The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-05-08
BALTIMORE.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 1851.

signal to leap forth among the millions OF onriS-
tan men who but a little while ago were dwelling
in happiness and peace. Swift-foo.ed and re-
morseless, these agents of hell will speedily do
their work of havoc and Gesolaton. The sunny
fields of the South are destined to glow with a
darker, ruddier hue; and in Northern homes,
where now the hoarse and vindicGve voice of pas,
sion alone is heard there will be lifted up, ere
long, notes Of bitter lamentation.
The fiat has gone forth and civil war, in it,
most hdeous FORM is about to he inaugurated
The great mass Of men will scarcely pause now :,
consider upon whose heads the responsibility,
for the coming evils must ultimately rest. En-
crossed by the exciting and appalling incidents o
the struggle, they will leave history TO apDortion
with impartial hand, the Guilt and inG,mv wbicI
must, sooner or later, be borne by one or tn,
other OF the parties to the impending war 1t /:
our DUTY, however, not merely TO chronicle tht
details OF the confagrations and slaughter to en-
sue, but to point out if we can the fatal errors OF
INSCRIPTIONS designs which have brought the
country to lis present pass, and TO fix upon the
authors of our ruin the accountability they have
incurred That duty we hope to be enabled To
discharge not less conscientiousy than firmly
There is right and a wrong somewhere in this
matter, and it deyolves upon those Of US who
venture to play the part of advisers, to find on,
on which OF the respective sides these may lie and
TO announce our conclusions boldly. CONCERNING
the responsibility for the initiation of the an.
preaching contest we can speak unhesitatingIv,
because our opinions have been thoughtfully and
calmly matured. We arraign no other honest man
IN the community for entertaining different views
but we must express ours with the earnestnes:
and piainnesS which are consequent upon strouo
convictions. We solemnly believe that the Ad-
ministration and the people of the North will be
answersble before God and their fellow men for
the disastrous results Of the contest upon which
they are about to enter-and that AGAINST
them every drop OF blood which is vet to be
shed in this fratricdal strife will thenceforth
appeal increasingly to Heaven.
About the primary causes of this quarrel
1t IS needless now to cavil Two incon-
troveruble facts are to-day to be dealt with.
beside which the origin of our discussions
dwindles into a petty abstraction, and con-
stitutonal interpretations, and legal subtleties
become matters Of infnitesimaI Importance. These
two facts with which the Administration is face
TO face are, first the unanimity and determine
ton with which the South is demanding recogpi-
uoh as separate nation; and secondly, the i'm
possibility of compelling it by force of arms TO
recede from lis position. That the UNION nicht
have been saved by some slight concessions to
the Gulf States, or by such overtures to The
Border States as would have satisfied them of the
integrity and frieudliness of the Government, no
rational mind can avoid admitting. But without
some such manifestations of good will on the part
OF The representatives of the Northern people. il
was obvious six months ago that the DAYS of the
Repu6iIc were numbered. Therefore was il that
patriotic and prudent men everywhere hesougbt
The North TO try the effect of Cancellation and
compromise. But all efforts TO that end were in
vain. To the appeals Of the South the North
listened in logged silence or else it rejected them
with contemptuous Or bitter words. The sions
oil the growing discomfort among the people of
the Slave States, and Of their increasing dsposi-
ton TO unite TO a man in resistance were all dis
regarded, and down TO this hour the North has
Vouchsaed them no other than an uryjeIdinr
and threatening answer. Under these circum
stances lhe sections have parted angrilv, and the
door OF reconciliation is closed. The North can
offer no compromise now, and the South asks
ana Will accept nothing but an acknowledgment
OF It's independence. Six millions of American
people, iull OF courage aud resources, and occu-
pylhg m gnllcent empire, have, with unpara-
leed unanimity, insisted upon the right TO govern
themselves, and for that right they will battle to
the death. This is the first great fact that MIR
LINCOLN has TO consider and if he has one-Gftietb
part OF the capacity that is required in his posi-
ton, he vii! Mt once dismiss the idea that the
Southern revolution is merely illegal " COM
"oination OF persons" who are obstructng tie ex-
ecuiion of the laws That Mr. LINCOLN has re-
'aizsd now the impossbty ofpreservng the UNION
by the means which would have been elfectual Il
short time since, we may assume from his present
course. Regarding any attempt to pacify the
South as hopeless, he is preparing to subiugate
1t. Having strengthened his position in Wash
lngon, his flimsy pretence of desire only to pro
tect the Capital has been abandoned, his assertion
OF determination to stand solely on the defen-
sive has been repudiated an his avowal Of an in
1entoa to act in accordance with the laws and
the Constitution has been falsifed In defiance
OF the provisions of the Constitution, he has Or
dered the Army and Navy to be permanently in
creased; he has accepted civil war;" and he has
announced his purpose to carry it into the sece-
ded States And the object of all these hostile
preparations is what? Our "blessed UNIoN'' is
to be saved by these fraternal measures. The
Constitution is to be maintained by these uncon.
stitutional, arbitrary and violent acts. The unity
OF our people is to be preserved by plunring
northern bayonets in q hundred thousand South-
ern breasts. a divided nation is to be cemepted
together with the blood of its bsst and bravest
sons. All this Mr.. LINCOLN expects to accomplish.
Ii tue result he anticipates were possible, such has
peen our devotion to the UNION, our reverence for
'he Republic, that we might be tempted to acqui-
este IN, IL not welcome, the civil war which could
out OF blood and pain and terror, produce such
GLORIOUS result. But the maintenance, by these
means, of any Confederacy such as an American
would consent to live under, is preposterous SUD-
position. The South, moreover, cannot be con-
quered. 1t may possibly be devastated or utterly
destroyed, bat suhjugated it can never be. There
are few "UNoN men' now between Richmond
and the Rio Grande, and there will be
none after the cohorts of New England
invade the land of WASHINGTON, JEFFERSON and
PATRICK HENRY 1t is the madness which goes
before destruction, that leads the Administration
to send an invading army over the Potomac.
And this is the second great fact that Mr. LINCOLN
must deal with.
Now if we are rightin our conclusions that the
Southern people are bent upon dissolviug our old
cohederacy and that they cannot be coerced into
any other position, the duty of the Administra-
uon Is plain. 1t must do what governments have
done since they have been established among men.
ana make virtue of necessity, and accept facts
"iiich II Is lmpotent to control. IF it does no
Choose to recognize the principle on which the
south has based its claim to be allowed to sepa-
rate, 1t can nevertheless admit that the subuga-
Ton OF that section would not compensate for the
long years OF suffering and the waste of life and
treasure that would be required to achieve the
conquest and it can suffer the hostile sections, as
long as they must part, to part in peace. But il
the Administration, backed by Northern people,
will persist in their desperate and fatuous en-
deavor to reconstruct the Union with the sword
they will find, when the war shall have ceased,
that the chasm between the North and South has
grown wider and deeper, and that across the cur
rent of blood which will traverse it. neither nation
can be brought TO stretch friendly hand 10
the other.
The grain merchants and the pork packers of
The mighty West have decreed, in an auihorita-
i've manner, that hencerorth the South shall be
Starved out and Baltimore become as a wilder