The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-03-12

by the seeding States. As he passed Eastward
his speeches were coored, to greater or less de-
gree, by the same warlike sentiment, not boldly
expressed indeed, but either clearly suggested, or
in the form of question. At the same
time it was painfully evident that Mr. INcoLN was
wholly ignorant either of the nature of the crisis
or the temper Of the people with whom he
would shortly have to deal He virtually admit
ted, indeed, on several occasions that he was
cropping his way amid shadows and black darkness.
and that like AJAX he was sorely in need Of light
On his journey from New York Southwark the
mists which had encompassed him during his
progress through the Empire State seemed TO clear
away; for, at Trenton, he admonshed his hearers
that 1t might become necessary ''to set the foot
down firmly, and when the foot was once down
Ito stand firmly upon it," MARS was once more
in the ascendant. At Philadelphia and Harris
burg his speeches were of the same menacng char
acer. From the hour Of his sudden and mystic.
rous disappearance at the latter place, until the
day when he gave to the world his Inaugural,
whatever opinions Mr.. LINCOLN entertained he kept
discreetly TO himself "When | speak after my
"arrival at Washington, l shall speak with a full
knowledge Of the situation and | shall then
''speak authoritatively." Such was the substance
of the language used by him in addressing the
Legislature at Albany. In due time he spoke
He was then clothed with the Office of Chief Mag
istrate, and his uterances had the sanction of his
official station. His Inaugural has been read by
everybody who takes an interest in politics. or who
was anxious to learn whether the opinions of the
PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES conceded with
those expressed by ABRAHAM LINCOLN in his way
side speeches. It's meaning has been varously
construed. Read by the light of his railway
speeches, lis Interpretation was war, and nothing
less than war. With an air of solemnlty, well be-
fitting the grave nature of the issue, be spoke of
the obligations that made it incumbent upon him to
repossess himself of the forts and arsenals in the
hands of the Southern insurgents; and of the
oath which he had Registered in Heaven to
"preserve and protect and defend the govern
'ment." 1t is true he surrounded this avowal of
his positive duties with qualifying phrases, and
announced that after all there need be no war;" II
strue, also, that the Inaugural was patch work Of
affirmation and disclaimer; of asseveraon and pro-
''NN ~ III dtu WIS
wanting both in sequence and connection. But
the ground-tone breathed, throughout, hostility to
the South, and the monstrous dogma that the
popular vote could override any decree of the
Supreme Court on questions of Constitutional law
indicated conclusively the animus by which it was
pervaded. 1t meant war, or it meant nothing
So declared the great majority of the Southern
iOr al,
of the radical Republican journals. BY
the former it was met, even in the Dor
der States, with a declaration that nc
coercion of the seeding States ought to be permit
ted; by the Republicans it was lauded as an evi.
dence of the unshrinking firmness with which the
new PRESIDENT would fulfil his bounden duty
There were others, however-the moderate Repub
llcans, and portion of the Union men-who
pinning their faith upon the qualifying clauses Of
this most oracular of State papers, believed that
like BoTTOM the weaver President LINCOLN had
"a device to make all WELL - and that as there ssis
''not more fearful wild fowl than your lion liv-
'ing;" inputting on the lions hide he had adopted
BoTToM's suggestion and let 'half of his face be
''seen through the lion S neck. ;" Those who believed
that pacific policy would prevail, and that the
hon was but roaring ''as gently as a sucking
''dove, appear to have rightly construed the true
meaning of the double-faced inaugural. If we
may put faith in the telegram from Washington
which is published in another column, Mr.. LIN
COLIN has abandoned the idea of ''repossessing'
the government Of the Southern forts and a,senals
and is actually about to withdraw The garrison:
from Forts Sumter and Pickens. Strange to say
the Republican journals which were loudest in
praise of his expressed, or implied, determination te
reinforce the forts and TO recapture those that are
held by the troops ofthe Southern Confederacy, now
laud him to the skies for his statesmanlike pru.
dence and wisdom in abandoning them. We
too, think that he is prudent in coming to the
conclusion which, it is asserted, he has finally
reached; but he would have evinced far more
wisdom, in our opinion, if be had never threatened
to do thing which he finds now to be imprac
ticabe.