The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-03-21
BALTIMORE.
THURSDAY, MARCH 81, 1861.


terrible fact that the Union is now discovered is
not to be gainsaid. Men are unwilling to make
the admission-the country is oath to yield to
the convction-but all who give to passing
events an instants calm and fair consideration
must mournfully realize the extent of the calami-
ty which has overtaken us. The federal govern
ment may decline to take cognizance of the
proceedings of the Gulf States, the Supreme
Court may declare the secession ordinances null
and void, and the people may continue to speak
of our dissatisfied fellow countrymen'' of the
South, but nevertheless the government of the
Confederate States is a stubborn existing fact and
their people are TO all intents and purposes, at
least for the time being, separate and independ-
ent people. They will, within a brief pc
riod, have established their constitution, their
tariff, their army, and their navy. They are
about to claim the recognition of the world as one
of the family of nations, and they. prepared to
resist any attempt on the part of these States to
coerce them. all our efforts have been powerless
to prevent even check the progress of the revo-
luton which has produced these dire results. We
have warned the secessionsts of the ilegality of
their course, we have apostrophized our country's
flag, we have invoked the heroes of '76, we have
encored our national airs, we have passed count
less resolutions, and Notwithstanding all these
practical and statesmanlike endeavors we have
failed to save the Republic. The "gleams of Light
and the trays of hope" which have been so often
heralded, have continually faded before the anxious
watchers who discovered them could point out
their whereabouts upon the dim horizon The
Union, them is dissolved, and nothing is left for
L,lt ,C,1I
the work of reconstruction. And to this labor
men must devote themselves not only honestly but
promptly. 1t is task that will admit of no
delay, for the difficulties surrounding it are almost
insuperabe now and they increase with every
hour. The prospect Of reunion between all the
States is not at best a cheering one, but if the
effort to effect it is long postponed, the settle
ment of the dispute within any definite period
may be regarded hopeless. The government
of the Confederate States will soon perfect
its organization, and find allies abroad
and as it grows stronger, it will become more
tenacious of its power. The people on both sides
will speedily accustom themselves to look upon
separation a natural or inevitable event, and
feelings of esrangement or hostility will perhaps
be rapidly developed between them, and their dis
PoSitiou W llleir QudTrsl Will De leSSeHeu
daily. This, therefore, is the opportunity which
the patriots and statesmen of the country, if any
there be, should turn to quick account. If it is
lost, the days of the Republic are numbered. If
affairs are suffered to remain as they now stand
for twelve, or even six months longer, it is safe TO
predict that the Confederate States will henceorh
maintain their independence, at least until that
day in the distant future when our Confederacy,
with homogeneous people and magnificent re-
sources shall enter upon war of conquest in Or
der to extend our limits to the Gulf.
But, supposing the States which have already |
seeded can be induced to return to the Confeder-
acy, by what measures and through whose insru-
men talty that desirable result be accom-
plished? 1t is clear that the North alone is not
likely to bring about reconciliation. Not only
has it manifested yet little willingness to make
the necessary concessions, but if it did offer so to
do, any overtures proceeding solely from that
source would be regarded with dstrust and re-
ceive little consideration. Upon the Border States,
then, the work of reconstruction, if it is to be
consummated at all, must mainly devolve. They
alone frame such a compromise as would sat
isfy both sections, and they alone induce the
Northern and the Gulf States to unite upon any
proposition whatsoever. But if it is possible as
believe it is, for the Border States still to save
the Union, they can only do so by taking some
immediate and decisive step. The time for talk
ing has gone by. We have reached that stage Of
revolution at which debate and defamation be-
come wholly Intellectual. Action alone in
terests and influences men now and il the
Cabinet and Conventions continue much long
er to discuss the mode in which the crisis
should be met the crisis will adjust itself. The
quiet and simple movements which the Confederate
States making daily will settle the issue, and
that in way which will be most unsatisfactory
to US. The border slave States, then, having al
ready determined that they will not join in or
permit coercive measures against the seeding
States, have it to u.s. but one of two courses
to pursue, if they hope to reunite our now
broken Confederacy. They must either present to
the North and South alike, an ultmatum whose
acceptance shall be the price of their own allie
glance to the Government of either section, or they
must throw themselves boldly and thoroughly
with the Confederate States. If they take the
former course they will not stand in an attitude of
hostility towards either of the contending parties
and their counsels will, therefore, meet with
reader hearing. The North would unquestion-
ably, concede much rather than see all the States
South of the Ohio consolidated in new Confeder-
acv, and the Gulf States would not be disposed to
make extreme demands when they knew that by
so doing they would deprive themselves, hence
forth, of the sympathy of the people of eight
powerful States and drive the latter into cordial
and lasting alliance with the North Nor could
the Gulf States, even if so disposed, venture to
reject any fair and moderate propositions, for in
such case UNION party would spring into exist
ence there, which, countenanced and supported
by the central States, would speedily triumph |
its opponents. But it, on the other hand, the
border States should prefer to join the movement
which the Gulf States have so successfully inaugu-
rated, there is every probability that the North
would be thereby brought to terms. The latter
might be even more unwilling then than now to
make the required concessions, for these would,
in that event. be dictated to rather than asked of
it. But we cannot think the people of New York
and Pennsylvania would prefer the Chicago plat
form to the present UNION. They would not, for
the sake of the anti-savery agitators, sacrifice all
their interests, destroy their Importance as
nation and suffer new Republic to be estatl shed
which would contain within its limits the larger,
fairer, and richer portion of the Continent. If,
therefore, the slave States which have declined |
heretofore to participate in the precipitate move
ment initiated by South Carolina, should promptly |
and decidedly follow one of the courses to which |
we have referred, there is every reason to believe
that they could succeed in restoring harmonious
relations between the States. But they must act
before the loyalty with which all men have been
wont to regard the UNION shall cease to animate
them-before the people of the North and South
shall have become embittered against each other
aud before the inhabitants of the Gulf States
shall have become generally satisfied that their
local interests will be best promoted by separ-
alton. Every weeks delay adds another to the
chances against reconstruction of the UNION;
and if the border States fail now to take any |
decisive step, believe they may as well forego |
the hope of eeug our old Conederacy restored to |
its former state, and prepare themselves for the |
new and uncertain future that lies before them.
GERMAN CRITICISMS ON HAMLEr-Tyo German
critical works on Hamlet have made their appear
ance. The one is by Carl Elze the other nv Carl
Rohrbach. Herr E!ze publishes the Enslsb tart
of this play with a historical introduction and
commentary in German. Herr Rohrbach goes into
the psychology of the Danish Prince himself. and
,rma mn nv pronouncing him q yery shabbv fe,Iorn |