Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1860-12-20
Coercion of the Border states.

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: the Union sets that whole State in q blaze Of
Indignation, and, were it ever attempted,
would unite the whole South as one man in
her defence. And yet South Carolina is at
this very moment relying upon coercion,
Substantially and practically. to force the
Border Slave States into her project of seces-
sion They are to be DRAGGED" as one Of
her own journalists has expressed it, into
the vortex Of disunio1 and civil war. The
eompulsion upon which she relies is not the
less conpulsion because it is not enforced at
the point Of the bayOnet. She does not e1-
pect the Border States to follow her volun-
tarily; she is well aware, and freely admits,
they do not desire to leave the Union, and
yet she, who must not be forced to remain in
the Union, even though all the rest OF the
States desire it, she, one solitary State, in
sists upon dragging others out against their
wishes, against their entreaties, against their
interests, and those others her best friends.
whose very love and sympathies she relies
upon as the means of coercion, and who must
be the principal sufferers in the event of
civil war OF all coercion that we ever heard
of this is the most arrogant, the most des-
potic, the most unnatural, ungrateful and
monstrous. Look at the recommendations in
Governor Gist's Message, which proposes to
shut up, within their own limits, the slave
population of the Border States, to dam up
.siie sable element of our population, with
the prospect of its overwhelming the white
race with negro deluge. Did ever the most
extreme Abolitionist propose scheme more
hostile and ruinous to Southern interests
than that which Governor Gist recommends
towards the Border Slave States2 What is
coercion by Federal army compared to that
blacklist of coerciOns by which The Governor
of South Carolina would force the Border
Slave States to fall into the secession line
and follow the Palmetto Flag? South Caro-
Iinais whole hope of Southern Border sup
port is based on that very idea of coercion
which she regards, when applied to herself by
the General Government, as reason enough
for drawing the sword and letting slip the
dogs of war.
1t seems to US that the whole annals of the
human race do not present such an example
ofsrroganee and presumption as this attempt
of South Carolina TO coerce the Border Slave
States out of the Union. If she herself de-
sires to go OUT, in Heavens name, let her go
We do not desire to coerce her; we would not
spill drop of her blood even for the sake of
this great Union, the only ark of civil and
religious liberty on the face of the earth.
And Jet she seeks to drag. us after her,
at the hazard of all that makes life worth
having; 10 drag Us into the slaughter
house of civil and seTTile war; to drag Us
away from government with which we are
satisfied, under which We enjoy prosperity
and peace, sitting every man of US in joy and
content under our vine and fg tree; 10
drag" Us from this government. construct
ed by the wisdom and patriotism of our ven
Grated forefathers and eemented by their he
roic blood, and force US down q preeipice
the bottom OF which no mortal eye can see.
Our wishes are not to be regarded; we are
not worthy even to sit in council With South
Carolina upon our own fate; even Old Viz
GINA, the land of Washington, the mother Of
Constitutional Liberty in America, IS waved
of majestieally by the Charleston Mercury,
when she approaches with the olive branch,
and asks to be permitted to consult with Car
DINA upon measures concerning their COM
mon destiny. "Ye gods Upon what meat doth
great7r He doth bestIide the earth like
Colossus" and we, petty borders, must,
'crawl between his huge legs" and ..fiud
ourselves dishonorable graves
What wrongs has South Carolina suffered
which the Border Slave States have not suf.
fered In the proportion of ten to one, and
what risks can she run in the Union which
we must not encounter before she is in dan
ger? Why should she assume the champion
ship, the leadership, the dictatorship of the
Southern situation? One would think that
such States as Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky
and Tennessee are entitled, by their institu-
tions, their interests, their history, their in
telligenee, their power, their patriotism,
their moderation, to be the guides and coun-
sellers of South Carolina in measures vital
to their common welfare, instead of being
dragged" after her, like brute beasts, desti-
tute of the faculties of reason and judgment,
and not to be trusted with the exercise of
their own volitiou. We believe that we speak
the sentiments of multitudes of the border
communities when we say that the States of
Washington, Carroll, Clay and Jackson do
not intend to be "drqgged' at that chariot
wheels of any section, but, in all the con-
Germs their own dignity and destiny, TO LEAD
THE WAY, and leave South Carolina to keep
her proper place in the column, or to desert
it, or, if she choose, to assail it, just as may
best suit her sovereign will and pleasure