Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-11-21
The Spirit Of the Northern and the sOuth-
ern Press. ase

has passed The time for deesiDs action is at hand"
sEWARD has declared that slave States and free
States cannot co-exist in this republic, that The
struggle has begun, and that one or the other must
be conquered he has taken the position that slave
" must be abolished in the rice fields and sugar !
plantations of the South, or must extend through
out the North.
The speech in which this sentiment occurs is en-.
dorsed BY his party press We have copied the words
Of cOmmendation and approval from some Of the
most conservative Of the Northern papers.
The New York corrieT and Enquirer uses the fol-
lowing language in commenting on that speech
sSeDar5 and Republication haze nov become one and
asepsrabs; and the UOies Of the Empire State has been
proclaimed IN manner and under circumstances trkich
leave no doubt Of sshat she DESIRES and kere che va
Be found in the great struggle Of 1850
s.And while Stewards friends promptly accepted
the issue rendered and we're willing TO rest his
claims With the people Of his native state, Seward
himself shruuk not from the test No sooner Wss
Il settled that he and not Morgan trial before
the people than be took the stump and proclaimed
Whist in his judgment the great issues before The
country viz: hostility 10 SLAVERY extension, and the
prostration Of The Democratic parry the agent Of
such extension"
The New York Tribune defends the speech, and
Tsrmly sulOgiEes its author It calls the denuncis-
lions by the New York Herald of the OdiOus doc
trines which il contains, 'a knavish eamor raised
by Swiss press" The National ant-slaYery
Standard thus discourses on the subject:
ssThe speech of Senator Seward, which we this
week publish will arrest the attention Of every
Who is accustomed to watch the movements of po-
ncsl parties and marx the utterances Of their lead
ers Il is well understood in political circles that
the friends of Mr.. Seward determined, if possi
bic to make him the Republican candidate for Pres
ident in 1860; and 6sleUe his address intended
to strike the key note of The coming contest We have
reason to bslieUs, moreover, that designed to
rest and cotnlterae the movements Of those members Of
the Republican party a5ko euanigly attempting to
aay anti SLAVERY agitation, and TeDiUe IN form,
the dead issues of The past,
In the conflict between freedom and slavery Mr..
Seward sees no ephemerai excitement upon tempo
rary issues but grand moral and political battle,
involving in its result the fate of the whole country
How striking are his Words
Shall tell you what this collision meansq They who think
accidental unnecessary, the work Of interested OF "a
naCl agaOrs, and therefore ephener mistake the al
together Its an irrepres6e conflict opposing and
during forces, and it means that the Ced States mast and
ao, later, become entirely sEa0eotd7g NATION Or
OF Slah Carolina and the sugar paRtatias 81 Louisiana
SSl1 a1aassy q ,e ~ ~ o.' ea StaIto5 Xxx, a4
or Else rye eds and a1edt feds Of Aassqchses and
sd0s culture and to The production Of SaCes and Boston and
Aeo York 6scOea nGres for trade Ia tie bodies
that induces many unsuccessful attempts at final Compromise
between and States and it the existence Of this
great that renders all such pretended compromises when
made, vain and ephemeral.
We are glad to see this truth 50 often proclaimed
BY aboliti0nists, thus recognized and enforced by
one whose voice will command the attention of the
country. Already has this declaration of the New
York Senator excited the utmost alarm Of the slave
holders and their tools. The New York Herald, the
voluntary champion of the slave system, character
ICES the speech as 'he brutal and bloody manifesto
of Seward" Sc, &C."
With such endorsements as these the Louisville
Journal pronounces the sentiment above ga per
feetly innocent proposition" Other organs Of the
Know Nothing party continue their efforts to pro-
duce the impression that SEwARDs doctrines not
approved by his party in the North. They continue
to beg for an alliance with that party, which is thus
declaring it's unrelenting hostility to the South and
itsinstitutions With full knowledge Of the pur-
poses Of the Black Republican party, and while the
fierce deHunciatiOns they have hurled at us yet
hurtling over our heads, these Southern journals
are prOstrsting themselves at the feet of the naughty
nsulrers and msekly craving their aid and eOOpers.
tion-bespsuering with praises and cajOling with
compliments the insOlent rufians who are even now
hesping indignities upon u.s.
On the other hand, the Northern Democratic
journals are boldly standing forth the champions
Of the South and the defenders of the Union. They
sremaintaining theghts ofthe States and the equal
ity of the sections They are denOunoing the foes
of the South and uttering such sentiments as these
which we copy from the Boston Post published just
after the November election and while the abolition
lists we're rejoicing over their victory;
uOn the other hand is the national element as
embodied in the Democratic party. 1t is to-day in
Massachusetts precisely il was IN 1872 as It has
been many times since, defeated, minority party
Who can measure the depth Of national degradation
that would have occurred, had the majority OF Mas
sacbusetts with its determination to push Louisiana
ont Of the Union because tits slavery been in 1872
n majority also of the whole countTyl Who can
measure the amount Of mischief that will come to
the country tosday if the tramplers on the Federal
Constitution, the war-makers on the Shareholders
and the South, come to be majority Of the whole
oouutryf Against such geographical and fratricida
marty Of onL the North, are arrayed the noble ma
ticpal democracy Of the Whols cOantry; defending
the same principles, the same common purposes
here ia Massachusetts as they do IN the Carollnas
Thew arraien these suicidal Northern ARA uers Of
SHAREHOLDERS and charge them with wantOn viola
ton of the grand old frsternal spirit that made our
country"
Now contrast that with an article in the New York
Tribune written on the day of election;
uIt is the eventful Second Of November. The clock
If Tine strikes the hour of Destiny. New York,
Rev Jersey Michigan Illinois, and Wisconsin to-
gether struggle 10 uphold rePudiate the principles
Of American Liberty. We cannot doubt that the
general result will strengthen the hands and cheer
he hearts of those who strike for Freedom.
SIS Human Slavery essentially right or essential
" wropy9" That is the question which underlies,
and anmates, and dgnihes, all our current politics.
Those who believe it right, or at the worst matter
of local expediency and moral indifference, speak
of the Grand fundamental assumption Of the Decls-
ration of INDEPENDENCE as ''a self eVdeni lie" ga
fsrfaronade of nonsense" or "a collection of
gIittering geperslities" They do not believe that
sII yen are created free and equal in natural and
essential rights but that the relatively weak and
benighed races were made TO serve and be ruled By
the strong and intelligent
There is no State, there is no considerable party,
which is prepared act fully up to the requirements
Of the fundamental anmatiDg principle Of our Rev
olutonsry struggle that dsparies Of race, Of fscN
ulty Of social status Of culture involve no difference
Of Political Rights but that there should be one law
for rich and poor strong and weak, rude and refined
lofty and loWly. But the Republican party Of to-day
stands in the footsteps Of the Wings Of our heVou-
ton, boldly proclsimng the truths which 1t does not
yet realize IN its acts and thus tending toward the
realization Of that Universal Justice which its meas
ures do not fully embody. 1t is the party of Hope
of Progress, Of faith in Man. Our current party
Democracy, the other hand is the exact counter
part of Revolutionary Toryism. 1t plants itself on
the existing fact and stubbornly refuses to look be-
Eternal Right 1t degrsdes its votaries into blind
and senseless machinery, moving as propelled by an
external power 1t is the party Of Reaction of Mate
.l;,-, 81 Tnsouolitv and eternal DesDsir NJ tr,;l