing it, because residents refuse to
accept the places, and non residents are "obnox-
'ious." Wherever the 'fstrict legal right may
exist in the government to enforce the exercise of
these offices, there the clear constitutional duty
of the PRESIDENT follows-for the rights of a
Constitutional government only the counter
part of its obligations. Whether the attempt to
discharge these obligations would be 'irritating'
or otherwise can be no concern Of his; whether it
would be "nearly impractcabIe" or quite so, he
has no right to determine, upon his theory, until
he has made the experiment. His oath obliges
him, according to his construction of its meaning
to use all the power with which his office is en-.
lowed for the purpose of enforcing all the laws,
everywhere.
1t must be apparent then, that Mr.. LINCOLN has
either oversated his general principle, or set up
exceptions which are repugnant to it and
cannot be maintained. If his general esti-
mate OF his duty be just, the qualification
is untenabe. If the qualification be just, the
general rule is too broadly laid down. If Mr..
LINCOLN is bound by his oath, uuquefedly, to
execute the laws every where, he is bound to exc
cute them at the foot of the Blue Ridge, on the
far North Western line of South Carolina, with
the same uncompromising vigor as at Charles.
ton. If he has the right to foreuo the
rigid and immediate en- orcement of the |
laws. at the head-watels Of The Edisto, be. |
cause such enforcement would be Irritating he
has an equal right to do the same thing, for the
- tba INN ction IF the Ashley and