Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1860-11-18


under no other condition ought she to listen to It,
that her retrocession from her stand as seeding
State resuming the sovereignty which she had tenn
porarily ceded to the Federal Government on con-
dtions which have not been observed would unless
it were grounded on good securities for the future,
be fatal calamity to all the rest of the Southern
States The dangerous faction which has now got
the reversion of the executive branch OF govern
ment and very powerful support in the House OF
Representatives, would be emboldened by such a
t1rgiversaton as this to abandon all measure In its
aggression under the conviction that all talk of re-
sistance was mere talk and nothing else. On the
other hand such demand made in concert by the
fourteen Southern States each its sovereign ca
pacity, and making the grant of that demand the
condition under which alone any of them would
hold herself bound any longer by the Federal com
pact, is a mode of appeal which would compel re-
pect and consideration on the part OF those who
at present believe that the South has been all the
time CRYING wolf, wolf. without any real purpose
of resistance, impose what you will on her.
Other solution of this problem, see none men
NAV talk; of coercing South Carolina by military
force but he is blind who does not that the first
attept to do so would bring out many other States
in a state of revolt who would require coercion
States which could never be conquered by any force
the Federal Government with the sympathy of only
half its constituent States in its favor could produce
States. [ say, which could never be conquered,
though they might be destroyed. And if they could,
that would not be restoration of the status quo
strong majority of States holding crushed, and sui
len and browbeaten minority in unwilling subsection
Eo1a TT,iot, # Ra
publics. No Government but a military imperial
despotism could stand up for a day under such cir
cumsances and that despotism, under all the circum-
stances would be attended with such ruin and des
olation at least of the Southern States the world
hasneyer yetIseenOr thought Of Imagine communi-
yof Shareholders and their slaves ruled over without
hope of resistance, by fanatic Government, such
as would then hold sway in the North, the negroes
liberated and encouraged 10 revolt against their
former master. will not trust my pen to depict
the horrors which must result from the domination
of victorious North over a conquered South inca
pable of resistance.
Well, the conquest and repression of recalcitrant
States by military force will not bear thinking Of
What next will DO proposed. To let things take
their course To acquiesce in South Carolina, Ala
bama and few ether States remaining out Of the
Union while we remain in it, hoping that after half
the stones Of an arch removed the rest can re-
tain their equilibrium hoping that we, the remain
ing States while more helpless against Northern ag
gresson than ever will be treated with the cOnsid-
Grafton which is not shown now,-pOlitcal MIcAw-
BEERS dreamily waiting for what may turn up!
Does any one think that hopeful course to adopt?
If not what then? l confess l see no other con-
celvable course than the one have recommended
can only ask my readers TO read it over again. not
to reject it because there are many strong objections
against it unless they propose one against which
there fare not more and stronger. If they can
shall be more than willing to abandon mine and con-
tend heartily for theirs
81 have not yet done with this subject, though time
and space compel me to resist for the present.
have much to say about the necessity of the State
putting herself in a position to say whatever she
has to say in a manner to compel respect, matter
in which believe that delay is most impolihc and
even dangerous but am informed that the columns
sfthe UNION ANDAEERICAS are unusually crowded and
must reserve these and souc other topics for a Sc
cond paper in Tuesdays issue. D. F. W.
The Position and Policy of Tennessee.
A sectional candidate having been elected Presi-
dent of The United States by the overwhelming vote
Of his section the people of the South are called on
for the first time since the formation of our federal
government to consider of their political necessities
aging aside all party restrictions and with refer
ence Only TO the exigency Of the times It's time
o speak plainly and with becoming moderation.
Many of our citizens, if not a great majority OF
hem favor the idea of a Convention of the South
I'm States to be held Nashville or Lexington with
the next sixty ninety days. Coinciding in that
opinion we propose now to state simply some Of the
easons on which it is founded regards the State
# Tennessee and some of the good results that |
nay be hoped from that action
We take the ground that such States as Tennessee |
md kentucky have not merely greater interest IN
he Union than the States lying to the South OF u.s.
1ut that they have greater interest in the unity OF
he South than those States And that therefore
he proposed Convention of the Southern States
should be called by the Governors of Kentucky and
in anticipation Of separate action that
nay otherwise be taken by any one or more Of the
Cotton States.
The resistance to real or fancied governmental op-
preston, which is rebellion when confined to pr
ion of the promscuous people, ceases to be so when
It becomes the action of State expressed in the
voice Of its State sovereignty; because citizens are
then in arms by the command of power to which
hey owe civil and military allegiance. Such would
be a secession from the federal government by any
one Of the sovereign States. And however lawyers
might agree or disagree upon the constitutiOnalty
Of the act as between the seeding State and the
General Government, it is enough that the actwould
d l.seh constitute a disruption of the Federal
Union as it has heretofore existed There being no
provision in the Constitution by virtue of which
'ne Of the sovereign States can be transmitted into
| conquered province, or by which congressional
snactments can be passed binding on a State which
las no representation in Congress. When there
ere the States lying to the south of our State
hail secede, as is at present greatly to be
pprehended the question presented to Tennessee 1
not whether she will remain in the Union but is
his other and very different questions. namely. 1
which of the two Unions she shall take her place in
ither being azOther and different Union from the I
federal Government now existing. Upon the as t
umpton that our State has greater interest in the
resent Union than the more Southern States it is
ne to us from those States that they should not take
he important step of dissolying the present Union
kept in Southern Convention. Upon the assump !
on that Tennessee has a greater interest in the I
Ne unity Of the South than the more Southern
atss have. j. is due to its citizens from the State
AT Convention CT all the Southern States shall
called in the endeavor prevent separate action
some Of them. That the Black Republican party i
oks to the final abolition Of negro slavery is not
,ubted nv anv one If the Union shall last long, t
ID their party does not change its purpose, but L
all nevertheless proceed by the slow process of g
gslation, it may take one or two generations to 0
the work Of emancipation in Tennessee. 4
0 decent man in the South doubts but that every b
ep of such legislation would be an atrocious vio- il
ton of our constitutional rights It is reasonable
suppose that, from different causes, the number a
favor of gradual smancips6on is greater IN Afn' n
cky than Tennessee, and yet it has been shown n
the legal vote of that State that hardly one per
Mt of the people are in favor of emancipation IN d
2 any circumstances, or indeed are any more 3
lerant of the idea than neighbors of South y
.roliua. The mild measures to which the Black is