The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-05-28


and Ia, her Southern sisters bear the brunt of the
battle 'Sha had but to stand still, simply
st;o follow the wise aud honorable example OF
Maryland and Kentucky''-to grove in the dust
to permit herself 10 be occupied by Northern
troops; TO be torn TO pieces by party divisions; TO
proclaim an ignomiuious neutrality, and TO fall,
by baseness and servility, from the height Of what
the american is pleased to call cher traditional
greatness" PROSTATE at the feet of a sectional
President and humbly acknowledge herself the
willing slave ofNorhern masters. What if Virginia
should be TO the South what Belgium was to the
Netherlands, the battlefield in which the war Of
independence was prosecuted; does not history
significantly tell US that the war ended in the eX-
pulsion of the invaders and that even in after
times the Belgians successfully vindicated their
liberties and privileges against every eucroach-
'sment?' Does the american believe that Vir-
ginis, backed by the whole forces of the South, is
less capable of triumphantly asserting her indie
pendence than Belgium, aided by the armies Of
the Low Countries? If her separation be the act
of "a few small politicians of mere handful of
''blood-thirsty demagogues''-how are we to ac-
count for the spontaneous uprising Of her people,
for the alacrity with which they have sprung 10
arms to resist Northern aggression, and for the
immense vote which they have cast in ratification
of the ordinance of secession d? The position
which Virginia has assumed is not the result of a
passionate impulse, but of deliberate conviction.
She continued loyal to the UNION so long as any
hope remained of redress Of grievances within
the UNION. She earnestly and seduously sought
an honorable adjustment of the quarrel. She
stood ready at all times to unite her efforts
to those of the North TO bring about reconcil-
iation between the sections. She called Peace
Congress which assembled and-did nothing.
She appointed a committee to wait upon Mr.. LIN
COLIN for the purpose of ascertaining what his
policy would be. They returned and reported
their conviction that the Federal Government
was resolved 10 undertake coercive measures
against the South. She still waited, hoping yet
fearing until Mr.. LINCoLYs proclamation, sum-
mouing seventy-fve thousand men to arms, and
declaring n blockade of the Southern ports, left
her no other alternative than TO decide upon her
course She has elected TO link her destiny with
that of the other members of the Southern Con-
federacy, and now stands prepared to defend the
act, confident in the justice of the cause which
she has espoused, and equally confident that al
though her soil may he ''ploughed with cannon
"balls and sown with gunpowder," she will
emerge from this second war of independence as
trinmphantly as she did in the first, when WASH
INGToN-hmself Virginan-achieved his crown
ing victory by forcing CoRNwALLIs 10 surrender
on the plains of Yorktown. With incred-
ible assurance, the american declares that ''he
government has never oppressed her." So said
the tories when the colonies took up arms against
Great Britain. 1t was the common cry, ''Why
"should you fight against the mother country /?
''Iou are in the perfect enjoy ment of all your
'rights, why contend for mere abstract principle;
"why object to an impost Of three pence pound
con tea, which three pence is allowed to the ex-
"porter as drawback, and is therefore practically
ono tax whatever upon the consumer" Great
Britain violated no constitutional obligations as
Mr.. LINCOLN has done. She did not treat with
contempt the decisions of the Judiciary as Mr..
LINCOLN has done; she did not deliberately under
take to violate the rights Of property in any of
the colonies the Republicans have doIe. Yet
the Colonists resisted her aggressive tendencies by
force of arms, and CHATHAM, with his dying
breath, "rejoiced that they had resisted" Viz
ginia, says the American, ''should have followed
'he honorable example of Maryland and
'Kentucky;' she q should have remained
neutral In such contest neutrality is
out Of the question. Is Maryland neutral? Let
the Government withdraw the bayonets that are
now pointed at the Threats of her people, and the
world will soon know what answer they will
make. Maryland is now, to all intens and pur.
poses, as much the victim of grinding despotism
as Venice is under the rule of the Austrian. What
Venice is to the Kaiser, that Maryland will prove
10 her oppressor. What Venice is to rcgenerated
Italy, that Maryland will be to the Southern Con-
federacy. The fiat has gone forth that she is 10
be kept in the Northern Union at all hazards
Well if her people so will it--yes II they say
mol let those who seek to restrain them look to the
consequences. The American compIacentIy init
mates that it "has always taken the ground that
''the position of Maryland ought to be one of the
"srictest neutrality" We candidly admit that
this statement is, at least, partially correct. 1t
is always to be found on what it imagnes
to he the strongest side. On the morning of the
outbreak on the 10Th of April it was a strenuous
advocate of neutrality. In the afternoon of the
same day it suddenly chopped round, and called
upon call Marylanders to unite as one man."
The following afternoon it clamored loudly for an
organized force to meet the Northern troops
"beyond the limits of the city and drive them
''back effectually." Exhausted by its vrtuous
indignation, it subsequently subsidized into perfect
silence for whole matchmaking for wind
and then, encountering the old current, what
could it do but shift again with it, and once more
indulge in its twaddle about neutrality :?
''Bessed be the man who first invented sleep"
said SANCHo PANzA, "for it covers one all over as
''wiih blanket ''Blessed be the man who
''frst invented principles that fit loosely" says
the American, "for one can throw them off or put
''them on at pleasure" The extraordinary dex-
terity it has acquired in the practice of its
governing precep is the best evidence of the fire.
quency with which it has made it its rule of
action.