The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-04-15

Unless the people of Maryland and the rest of
lhe border slave States have deliberately come to
the conclusion that they have no stake whatever
IN the political contingencies of the future the
time has arrived when they must take their final
STAND. Thas far, they have had no policy. but
that of irresoluton, inaction and folly. The
commanding position which they occupied at one
time, and from which they might have controlled
the destinies of the Republic, is theirs no longer
Gone, gone, forever, into the abyss of wasted on
portunitles and sacred duties unfulilled, is the
glorious privilege which once was theirs, of stand
ing up between the passions of conflicting Sec
uons' and recalling their brethren, upon both
slueS, 10 kindness and peace. Under the counsels
OF an lmbecility the like of which history does not
record, they have permitted their own STRENGTH
and influence TO be frittered into the sheerest in
significance, and the UNION, which was most pre-
clous to them, TO be broken into fragments before
their eyes, They have held meetings, and passed
resolutions, and listened to national airs and fine
northumberland the cannonade at Fort SIMMER is
what their "masterly inactivity" has come to-
Before the civilized world and at the bar of the
future, the responsibility of what has happened
and may follow, will be upon their heads; for,
teyond all peradventure, if they had had but the
manllness to speak the word, there would have
been no severance of the UNIoN-no blood of
brother upon brothers hands. But that has all
passed. They may repent OF it-they cannot cure
1t. They have to deal now with the new realities
OF the present. They can shut their eyes and lie
supne no longer, for the tide OF strife, if it ad-
vances, will soon be surging at their borders
They must choose their part and abide by it.
They must speak out, and be done with halfway
measures and diluted words. Civil war is upon
them and TO temporize with it is to whet its
sword.
To which side of the conflict that is warinp.
our convictions and sympathies incline, we need
scarce repeat. We believe that right and Justice
are with our brethren of the South and that the
cause they represent and are defending is the
cause of their domestic institutions, their char
tered rights and fresides. We look upon the
Government which is assailing them as the repre-
sentative, not of the UNION, but of malignant
and sectional fanaticism, which takes the bonored
name of the UNION in vain, and has Frustrated and
Is trampling on the Constitution. The war which
that Government has wantonly begun we regard
as wicked and desperate crusade, not onlv
against the homes and rights of our Southern
brethren, but against the fundamental. American
principle of sellgovernment. That the flag of the
nation should be lifted by such hands, in the van
OF such battle, and not that it should be bowed
i'll the conflict, is the shame that saddens us. We
would have war so recklessly begun put an end to
at all hazards, by the moral and, if need be, the
n al hn ell 90
We would have Maryland and Virginia and
the States which have common interests with
both, to take their stand with the South, openly,
maniully and at once. We believe that it is a
result which is sure TO take place, at one time or
another, under the irresistible pressure of congo
NAL institutions, habits and character not less
than OF ardent sympathies and inseparable inter-
ests We believe that it is a step which, if taken
now, will put an end to bloodshed at once. bv
making the struggle too desperate TO be dared
even by the most aggressive and unprincpled IA
ha'lclsm and ambition. We believe it is the only
course which holds out the remotest prospect of a
combination of the discovered sections at any time
hereafter, under any FORM
Nuch are our own deliberate convictions, forced
upon us by the overwhelming logic of events.
we 40 not shut our eyes, however, to the fact,
'hi't there are large number of our fellow citi-
zans-whose opinions we respect, because we
know them to be honest and patriotic-vbo bes;-
tate about adopting conclusions so decided. Their
Smpa'hies and judgments are with the South,
ana they know, as men of business and intelli-
gence, that in disruption of the Union, the
whole interests of Maryland, and especially of
Baltimore, are with the South likewise But
they cannot divest themselves of the delusion--so
sedulously encouraged by the Northern sympa-
thizers in our midstthat the question is still one
OF Union or disunion, and upon that question
they forget sympathies and interests. The feeling
is one which we honor too much 10 treat other
wise than with the most profound and sincere
consideration. Were it justified by the facts, it
would be our own feeling likewise, as strong
~ as it can be theirs, but it is time for
those who are misled by it to be made aware
OF the precipice towards which it is beguilinr
them. Is 1t possible for any rational man to be
pnd 10 the TACT that the Union exists no longer? Is
the southern Contederacy of seven powerful States
my ln-i's government fiction, its armv a lest
mas IL not 10 be recognized or subiupated-
tnlng or the other-and is it not hopelesslv Iost 20
us and-to the Union, in either contingency Th0
withdrawal of those States from among us-f,r
the cause and under the circumstances existing
does it not destroy the balance of our institutions
-unsette our domestic reIatlons-foreyer sunder
Tue TIES which was once mace us, in heart and un-
uer common Constitution, one hsppr and united
peop'e' NO man can deny these things. No man
oan now nope to change them except by war to
inc knife, and he must be mad, as well as jntoler-
ably WICKED, SO 70 hone The insane and b,rto
policy initiated by the Government, at wish.
ton, under the goadng OF toe Part, and ,rsa. IS
which 1t is the puppet, has wantoplv wraa,,.a
all possibility of compromise or recons,rno..AN
What, then, is left us, but to choose between a.,
two fragments of the discovered Union? II !. ~
longer--it has forever ceased to be-a choice -
which the Union itself is involved 1t is simpv q
choice between the North and the South-between
the brethren who have been driven from u.s. and
Tue corrupt and fanatical domination which has
separated US. If we remain where we are, we 20
"'' 'ne North, against the South--we choose be-