Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1860-03-31
s.rrnnaY. 1IaROH ID, go.


,,iso :, - tlt wear was gotten up, the only thing
Granted To the slave States by way Of indueement to
= ori.+ submission to the rank injustice that had
b.en done them was the passage Of an act to in
croase tle facilities for apprehending their fugitive
,lsves under an express provision of the Federal
Constitution This was nothing more than carrying
ont clearly defined right, Independent of any
.scomproulise and yet the South acquiesced rather
than endanger the Union. That fugitive slave ac.,
it VII be remembered, was even hestatngly and
reluctantly signed by the Northern President, Mr.
FILLMORE, and that reluctance apoogetcalIy express
ed to his anti-slavery sympathisers
EVERYBODY at the South, Union men and all, agreed
then that if the fugitive slave law was not observed
in good faith by the Northern States it would evil
denee settled determination on their part to disre-
gard the Constitutional guarantees and would just-
fly the most extreme measures on the part Of the
agrieved States to maintain their rights the Union
if they could, out Of it if they must
Ten years have now elapsed, and what has been
tns result? An underground railroad has been
constantly in operation and our slaves taken from
the border States far more frequently than before
government officers have been shot down in cold
blood by lawless mobs, while endeavoring to exc
cute the the laws and return fugitive slaves to
their owners-the owners themselves have in some
eases been seized and thrown into prison when en-
gagged in pursuing their property into the free
States-their public press and their public men
on the stump and to the face of Southern repre-
sentatives in Congress. have tauntingy exuted over
this species Of robbery-1clils every free State u
the Union Nth g,e exception Of three haze openly mill
fed the act Of Congress, by the passage Of laws re
strictng its execution in refusing the Of theil
ails, prohibiting their public officers from aiding
in such arrests, providing the slave with imme
diate trial on h1beaS corpus before an Abolition
jury, subjecting TIE master to Imprisonment OF
failure to make good his clam before such jury
and by other means equally effective in defeating
the ends Of justice. And yet for the bare mention
Of these things-these alarming evidences of nation
aldecay, which, unless checked must soon lead t,
She most drefui consequence Democratic
party is accused by Opposition papers, even il
our very rlidst, with improper agitation of tn
slavery question, with seeking dissolution Of thu
Confederacy, and the public told that tn
only means Of preserving our Institutions is to co
operate with the Black Republicans and displac
the present party in power.
1t is difficult for many Of our people in the Soutl
to realize that the great body Of the North 81
lost to all true patriotism to entertain feelings
positive autagonism against fifteen States Of th,
Union, merely on account Of their domestic institu
tons or from local jealousies. from tyrannica
disposition 70 rule; and yet have the fact plainly
and indisputably before us in their Congressiona
representation, in their public presses, and il
their church proceedings and pulpit ministrations-
in their Emigrant Aid Societies, their Kansas muir
deTs and JOHN BROWN raids-in their HELPER book
with Its reasonable and incendiary sentiments
openly indorsed by eighty-oJd of their representa-
tive in the national legislature, well IN tn,
food Of anti-slavery trash with which they are con
tinuay gratifying the morbid appetites Of their IA
natcal followers.
1t has not been long since 4 man so high in posi-
ton as SALMON p CHASE, now Senator then Cover
nor of Ohio, whose speech at the Cincinnati or &C.
lumbus legislative banquet was copied into the
Nashville Banner as an evidence of the conserva
tive sentiment of that State-recommended to his
Legislature the repeal of a law which denies the
elective franchise to every person having African
blood in his veins. Nor since the Cincinnati Gazet
whose declared readiness TO support Mr.. BELL for
the Presidency his past record" was copied
into the Banner in defending this dirty recommen
dation of GOV. CHAsEs. said:
We arc already a strangely mixed people. There
are very few of us who. # our title TO vote should
be made TO depend upon our ability to prove that
there had not been an African somewhere among
our remote ancestors. would be permitted to eXer
else the inalienabe right of freeman Two hun
dred years amalgamation has quietly sent the Congo
tncturc into thousands of places where its presence
is least suspected.
It has been but a few days since the following ap
pcarcd among the reported proceedings Of Con
grcss:
Mr.. Blake offered the following preamble and
WHEREAS, That the chattclmg Of mankind and
the holding Of persons property. is contrary
70 natural justice and the fundamental principles
of our political system, and is VIGOROUSLY re-
prOaCh 20 our country throughout the civilized
world, and a serious hindrance to the progress of
liberty throughout the nations Of the earth, there
fore.
ResOlUed That the Committee on Judiciary, be and
the same are hereby instructed TO inquire into the
eXpediency Of reporting a bill giving freedom to
every human being, and interdcting slavery when
Congress has the constitutional power to leg
isate on the subject.
A scene of confusion cnsued, amid which the
roll was called and the proposition rejected GO
against LOG.
Think of it. Sixty of the representative men
from the North in Congress favorg the abolition Of
slavery throughout the South and Of interdcting it
in all the territories belonging in common to the
Government. And yetwith all Of these and thous-
ands of similar evidences constantly before US, we
are counselled by Opposition papers in Tennessee
to shut our eyes to these things make no resistance
their eucroachments not to contemplate the dan
gers with which they are mperiling the country,
nor warn their instgators against the certain con-
sequences to which such things must lead if per
sisted in: because forsooth thus to act on oCr part
would be "agtating the slavery question
Can it be possible that there are any number Of
respectable Tcnnceseans who will longer listen to
such counsel Can il be that mems Dartizan pre-
JUDGES will render them inscusbla even to their
own honor ana most sacred rights. Can it be that
in the next Presidential contest .he people of the
entire South will fail to stand together in solid
phalanx when an issue is before them OF such great
magnitude IN which men of all political differences
arc alike interested-invoyiEg only the rights of
the slave-hoding States but the very essence of Re
pubIicanism itsef2 May heaven forbid it, should be
the earnest prayer Of every honest patriot through
out the land.
Navy Officers.
The bill which was lately introduced into the
United States Senate by Hon. Mr.. MALLORY 10 in
crease and newly arrange the salaries of Navy OIL