Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1860-02-09
Address ftbe National Union Wen of
New York 30 their feIlo W.cftfzens OF
the L. affed States.

A crisis has arrived in the history of par
| ties Patriotism demands that the sober re-
| feciing men of all names and associations
| should rally and unite to rescue our country
| from impending dangers. Men of extreme
views, both North and Sonth regardless OF
| the great bond of union and protection which
l the constitution secures, have pushed their
| divislve measures TO such lengths that the sta
| bility of our institutions is threatened, and
unless a speedy arrest is made, it is impossi-
| BILE to exaggerate the disasters which the re-
! public will suffer.
Our government was formed in spirit OF
concession and forbearance. A number of
sovereign and independent States, of common
| origin, language and religion. with diverse
domestic institutions snd internal policy,
with various climate, productions and re-
sources. formed a solemn league and cove
nant under the form of federal Constitution,
by which they became one people. one coun-
try, with a national identity of interest and
destiny That constitution was framed to
protect each State in the enjoyment of all
its rights. with the knowledge that the poll
cy OF eBch Stare might in all things be regu-
lated by its own government, provided al
ways that il does not interfere with the rights
and principles of q sister Stale. But for this
understanding, the confederacy, which is now
the light and hope of freedom in the world,
could not have been formed. When that
principle is ruthlessly trampled upon or base
ly Ignored by the central government, or the
people in their sovereign capacity as cleo
tors, the ends for which the Union was foI u
ed have signally failed. Disunion will then
have begun in fact, and the catastrophe can
not long be delayed.
Already the diretul influence of this un-
holy war is felt in the disruption of religious
institutions that once were bonds of union
hTnftIn tho n fe.> ~ko N3rx
disOrganiZing our national councils; in aliena-
ting our statesmen, and in paralyzing the
confidence of our people in each other; de-
ranging the plans and disappointing the
hopes of the patriotic citizens of the Union.
and presenting the unses mly spectacle to
the world of a nation divided against itself.
The agitation OF the subject of slavery has
been rapidly precipiiating this result. With
madness that defes reason, with fanaticism
that disregards law, both divine and human,
with a hOrtsightedness that sees nothing of
the fatal breakers ahead, the abolitionists
have waged war against the system of
slavery, that Is hostile in its spirit and in
tent TO the basis on which our federal COM
pact was formed. So far from believing that
there is a necessary antagonism between
States that differ among themselves as 10 the
system of domestic labor, we are satisfied by
the experience of seventy years of peace and
uUf4dlDpiSu prosperity, tuat tue HSmccio vi
this confed, racy, like the members OF the
human frame, are mutually dependent upon
and auxiliary to each other; that each State
has right to elect and to enjoy its own sys-
TEN, and this diversity in unity will cement
the Union, while the spirit of the covenant
is preserved.
All questions relating to the rights of the
individual States to common Territories may
be safely left TO be settled by the authorized
expostors of the constitution itself. As good
citizens we are bound, and as good men we
shall love TO be bound TO submit our rights
and privileges TO the decisions of the Supreme
Court of the United States. Those decisions,
as long they are upon record as the expo
sition of the constitution. are binding on the
conscience of every man who is fit to bear
the name OF an American citizen.
With these simple principles as the basis
of our action. we call upon all the friends of
the constitution and laws, upon all who lore
their country more than party, upon all who
would rescue the government from the hands
of corrupt aud dangerous men, and save it
from falling into the possession OF any sec
tional party whose fundamental principle il
hostile to the object and spirit of the consti-
tuition we call upon all who love the Union
for the sake of The Union, and who would see
In the Presidential chair an incorruptible pa
triot. man who will be supported by sound
judicious, upright and faithful citzrns in the
North and South. in the East and West, to
rally with US around the Hay of our country,
in the spirit of Washington and jackson,
Webster and Clay, TO cherish and defend the
Union, and transmit /. with augmented glo-
ries TO future generations.