Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1857-05-26
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4. 81 q 8
Oar Know Nothing contemporaries complain that /
We still insist upon preserving the unity Of the South
upon the great the vital, and living issue Of South
ern rights They say that the principles enumerated
BY the Democratic party and illustrated by the Kan
sas-Nebraska bill, we're passed upon and sustained
BY the people Of Tennessee in the Presidential cleo
ten, and that consequently this is no longer ques-
ton in controversy In this We differ with them
most earnestly. 50 fer as Tennessee IS concerned
the verdict Of the people was certainly as they rep
resent it. favorable to the views Of the Democratic
marty but how was It in the Southern States OF the
Union What is the present attitude OF the Black /
Republican party upon this vital question? Have |
thew Welded ready acquisence to the will Of the
people IS expressed in that election No. Their !
hostility is if possible more bitter than ever Their
rancor and luminosity seem to have increased since
the interposition Of this check upon their mad
schemes for the overthrow ofthe Constitution. They
are already ralying their forces for the contest Of
1860, and with anxious gaze are looking to the
cess of the enemies Of the Democratic party in ac
eomplishing their scheme Of lulng the people ofthe
South into a false security If now they can di-
vide the South upon other questions, they feel that
their success in the next Presidential election viii be
placed beyond peradyenture.
With the eyes of their leading men fully open to
the violence Of this war against the South and her
institutions, with the evidences every day renewed
and placed before their eyes Of their reckless dsre
gard of the Constitution and all laws which might
interpose thwart their purpose, still are our ears
to be assailed in Tennessee with the decetful cry
81 all is settled all is we'll This is longer
question at ISSUE" Even at this very moment the
decision of the Supreme Court Of the United States
is set at naught, and the venerable, respected and
able members of that high tribunal are denounced
with ferocity which would be regarded as attrOci-
Gus if directed even against condemned criminal
and still we told by the leaders Of the opposition
in Tennessee that " all is well " When the very
foundations of the Government assailed-when
the laws are set at defance-when the authority Of
the highest tribunal known the laws is disregard
ed still we are told that there is necessity on the
part Of the friends of the South and of the Cons-
tuition to maintain their unity. As a sample of the
vndictive malice and unmitigable luminosity Of
Black Republication, read the following comment Of
the New York Tribune upon the decision Of the Su-
preme Court in the bred Scott case:
=" Such dense ignorance or such willful misrep-
| resentation-Or such combination Of both,
are rather inclined to think is the fact-as the his
torica part Of this opinion exhibits it would be i'm
possible to parale-at least not since the time that
| Scroggs sat upon the bench The Chief-JUstice in
his old age-though it can't be old age that is the
only cause, since the four other shareholders met
| with him-seems to have totally forgotten the fUnc-
| tions of a Judge and to have reapsed into the
character Of eager, srtfu sOphisical jesuitica,
living advocate-fOr the suppression Of the truth is
| living to all intents and purposes Had 1t come in
the shape Of an argument from the counsel of some
| slave catcher or negro trader with terribly bad
case this argument for such it is might be entitled
to the credit at least, of ingenuity. Considered as
a judicial opinion eminating from Court the JUdg-
es Of which might be expected TO preserve certain
show at least Of selfrespect in spite of their preu-
| dices and the danger in which they undoubtedly
stand-a thing which ought TO be duly taken into &C
| cOunt-Of being lynched at home should they pre-
sumo to run counter to slave holding sentment con-
sidered in this point of view to every person who
| remembers the reputation which the Supreme Court
of the United States had, this opinion must be
as Notifying is derOgat0ry to the character and
position of those from whom it comes. But It seems
that the Supreme Court Of the United States is to
form no exception to the inevitable destiny Of every
! thing human. England boasts her Coke, her Hale
| her Holt her Mansfield; Jay, cur Marshall
| and our Story. But a BramptOn was to be found
| in England to be made ChiefJustice Of when ship
! money and other usrpations were to be sustained
so we too have a Chief Justice fancy, followed and
/ Of the only two men on the bench, by a majority
whose Names like those Of their sbip-money breth'
rem may be saved from nOtOriety by the personal in
significance of the owners, but whose decision will
like that, enjoy wide and lasting historical inta-
! my"
In view of the magnitude Of the interests involved,
would it not be worse than folly for the people of
Tennessee to be luIed into fatal inaction by the
insidious and willy arts of their enemies either at
home or abroad? Is that party to be trusted which,
in the face Of active preparations the part Of our
adversaries in the North to the contest, with
increased bitterness, urges the people Of Tennessee
to ground their arms and make no further resistance
Whatwould be thought of the generalship of a COM
mander who after gaining great victory over his
adversary, should advise his army to disband and
dispense themselves in the presence of his defeated
but still defiant, and compact and united enemies ?
No! The great the living, the ever present issue,
is that which grows out Of the effort of the Black
Republican party of the North to flch from the
Southern States those inaienable rights guaranteed
by the constitution of the Union The two great
parties which now divide the nation are divided up
on this issue; and this alone from the magnitude of
the interests involved oyerrides all others. The
opposition in the South, in their guerilla warfare
against the Democratic party, may serve good turn
to Black RepubHeanism by diyerting attention for
the moment from the real ISSUE but they are utterly
powerless, as they well know, to accomplish any
other result.