Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1860-09-09


JoHEsoH-THE DOUGLAS CANDIDATE FOR THE VICE
PRESIDENCY DENoUNcEs ''oUR NORTHERN oPPREssORs,"
AND REDICULKs THE NsEEsELEss CLAM0R OF UNION l;'-
PRocIkMs THE RIGHT or SECESSION THE ONLY HOPE
OF THE SOUTH AND DECLARES THAT THOSE WHO
DENY IT, AS DOUGLAS DOES, FALsIFY HIsFoRYl
The announcement by Mr. DOUGLAS at Petersburg
and Norfolk that he would treat those who attempt
to dissolve the Union on account of the election of
L1SooIN as JACKSON treated the nullifers in 1882
has induced some of our Georgia contemporaries to
repubsh the following letter addressed by the Hon.
HERscnEI v. JOHNSON, the candidate for the Vice
Presidency on the DOUGLAS ticket, to committee Of
gentlemen of Augusta, Ga. in the year 1851. 1t
will be seen that Gov. JOHNSON handles without
gloves those who, like Mr.. DorGLAs, maintain that
the right of secession sincerely right of revolution.
Can the ticket with such head and tail mislead
sufficient number of the Democracy of the South to
give a single State to the Opposition?
We commend this letter to the supporters Of Mr..
DouGIls who are charging the friends of Mr.. BRICK
INRrDGE as disunionists.
LETTER FROM COY. JOHNSON.
Mu1EpGEvrLE Ca. August 80, 1851.
Gentlemen: thank you for your kind and press
inc invitation to barbecue. to be given to Col Rob-
ert McMillen, the Southern Rights candidate for
Congress in the Eighth District on the first Tuesday
September next But OFFICIAL engagements 1OfDlQ
me the pleasure of its acceptance. Morgan court
will be in session at that time.
Ny personal acquaintance with Col. McMilen is
limited but know him by reputation a gentle
man of high moral worth, brilliant talents and sound
renublican principles Such men / am pleased to
honor, and sincerely trust the great cause whose
banner he bears by the united voice of the South
ern Rights party of his district may be trium-
plant.
The contest in which the people of Georgia, in
I, ha,,S olo -hoI1;
engaged is one of vital Importance. 1t involves the
destiny of the South, and the federatve character
of our system of government IL is waged upon
the right of a State peaceably to secede from the
Union. The Gubernatorial candidate of the South
ern Rights party maintains the affirmative,
and the candidate of the submission party
the negative of this great question. ThS
one, that the right necessarily results from the
reserved sovereignty of the Setes and the nature of
tie confederacy and the other that it exists only as
a right of revolution. The former insists that the
general government has no right to cOerce seced-
ing State and the latter that such seeding State
must depend for the maintenance OF Its position
upon the stout hearts and strong arms OF free
people, The one unhesitatingly and boldly avows
that if Southern State were TO seeede, he would
not obey requisition by the federal government
made upon him as the executive of Georgia, for
troops to force her back into the Union; and the
other declares he would convene the Legislature of
the State and recommend them to call q convention
of the peoplen to instruct him imam emergency IN
which the impulses of the true Southern heart
should be a sufficient guide TIE great issue then. L
repeat is the right Of State to secede from the Union,
and the cOrreatve absence of any right on the part
of the federal government to force such State
back into the Union. IL cannot be Graded By THE
SENSELESS CLAMOR OF UNION! THIS CLIO
RIOUS UNION! The integrity of the Union is not
assailed by the Southern Rights party in Georgia.
Its true friends those lohO insist upon maintaining
the riqts resulting from the Sovereignty OF the States
euI WI a
masked battery" eve their Destructive artillery
against its ST. OEgest OtdpOSts, by cOaSeiRg Sub1RS
siontv aggression, INJUSTICE RI BBERI because,
LIKE "a WOLF IN SLEEPS CLOTHING" they come ul-
der the HYP0CRITICAL GARB OF COMPROMISE.
Then let vigant people look well to the true and
only issue involved in the pending campaign--the
right Of State pedceably 10 secede from the Union.
1 would not, if time and space justified. enter into
an argument in favor of the affirmative of this issue
believe it is understood by the people. 1t has been
a cardinal tenet of the republican creed from 1898
down to the present day, maintained by jefferson
and Madison and Macon, Lowndes and Troup and
all the distinguished Statesmen of that school, who
properly understood the theory of our government
and whose hearts beat responsibility to the great
American sentiment which is at once the parent and
the soul of constitutional liberty Argument is not
needed to elucidate or enforce It, II the people, Sta-
king of the trdHnnels Of party, and Spu7iiRg
ID CoENsELs OF TEMp0RISING SUBMISSI0NISTS
AND SELFISH TRADESMEN THE GREAT MART OF
POLITICAL BARTERlNG. will obey the HONEST IN
PULSES OF TRUE SOUTHERN SENTIMENT, tteV ,oiH
require no argument TO array them on the side Of truth
THEIR HEARTHSTONES AND THE CONSTlTU-
TlON.
To detract from the Importance of the issue in
public estimation, it is insisted that it is mere db
StrdciOnthat it will be time enough for Georgia TO
determine it, when she shall be called upon to
else the right of secession This is bit Of the
hundred subtefuges Of those rhO man the ''masked
battery" The issue is UitGL IL has not been made by
the State of Georgia nor by the Southern States II has
beeatOrced upon rs by Federal expressions. 1t has
been distinctly rendered by high authority. Ii was
rendered by Henry Clay in his great speech upon
''the Compromise bis.o He said IF resistance is
attempted by any State, by the people of any
STATE he will lift his voice, his heart and his arm in
the support of the common authority of this gov
ernmentn Through Mr.. Webster the Secretary of
State, it has been rendered by the ROTTEN DYNASTY
OF THE FILLMORE ADMINISTRATION For he has dis
tnctly proclaimed the policy of the Cabinet 10 be
coercion any State should attempt secession This
ISSUE then, is upon Shall we not meet it Shall
zee Rgl0rouSy shrink from its decision? 1t is true,
that past aggressions, Georgia has determined
offer no resistance. But the right to resist and 10
ss peaceqy without the terror of federal bayouets
she cannot yield; and she is called upon make
the decision. Let her meet aoth tT7eSS and ludni
nifty.
IPoerer Observes lie signs Of the times cannot fail to
see Mqt the RIGHT OF SECESSION joiH probably at
NO DISTANT DAY, ASSUME THE FORM AND MAG
NITUDE OF PRACTICAL IMPORTANCE. The !
South Is in a pc manent minority in our federal
Legislature lie tone Of rorterp tdnaticiSn dbates
not IN its trelzy and itSOieRce II presses rapidly
to the cOESUnatOR Of its djabOicdL designs. And Jchai
check has the South upon ID progress? Haze lce dRy
under tie established rules Of parliamentary lac! Can
expect any justice at the hands OF the present FreeSOd
ErecltiUe and his Cabinet? Can effect anything 6y
argument and appeals to the reaSOnot NORTHERN
OPPRESSORS? CAN WE OBTAIN SHELTER |
UNDER THE BROAD SHIELD OF THE CONSTR |
TION? NO! al these are tn,pOtEW as pdcbtredd
20 restrain an IRRESPONSIBLE AND FANATI: |
CAL MAJORITY. What, them are we to Go ? |
say let us bear the last point of endurance, but
let Us never proclaim through the baot-bOX, that
we haze no right 10 Secede and that do secede
are to be regarded insurgents and reUOLutiOniStS
1t never, never can be true, that our fore fathers
in the struggle Of ZIG, fought only to achieve that
which is the right of serfs-the right of revolution
They had that under the British crown But they |
struggled for more-for colonial sovereignty and |
they won it.
Did they turn round Immediately and surrender
all they had bated for into the power OF an elective
consolidation? Never. never. Those who maintain |
such position. falsfy all the history of our revOu-
tion and bring dishOnor upon the master spirits of
its thrilling and eyenttul iGe right Of SeceS-
sion must be maintained Il is the last the ORly hope of
the South, Let us maintain it with Enanimty and we
can hold in check the spirit of abolition end Gonso-
dati0n. But if yield it, the whole theory of our
federRtiVe system is changed, and we are in the
power of those whose mercy is like that of the
wolf to the lamb. If We yield it, we not only pro-
claim in advance that will submit to usurpatiOn
and aggression, but we do worse admit that zee
hare no right to resist. AND THAT Is POLITICAL VAS
sAIAGE With sentiments of high regard,
| am, gentlemen, your ODD seTY't,
HERSCHEI. V. JOHNSON
To Nessrs. Robt \. White, Turner Clanton, T. W.
Fleming, Committee.
still n Democrat
From the Fayetteville Observer, Sept G