Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1860-11-21

majority but the practical exclusion of the minority
What is there in the glorious privilege of the ballot
box, with the irreversabe decree of an overwhelm-
ing dominant majority staring us in the face, and
telling that our votes shall count for nSthing2
Yetall this, thought cover our heads with shame,
and sting Southern pride to the quick, might be
borne with the more patience, but, that it lis the
climax Of a series Of wrongs and insults, 1.-THE of
which were never borne by sires Of the revolu-
ton at the hands Of Great Britain is the crown
ing evidence of an incurabe disease in the body
polite, of an irreconciable variance of opinion, Of
an irrepressi5e conflict of enduring forces" which,
despite all our efforts, all prayers and tears,
rust end sooner or later in the submission of our
cherished institutions or dissolution of the gov
| eminent.
Up to the present time the war against slavery
has been waged at great disadvantage. The whole
patronage and moral influence of the government
have heretofore been welded to sustain the consti
tutional rights Of the South Its strong ann has
been interposed to shield and protect the master
and his rights Yet despite all these disadvantages,
abolitonism has marched steadily onward, amid the
SCOTS and jeers of its adversares from victory to
victory, capturing State after State, until now it
wields the power and patronage not only of ma
jorty of the States but at last of the general gov
eminent itself
Wherever its standard has been planted, it has
conquered Temporary reverses have only increas-
ed its ardor and added venom to its spirit 1t has
at last reached the Capitol It's broad black banner
now floats where the stars and stripes wont to
give their folds to the breeze. Its mighty hosts,
after the first flush of victory, repose for moment
only to lu into fatal slumber, and then to fall
upon US like mountain avalanche.
Shall we be able to Withstand the charge? Shall
we be able to beat back the enemy drive him to his
native New England den and there stfe him? Vain
dreaml They know little of the spirit of puritan
ism who suppose be thwarted in its purpose,
where religion, hate, envy, and the battle-cry of
freedom, and the spoils of war, urgeit to the con-
test.
But what is this great conflict which so stirs the
hearts Of men? 1t is the conflict of the master and
his slave; of the white man of the South and the
negro life and death struggle for the supremacy,
for as equals they cannot exist the soil.
Let us regard it as one, for time only, of moral
forces. The negro himself. at first, only passive,
powerless but intensely excited spectator of the
scene. The people of majority Of the States of
the Union have volunteered their services in his
behalf and appealing to Heaven for the rec
titude of their motives have pledged them
selves to God and man to know no rest till
every slave under the protecting banner of the
stars and stripes shall stand erect the peer of his
proud, panic-stricken master, redeemed, regener-
ated and dsenthraed, by the irresistible genius of
universal emancipation" They hold the reigns of
government of sixteen States, restrained in their
own teritorrial borders by constitutional ties.
Religious fanaticism, false humanity and lcen-
toussnes misnamed liberty Of speech, all range
themselves against the STAKEHOLDER and plead for
mercy and for succOr from the aceursed yoke
of the oppressor." The necessities of labor, and
the greed of power, help to swell the eager hosts
They are covered, too with a shield which renders
them invulnerabe. We have no weapons by which
they can be reached. Unarmed and uncovered, it
is on our part simple contest of helpless unresst
ing endurance.
How long shall we be able to stand the battle IN
scathed. 1t does not need that our constitutional
rights shall be directly violated Eighty millions of
dollars per annum, with the power soon of increasing
it any desirable extent, by taxes drawn from the
pockets of the enemy are offered for voluntary
investments in behalf of freedom against slavery"
The honOrs the distinctions of Office with all their
moral influence and that of the army and navy are
superadded. On every HILL and / every vale, in all
high ways and by ways, in very nook and corner
of broad Territories, the Postofce Department
will supply an agent, secret at first but soon open
and svOwed. for distributing anti-slavery HELPER
documents, iastiug into the minds of the poor ha-
tired of the stakeholder and in the mind of the slave
impotence of restraint. The map of freedom will
be spread out before him, and everywhere will be
teachers ready to instruct him in the path and to
help him on toward the blessed land Of promised
deliverance. where the weary fugive may rest his
limbs and he forever against the task of the
oppressor If his path be sprinkled with blood, his
crown is only the more glorious.
Have we at the South no sentimental philan
thropy? Have we none of hate and envy? Are
none great or small, to be reached by the allure
ments of office, or O. filthy lucre? Are we, each
and ALL above the temptations, good or bad which
move the breast of the New Highlander? Are th>re
no means of helping the slave or furnishing the mas
ter, but through a violated Constitution: How long
will fear of mourning the displeasure of the |
stakeholder. and regard for the sacred prin-
ciples Of the Constitution, restrain men from
speaking out through the ballot-box: How |
ong till the stifed passions of the |
ignorant, nurtured by the artful appeals of the
lcmagogue shall find safety in the deep and dying
agony of the SO called aristoeratic master and mis-
-ress Have we not those among us already who
seek to paate the crime Of abolition. and invoke
patient fOrbearance towards the incoming admins
.ration until it shall have committed covert act"
Is though the statute books OF dozen States had
lot already recorded in Southern blood overt acts
Of violated Constitution and solemny sworn and
1hghted faith?
''vce is a monster Of such frightfulmsin,