Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1860-12-25

70. !.

little panied HOW was pleaseu. auo No"
panied, will appear more fully as proceed
But may say at once, was pleased with its
excellent temper, its beautiful style, its pro
found logic, its broad and just views, its wis
| dom, Justice and moderation. have read
many other speeches and letters of great
Southern men, with none of which, under ali
the circumstances, have 1 been 80 much
pleased-and with most of which have been
much more panied. Ali the exceptions may
offer TO your views, therefore. as set forth Ii
that speech, are all the more applicable to
| the views of Southern men generally. When
1 thus speak of Southern men, never refer
to those of the Cotton States. have re.
Trained awhile from giving my opinion. that
older men might speak-that age aud expe-
rience might first be heard. They have
the letters, speeches, messages and essays
which have read, they have not exhausted
the subject.
| In the Cotton States you talk about Seces-
sion, or going out of the Union, as remedy
| for grievances which have been, are now, or
may be, inflicted upon us, either by the fed
eral government, or by States, or by citizens
of another part of the Union. Some are for
hasty proceedings and immediate secession.
Others are in favor of trying all other means
| first; and if still no redress be obtained or
| the grievances removed, would then break up
| the Union. OF this last class understand
you to say you are one. And this is what
pains me-that in the Cotton States the very
| best and wisest friends of the Union seem to
| have all. with one accord, yielded to the pre-
Falent idea that dissolution Of the Union is
at last an extreme remedy for something. In
our part of the world, there are and have
been statesmen, who declare and have de-
clared, that dissolution of the Union is a
remedy for nothing. OF tbese, / believe, was
no less man than HENRY CLAY, who said he
would defy any man or combination of men
or States to drive him out of the Union-that
if the worst should come to the worst, he
would still defend his rights, whether peace
ably or forcibly, within the Union. He
would draw the sword, if it must be so, for
hose rights which the Constitution guaran-
ices, among which is our political Union it
self This was his fundamental principle |;
and you can see that it differs radically from
yours.
Let US try TO get to the bottom of this
matter. Let US dig deep, and found our
opinions upon rock. Many theories put
forth are evidently based upon the sand
The builders seem not carefully to regard the
foundation, but only the superstructure. OF
what use are all the beauty and transient
glory of the castles thus erected in the air or
based upon the quicksand? What is this Union?
In what does it really consist? And to what
do We refer, when we commonly speak of the
Union? And then what would be dissolu-
ton of the Union in solid reality? and to
what do We refer when we commonly speak
of dissolving, going out of, or seeding from,
the Unions We habitually speak of our ma
tional Union as though it were based upon
shallow thinkers suppose this is really so.
But let US consider. We have ga union of
lakes and union of lands "a geographic
cal union. We have a union of rivers and
seas-a union of mountains and plains, of
hills and Valleys union of soil and pro-
duction, of forests and mines-a natural
union. We have a union of canals and rail
roads-a union of commercial interests and
intercourse. We have ga union of hearts
and a union of hands"-a union of blood re-
lationship, of social intercourse-a union of
language, of religion, of manners and Gus
TOMS n ideas of Nv IF uor
al appearance-the union of homogeneous
people. All this, which is our intrinsic Union,
we had, except the works of artificial i'm
provement, and those things which have
grown up with them, before the Constitution
was adopted, and may expect to have such
union after our Constitution Gf ever) shall be
destroyed We had also political union
from the beginning of our nationality; but
that union was defective. A want of perfec
lion in our political union would operate IN
favorably upon our union in other aspects.
Therefore our fathers, lin order to form a
more perfect union," did ''ordain and estab-
lish' the Constitution of the United States
of America. Their language is, 1--WE do or
dain and establish this Constitution for the
United States of America" The Union al
ready existed, and our fathers had recog-
nized its existence; but in a political point |
of view it was not perfect. A more perfect |
Union was desirable-a better political union |
of national laws-in order to establish JUS |
tice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for |
the common defence. promote the general |
welfare. and secure the blessings of liberty |
to ourselves and our posterity." These are |
the Objects set forth by the people of the |
United States in the ordaining clause of the |
Constitution. That Constitution has served |
It's purpose well. 1t has SO far been the in
strument of accomplishing the good for
which it was ordained. Some evils, grant,
have grown out of it's violation-or rather |
hey have grown up in spite of the Constitu-
lion.
Our Union, then, is natural, geographical, |
social. as well as political. Many |
men seem to look upon our political union |
IS all-that our union of laws is all that
binds Us together. But our political union /
the union Of the constitution and laws-is |
'nly, as 1t were, supplementary to the union
Of other relations. 1t was designed, and is
we'll calculated, to prevent the very evils
which aff1ict US, and which are set forth in
such glowing colers in your admirable ad-
dress. Those evils do not grow out of our
political union 1t is true, some few men. at
the extreme north, have sought to make our
political union pretext for slavery agita-
ton, but it is only pretext. And not one
Of the evils Of which we can justly complain
have grown out of our constitutional union.
Designing men, recognizing the necessity of
making it appear that the Constitution has