The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-08-21


Sb;oh the Grahd J ars entFiiselR We should
no. have been gnrntissd. 5Bet the mortfy-
;n, and alarming fact connected with the move
eent,-is- tfe-bnse -afarrity with-whieh-
portion Of the press has endorsed ii. Six months
ago there would have been an outburst of indig-
nation from every section of the North upon 50
barefaced and outrageous an attempt to gag the |
press. The most illiterate pIoughman on the
Western prairies, and the least educated artisan at
Lowell would have joined in resenting so unwar-
rantable an assault upon the freedom of sneech,
and the Administration would have shrunk, away
abashed and powerless before the storm of exc /
Grafton which would have assailed it. But now
the popular yoiceis silept; and so complete has
the decentralization of the country become that
the most enlightened journals and the most infu-
entail citizens Of the chief city on the Continent
subsequently demand that the right of free die
custom shall end, They openly approve the
course Of the mobs which have already sacked
the Offices of some half dozen journals for daring
to talk of peace and compromise, and they urge
the legal tribunals of New York to prostitute
themselves, to sabserve, in this respect the pur-
poses of the Administration. .a 49,. - e-
If the individuals who now countenance the
Government in its efforts to silence the press were
all like the ignorant fanatics with whom they are
at present acting, there might be room to hope
that the North would yet struggle out of the adv
into which it is SO blindly and madly plunging
But unfortunately those who should have been
foremost to defend cur constitutional liberties are
most clamorous in insisting upon the suppression
OF the journals which oppose this war. Nor is ii
possible 10 misunderstood the motives by which
these men are actuaed. They are too intelligent
to be mised by the wre!cied pre,ext on which
the Grand Jury based its presentment against the
opposition papers in New York. They know per-
fectly well that it is not and never has been I'M
lawful to discuss or to denounce the measures OF
| the Government, in times of peace or war. They
know that, not only in this country, but in Eng
land also, the people have been privileged, for
| hundred years past, TO avow their opn
| ions ct their own good pleasure about the
policy or plans of their rulers. When, Eng
| land was striving to subdue her thirteen
colonies, PlTT, and BURKE, and BARRE, and
host of other statesmen, not only condemned
| openly the course Of the British Ministry, bu
fearessly applauded, in their places in Parlamen
and through the press the resistance Of the
American people, When the revoluiionists O
France were threatening all Europe, and it wa
imagined that the institutions of England Nigh
be overw helmed by the anarchical deIuge which
had inundated the neighboring kingdom, tn
terrified rulers Of Great Britain sought in vain t
trammel the freedom of debate. But Fox and hi
coadutors continued to criticise as they pleased
l he nj tEn Mipiat ND 1uIa tba Jaf 40
endeavored to terrify. the people by indictinl
HARDY and bis companions, the eloquent voice O
| ERsKINE was lifted up in their defence, and Brit
ISL iuries vindicated the right Of the subject Il
| free thought and free speech. And in this coun
try such right has never for an instant been gain
said. On all questions touching or foreigl
policy, the press has been privileged to refec
the opinions of every portion of the people
When we were engaged in a desperate struggl
with England, the papers of Massachusetts de
nounced our Government and encouraged on
enemies, and Mr.. LINCOLN himself now gives hi
confidence to a man who expressed the wis
that our soldiers in Mexico might be welcomes
Hwith bloody hands to bospitable graves"
cannot, therefore, be supposed that the men VIII
now sanction the effort of the Administration t
suppress free speech, misunderstood the characte
of the despicsble policy which they countenance
They know, well as we do that neither tn
laws of the land nor the spirit of our institution
| afford them warrant or excuse for their proceed
ngs. But they are simply bent upon intimidatin
their opponents. They have determined to tolel
ate no differences of opinion concerning the me
| tives and schemes of Mr.. LINCOLN and his party
| They wish 10 compel the minority ia the North t
| acquiesce in, if not to approve, the ruinous an
unconstitutional measures of the faction whic
controls the Government. To accomplish thes
ends, they have been already forced to subvert til
laws; and they can only complete the work the
, have undertaken by resorting, without delay, to
pure and undisguised military despotism. Whe
they have established this, they may, perhaps, a
| low us, like the prisoners in Fort La Fayette ct
address any respectful communication to IL
"Government;" but beyond this we shall have II
IL =:-ileues no rnhts Gnnndasa- Il ieahiisss-
l be seen whether the American people are yet pre-
pared for SO absolute surrender Of their liberties