Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1860-12-09
The Crisis.

The President in his message recommends to
Congress an amendment of the Constitution as tC
secure in that instrument:
a. An express recognition of the right Of prop
erty in slaves in the States where it exists OF
may hereafter exist.
-. The duty of protecting this right in all the
comm territories throughout their territorial ex
istenC md until they shall be admitted States
into t Union, with or without slavery, their
consh.. .ons may prescribe.
80 Ike recognition Of the right Of the master
to hav as slave, who has escaped from State &c
anOthc restored and delivered up TO him. and Of
the va ity of the Fugitive Slave Law enacted for
this p pose. together with a declaration that all
State impairing or defeating this right are VIC
lations the Constitution, and are consequently
null ar void
We mot entertain doubt that there is a fixed
and UT terable determination upon the part of the
people Tennessee TO have these or equivalent con-
stitutiona guarantees before they consent to remain
longer in Union with SUMNER, LovEJoY, SEWARD
LINCOLN & Co. The people of the South have always
lived strictly up to the Constitution. The descen
dants of HANCOCK and ADAMS have not faithfully OBJ
served the bond but upon the contrary have lived
in open and notorious violation Of it. There
is no reason in insisting that the South shall
continue to worship the Union simply for the
publicanism, ar ism whose vitality is hatred
Of the South. The Union is but a name. The Con
stitution is the substance We worship the Consti
tuition because it procaims Equality of States
Alas, in these days it has but proclaimed Equality
it has not secured it. In more than half the States
the dominant party isgoverned by "a higher law
than the Constitution. The whole South know this
and hence they have determined upon a permanent
settlement of the matters Of difference between the
North and the South. Let this dangerous contro
versy be settled while The crisis is upon US. But
can we get our demands? We fear not. We see
nothing to indicate favorable response 10 our in
curry. Thirty-eight Black Republicans, including
SHERMAN, STANTON, THAD. STEVENS, GROW, LovEJoY
and POTTER voted against BoTELER's resolution
to refer that portion of the Presidents Mes
sage to special Committee of one from each
State. The opposition of the Black Republicans to
any sort of concession by them, IS daily growing
stronger. The New York Ecaing Post of the 9Th
speaking of the Constitutional amendments. above
mentioned, proposed by the President, says
We will now content ourselves with stating our
conviction that neither the amendment proposed
any other that the South viii ask, is likely to be
adopted unless coupled with repeal of that clause
of the Constitution which Confers Federal repreSen
tation upon slave property. Until the owners Of
slave property are put upon the same footing pO-
lticaly as the owners of any other kind of proper
~. it is not worth while for the South to ask any
notifications of the Constitution in behalf Of slavery
least of all such express recognition Of the right
of property slaves, forms the basis of the Pres
dents first proposed amendment.
1t is very certain that the South viii not yield tC
the demands of the Post Then if there be set
Element that will be satisfactory to both parties, il
becomes the duty Of the South to determine as
to what is the best next step for her to take 1t is
a significant fact that during all this controversy
notwithstanding that the Union is valuable tc
the North as TO the South, notwithstanding Black
Repubhcanism is the aggressOr. and in the majority
every efcrt for settlement Of the difficulties, with
out resorting TO dissolution, has been made by the
South. We hear of no conferences among the
Northern States to procure abrogation of OBJ
noXious laws or to make an attempt to perpetuate
the Union. They not only make no approaches, no
efforts to the Union but thus far repulse those
which come from the South. Let US exhaust the
argument and then stand by our arms. They may
talk about coercion but they will not attempt it upon
a united South.