The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-01-31
BALTIMORE.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 81, 1861

While portion OF the Republican party recOg-
nizes the futilty of any attempt 10 repress by
force of arms, the revolutionary movement in the
South, there are unfortunately very many infuen-
tal politicians who insist that the seeding States
shall be coerced into obedience to the general Gov
ernment The laws of the United States, they
say, having been openly set at nought, it has be-
come the duty of the Federal authorities
to enforce them at every hazard, and
the President is, therefore, urged to accept
for that purpose, the services Of the militia
of the Northern States. As many of those who
approve resort to extreme measures supposed
to be among the confidential advisers of the in
coming administration, it is not altogether i'm
probable that in the event of separation between
the two sections, Mr. LINCOLN might be disposed
to try whether the cannon and the bayonet would
not suffice to restore harmonious relations between
them. 1t is however, TO be hoped that the President
elect will hesitate to follow the blind guides who
would thus undertake to direct him and also that
he has a more accurate comprehension of the real
state of affairs than most of the people of the North
have vet arrived at. Any mistake upon this
point may lead to consequences as fatal as those
which the error of George the Third brought on
Great Britain, eighty-six years ago. There
exists, indeed so far as concerns their
ignorance of the temper and situation of
their opponents, marked similarity be-
tween the majority of the English politicians Of
that day and the members of the Republican party
to whom we now refer. The parallel will strike
even those who are least familiar with the
history of the period. 1t will be re.
membered that the incredulity with which the
threatened resistance of the Americans was re-
garded abroad, and the confidence with which their
speedy defeat was predicted among the main
causes which rendered inevitable the subsequent
collision between the mother country and the col
onies. Few believed that the latter would so far
lose sight of their own interests as TO provoke the
active hostility Of England, and still fewer ina
gined that the colonists could maintain such
contest for a twelvemonth. In the debate there
FORE on the Boston Port Bill, the Ministers merely
thought it necessary to discuss the right of Para-
ment to pass it, and TO refer to the disobedence of
the province that was TO be coerced and they said
very little about the expediency of the measure or
the consequences likely to flow from it. Lord
North only considered the fact that the people Of
Massachusetts had violated the laws, and he deter
mined to compel them TO submission, and all his
partisans DANGEROUSLY supported him, some of
them averring that Boston ought to be ''lluocled
ssabout the ears" of its inhabitants But there
were some men who were wiser than their genera
ton, who saw that they had to deal, not with a
mob, but with nation on the eve of a revolt: and
they did not believe that 'four five frigates, ;"
as Lord NORTH said, would reduce America
TO subsection. BURKE and BARRE and two
or three other Statesmen understood, clearly
enough the nature of the struggle upon which
the Minister was so recklessy entering, but no one
had more accurate perception of the course that
events would probably take than Gov. PowNALL.
An extract from his speech, in the House of Com
mons, is worth quoting, not merely to show how
correctly he then predicted the future, but because
the language in which he vainly strove TO convince
his contemporaries, is pregnant with lesson to
the men of to-day, if they will but heed it. He
said:
"The measure you promising will be resisted, not
by force, the effect OF arms, but regular sys
tenn told this House four years ago that the people of
America would resist the tax then permitted TO remain
thell-that they would oppose power to power,
but they would become mplacable Have they been
from that time to this very hour2 / tell you
that they will resist the measures pursued in
vigorous way The committees of correspondence in the
different provinces in constant communicaton-they
do not trust in the conveyance of the post ofce-they
have set up constitutional courier which will grow
to the supersedng of your post offices. As in
ellgence Of these affairs reaches them they will judge it
necessary to communicate with each other 1t will be
found inconveiien and Intellectual to do by letters
they must confer. They mil hold conference and 10
1Udt these comm eeS thus met IN Congress- UU gro,U up
ciU not say Should recourse be had 10 arms you aCU
hear Of other officers than those appointed by yo Goper
Then. IN the late cir of this cOntru it
C be Of little consequence to dispute fUho the agrees
sors-that wiH be merely matter Of orinion.''
To those who advocate the coercion of the
South we recommend q patient study of Lord
NoRTHs policy towards America in TIA. The
matter is too fearfully serious to be triled with,
and it .ecomes those who are rashly advising the
adoption of forcible measures to consider WELL
not merely the right of the government to enforce
its laws, but the results which will ensue from
the attemptto do so. The seeding States are in
earnest in their determination to maintain their
position, and their resources are such as will
enable them, if assailed, to make long and des-
perate resistance. Charleston or Pensacola might
readily be bockaded, but confederacy which
embraced from six to twelve large and populous
States, could not so easily be disposed Of The
alliance which Gov. PowNALL foresaw in 1774 was
utterly Insignificant compared with that which
would now be formed if any effort was made by
the incoming President to reestablish at the head
of an army, his jurisdiction over the entire South