Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1860-10-31

S. PRESTON of the State of South Carolina, awaited |
himself of the opportunity afforded by the courtesy
and good opinion of the Trustees which placed him
in that position to nculcate certain sublimated
ideas of State Rights of the South Carolina School
which, in the modern acceptation mean dissolution,
revolution, and the establishment of one or more
Southern confederacIes on the ruins of the Repub-
lie of the United States of America"
Col. PRESToS denies the allegations of the p atrio
and publishes the portion of his address referred to
by that paper to show thai its charge is uniounded
The extracts published by Col. Preston, are as fol-
lows:
Had the audacity my friends to steal much more
of your time. might summon up the testimony to
sustain rlv plea full and prove to you that these
Bishops have not created this University The germ
is our own heartsin every institution of our civil
ism-t belongs to every institution which pertains
to the order under which we live You cannot re-
sist its growth any more than you can resist the
growth Of your limbs, save by SIN and violence
against nature and custom. These men are the gen
erous the cnghtenld, the devoted guardians who
fostering into genial life and gigantic force.
The Church they represent and Illustrate is that holy
and blessed Church hch for more than thous-
and years has made liberal Knowledge part OF her
vital polIty AMI an aid to reigiO and liberty. and
which since she has assumed the distinctive appela
tive of the Protestant Episcopal Church, has ever
required such knowledge for her service. She now
comes forward in the beauty of her hoIness-in the
majestic power and pomp Of her celestia! truth
with the laurel crown upon her brow, and the pa
trot banner in her hand, to cast her protecting
around this young enterprlsc-t0 Call 1t her own
to give it nurture from her own Chaste bosom to
give it light drawn down by her more than PRO
methean hand She has sought divine philosophy
in its farthest homes, and drawn brighteYed
science from its shadOwy cells and with their wand
and compass, sets them on this mountain side and
raises her canopy them Her service is due to
God that service she renders the grandeSt scale
of alteration which Church was called to give
by the Offering she makes here to-day. Ten Dioceses
Of the Protestant Episcopal Church of America are
this day making Oblation. which before God 1
believe will be the chief clement in his econ
Omy Of redeemiDg. perpetuating and eXalting the
people of these Southern States with all their
institutions their literature and their hopes for all
tme to come.
To these States and the people thus represented
here, sternly than to any other people Gov
ernment on earth is the mandate-educate, elevate
the citizen. Every citizen who property, full
S any function of society in these States is civil
magistrate and religious teacher In addition to
all other Obligations he has the greatest mission
entrusted to man. that of Fedeeming to Christianity
| through the portals Of slavery, inferior subject
dependent and necessary race, on which his whole
order of civilization is based Ten millions OF free
and intelligent, responsible men are now engaged in
this mission. In it you sitting beneath the awful
| Judgment of Eternal Justice, and the eyes of your
! fellow-men. all over the world upon you A.; the
good with anxious and tremulous prayers the wick
| ed with denuncatiOns-reving and lying. Al
| ready has a sovereign State of this Republic whose
fathers were soldiers of God and Liberty. given its
| most exalted post and highest renumeratOns to a
| cOwardly and pitiful liar that he may stand in the
| high places Of Europe and America, and pour his
| filthy vitpuratiOl upon you Massachusetts, the
land of the Pilgrim Fathers gives her gold her hon
and her praise to traitors, towards and tramp
| ing women, that they may detlle and defame those
who have furnished half the glory and none of the
| shame to this Republic. Another sovereign State
made by your industry to rival the richest nations
of the old world bids its chief representative in our
common council. tell US, that we must yield our
mission. or ourselves be made subject to systems it
! chooses to impose. Again we are told from beyond
the seas in our own tongue, by those who read
Bacon and Milton with u.s. and pray with our prayer
! book, and who gave US this mission, that we must
yield or abandon communion with the ciyiliza
ton of the age.
alton OF tanaticism since the world began ever eX-
hibted such concentrated lie that which is rails
ing its hollow cutlery against the system of slavery
as it exists in the Southern States. And it is be-
! cause Of is hollow falsehOOd that must be the
better prepared to refute its scandal and resist its
aggressions. and give its followers to the infa
nous nOtOriety they have achieved. while we pre-
serve that system which saves from the sins and
dangers growing naturally in the soil of abolition
In those states where TINS 1dnatlclSm Is most rife
it, associations seem be the modern type of those
| Pagan mysteries which, under pl1a If religious
| worship. phllanthrOpIC purpose. praGtlCed the
most abominab.e and infamous license. | venture
assert that in of the IHySteries Of HIndOstan
| Persia or Greece. was the debauchery of such
gross moral turpitude is daily practiced or di-
| rectIy resulting from the abolition societies They
have all the folly of spIrtualsm and all the beastlI-
! ness of MormOnism. Wherever a community re
solves itself into abolition association. and de-
mands that shall give up slavery, that instant.
as if by natural forces it becomes the reservoir Of
! al tie contiguous vice and immortality The mo-
neut they demand OF Us to abolish slavery in the
same breath they uniformly DEMAND that the world
| shall release them from all that binds man to God
and all that Is sacred between man and man. Thus,
| in America lnfidelity and universal license are the
useparablc associates of abolition. 1t matters not
whether you find it III the gilled saloon Of the ave
nue.. n the sinking howell Of the alley; in the Sen
ate Chamber the geer shop; in the Church OF in
; the Numans Rights Conventions; in Wall street or
Five Points, by the -lmiIy tresde Of a New Eng
land village in the Il ONES of New England" or in
.he ragtcI library Of the Boston statesman-it is
. the sang abolition intidel!ty and treason.
AID such is enc 0. our enemies. but its filthy and
despIcabla tasehOCd IS rather our strength than
weakness There are Other eriTaas1as enemies
HiiJL, e1uaerue dssIHdHJ 0f us strong nua.jmts
for orr projections but lsW rare them to be dealt lriH
on lglOlter arena.
The immediate, predominant and distinct neces-
SIT which demands OF such institutions As this
| University comes Of the habtudes engcndercd BY
our climate. our system of labor and our relations
through it, to other forms of society, and especially
to the form Of government under which We must
meet these incidents. Pere social restraints
limited solely by civil regulations unless the citizen
is plevat d by moral and intellectual culture, social
virtue. and Consequently individual and public NOR
ais must degenerate With Gs the segregation OF
wealthy citizens leaves very much to each mans
sense Of right the preservation of order and the
advance Of society. BESIDES which he ia relsgated
almost entirely to his own resources for the moral
tone and the intellectual store which saves him
from vice and sJ0hes his way Of tiie Never in any
previously existent form of society. has the indvId
ual citizen had such dread responsibility as that
which pertains the southern planter and he must
it. He cannot avoid It.. His extraordinary duties
are as necessary rs Imperative. Is his daily food
and clothing. lie must perform them or perish.
And he cannot perform them efficiently for him
self or acceptable TO his country and TO God, with
out the very highest MORAL and intellectual culture
You cannot maintain this order OF things IN which
Won find yourselves. without elevatinI your minds
and hearts by precisely that nuriment this Uniyer
sity proposes to furnish.
But again; take the area Of the constituency Of
this University, indicated by Just explanation
of the term University of the SOUTH and the
earth scarcely affords, in one equal extent
of sol! SO fertile and fitted for the habtaton of
man. Run a line according TO the unhappy politi-
cal compromise of 1920, to the Rocky mountains
and take the Southern section for this 1t does
seem to me- if ever an order of civilization NAV out
shine the grandeur, and outlive the ages of all the
past it must be this. So perfectly. under our sys-
tenn adapted as thts region is to the habatOn and
advance of man, that cannot disCem one, save
one. element of decay. The first, the chief the
peyerendng necessity for the preservation of this
wonderful heritage, Is the true knowledge of God,
and the accumulating knowledge lie permits man to
gain and diffuse. Be system what it may be
he our Land never so fertile be our skies never so
pepial without such knowledge must become as
Nineyah and Babylon; without this and its associ.
ate virtue Liberty will not, cannot and oughtnot to
live.
The time now is when thoughtful and philan-
tbropic men must begin to devise and evolve the
mcana. the lust means, by which our institutions
one and all are to be purified for preservation by
DrofouuGcr vision than nov exists concerning
them-a wisdom whose whole and wide scope Is
the confirmation and advance of our civil and moral
condition To aid in this to aid in preserving your
property. your virtue and your liberty, the broad
deem flowing rivers OF past experience mnst be
fathomed and sea~ched the rich mines Of philoso-
Dhy must be explored and keen science must be in.
voied 20 open up her hidden ways and with all
their tributes excite, inform. expand the general
mind We may vel taEe the aphQgigm Of BACON,
that knowledge is only to be limited by Religion
and ALWAYS TO be referred TO our actions and uses"
l-no lodi md for ~