Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1860-12-10

could so completely weaken our mutual in
| terests, for 1t would be a virtual ackuowl
edgment of principles, of action that shun
the light of day. 1t would be as selfish and
as fore-doomed as for you to desert me be-
cause have only three children whilst you
have thirteen. 1t will not do. IF attempted,
| time will show worse condition than can
ever be effected by the marshalling in a SER
ried host of all the Soy THAN hordes opposed
| to slavery. Mark ye well what / say. We
are one people, and one destiny, for good or
| i'll. is ours. Slavery is right, or it is not II
| wrong, we must remedy it. II right, it is as
much our right as ii is that of the aroused
planters of the Cotton and Sugar States; and
| they cannot, in honor and good faith, act
| without at least knowing what we will do
Heaven has Joined us to be severed only by
| desolation fierce and Overwhelming. If it be
| principle at stake, men and their personal
and political claims cannot be placed in the
/ balance. Bell and Breckenridge may deser-
vedly claim your fealty of devotion; but You
| have united North; a people who can des-
| pise and trample under foot their greatest
and best men. and link all their energies to
| obscurity and availability for the sake oil
| power And shall we quarrel over our IA
vorites? Forbid it every returning sense Of
duty aud defence.
On the other hand, and for the same rea
son, will South Carolina or any single State,
\ precipitate common interest, and hope with
/ out even hearing what we are resolved to do!
| 1t cannot be. Large as my hope for the good
| and glory of my country is, full of strength
| as we are in our resources, such an event
would awaken fears to which have been as
yet stranger. Anything less than united
| action is fatal. We must be united, that we
may be determined. determined that we may
| succeed. Allow me, then, to collect and
concentrate all l have said in few plain
and pertinent questions, and you will see our
| duty, and danger, and the remedy for all OF
which we justly complain.
First, We have to decide this: Is there any
ground for complaint? If so, has right been
violated? Have right and justice been dis
regarded? All will answer, unhesitatingly
| they have been and are now, by legislative
| enactment and popular power? Do you be-
| believe it? Do you know it? Then, as hon
est men, can you be less than decisive? You
| acknowledge, as one man, that right has been
most fagrantly set at nought. All the slave
| holding States say Amen! Then are you not
| willing to request, nay urge, cooperate and
| insist for the supremacy of justice and right!
To admit and acknowledge with your whole
| heart and accord, as one man the injustice
and increasing oppressiveness OF conditions,
i say, with a sentiment of this kind in your
heart, and with recognition of principle as
clear as day, TO submit to any part or any
power of this Confederacy, overruling and
coercing to an indignity so monstrouS ana
subversive to all you hold sacred in the me-
mory of your fathers or the hope of your
children, would be as degrading as it would
be fatal to all hope. to all aspiration, to all
power for good, either to the slave race or
our owni Do you. brave and patriotic Ten
nesseans, understand me now? Can you fail
to make the Just discrimination l have drawn
To inhf IN n
to say in unmstakable resolve, to the North,
no State protecting her slave interest in the
South can be coerced. We will perish to
man before it can be done. To the South;
act not without US, for our interests are the
same. To do so is desertiOn, and we are not
worthy of such treatment. Meanwhile, as
semble your people and make unanimous
and united your determination; and may Al
mighty God, the Father, Judge and Sover-
eign of all, inspire your leaders and bless
your people in the full recognition OF Eter-
nal Right and Universal Justice!
A word to Conservative men. 1eu know
all that have said to be true, and you may
still desire to perpetuate the condition OF
things as it now is, rather than incur dangers
that threaten. You wish above all to pre-
serve the glory, greatness and union of all
the States. In what attitude should you
present the position of Tennessee aud other
Northern slave States? The South cannot in
good faith or honor act without full confer
ence with you and willingness to abide the
decision of all the slave States. Your geo.
graphical position and acknowledged right
enable you to ask, nay, if need be, demand
this at their hands. Your grievances In COM
mon require a demand upon the General
Government for indemnity for all loss oil
property it fails to restore by Inability to
execute its own laws. Can you do less than
TfNs1 ! hnn
require it should be made before extreme ac-
ton is taken, the dangers and burdens OF
which your portion of the country must main
ly feel? And, if after a united demand OF
right, all fails, can you do less than stand by
your own section, for veal or woe In the
events that must follow? You owe it to your
position TO restrain precipitate action on the
one hand, aud to unite In a demand decisive
and unalterable, of the aggressive and Of
tending portion of the Confederacy, on the
other. The duty of no class of our people
is more clear. If the South will not hear;
will not consent to the will of the majority
in an estimate of a common interest and in
view of your over part in the dangers 1t may
bring, before God and all time you will
stand clear amid any results that can trans
pire in the Union. Your local condition de-
mands that you should be heard. You are
upon the border, and more liable to loss. In
case of disruption of the Union or any ag-
gressive movement, we are the first to suffer.
The extreme States are protected By our
losses. We stand between them and danger.
A still greater consideration is, that If the
cause of our complaint is Just, it is equally
so with every State holding slaves. Our fire
sides, our wives and children are exposed;
our fields are the theatre of invasion; all this
you know andwould you still look beyondithe
elements of strife and see what truth would
perpetuate, could we be what nature design
ed US, you cannot fail TO see question that
involves the Union. You abhor it's cOnse-
quences, and desire, if possible, to be relieved
OF them. That cannot be done by inaction
or by turning our back. We must meet, we
must look at facts as they are, and not as we
would have them, and to do this we must be
as one man. Less is gross inconsistency.
We would occupy the false position of pro-
Tossing one thing and doing another.
There is nothing so important as to have
the premises well understoOd; consequently,
let US review our condition. Numerically,
we are inferior to the North. The aggres-
siye tendencies are of such nature as to adj
NIT of no longer duration, without full,
free and authoritative expression upon the
vital que ,lions at issue. To give this. we
must be one people; one body, one heart and
soul to inspire its movements. We have Ia
ken it for granted that sincerity and common
honesty are the incentives TO prompt our
complaint. If this is SO, what do we pro-
pose! would say, let each State meet in its
sovereign capacity and confer with each
other. 1t would be futile to call these sov-
ereigns of the land and then say, what should
be done? what they should do? Bot as one,
would go for Union! With redress, 1
acouLd-wTTHoUT IT, NEVER Not that there
is cause for dissolution, no; but there is
cause for redress. When justice is trampled
under foot, and national law set at nought,
the nation is dead.
l would demand of the Great Government
that it make the rod of justice rod of
iron. whenever and by whomever, infrin ged.
l would say, no State seeking the protection