Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1861-01-24

may appreciate the power, prosperity, 4
greatness, aud glory of this govern. !
m sol; deeply as We depiore the exis- {
tence Of causes which have already 4
driven one State from the Union; much
as we may regret the imperative ne /
oessity which they have wantonly
and wickediy forced upon us, every
consideration of self: preservation and
selfrespect require that We should
assert and maiRtain our equality in
the Union, or independence out Of it. !
Ia my opinion, the only mode lett
US Of perpetuating the Union upon
the principles of justice and equality,
upon which it WIS originally estab-
iished, is by the Southern States,
identified as they are in in interest,
sentiment, aud feeling, and must,
in the natural course Of events, share
a common destiny, uniting in the ex-
preston of a fixed and unalterable
resolve, that the rightsguaranteed BY
the Constitution must be respected
and fully and perfectly secured IN the
present Government, or asserted and
maintained in homogeneous Conted-
eracy Of Southern States.
Mere questions Of policy may BE-
very often properly compromised,
but there can be DO compromise oil
cardinal and vital principles; no com
promise between right and wrong
Principle must be vindicated, and
right triumphant, be the consequeu-
-ces what they may. To compromise
the one, or abandon the other, is not
ouly uumanIy and humiliating in the
extreme, but always disastrous in its
final results.
The South has no power to re-
unite the scattered fragments of a
violated Constitution and a once
glorious government. She is acting
on the defensive. She has been
driven to the wall, and can submit:
to no further aggression. The
North, however, can restore The Con-
slitutioual Uuion of our fathers, by
undoing their work of alienation and
hate, engend cred, by thirty years Of
constant aggression, aud by unlsarn-
ing the lessons of malignant hosiil'
ity to the South and her institutions
with which their press, pulpit and
schools have persistently infected the
public mind.
Let them do this and peace vii
again establish her courts in tht
midst Of this once happy country
and the union of these States HI
restored, giving renewed strength
and vigor to the body polite.
But can we hope for such results
Two months have already passed
since the development of facts which
make the porpetuity Of the Unio'
depend. alone, upon their giving t
the South satisfactory guarantees 10
her chartered rights. Yet there ha
been no proposition at all salisfactc
ny, made by any member of the dom
inant and aggressive party of tina
section. So far from It, their Sena
tors and Representatives in Congrea
have voted down aud spurned ever
proposition that looked to the accom-
plishment of this object, no matte
whence euanating; and the fact tha
their constituents have, in no az
thorita!ive manner, issued words
rebake or warning to them, must b
taken as conclusive proof Of the
acquiescence 10 the policy.
In view of these facts cannc
close my eyes to tho conclusio
that Tennessee will be powerless j
any effort she may make to que
the storm that pervsGes the countr,
The work of alienation and dlsrui
tion has gone SO far, that it WILDE e.
trsmely difficult, if not impossible
to arrest it; and before your adjourn
ment, in all probability, the onl
praciical..question for The State TO d.
termine, will be whether she vi
unite her fortunes with Norther
or Southern Confederacy; upon ahle
question, when presented, | am Gel
tain there eau be little or no divlsio
in sentiment, identified as We are i
every respect with the South.
II this calamity shall befall th
country, the Southwill have the cOnss
.ation Of knowing that she is ia n
manner responsible for the disaster
The responsibility rests alone upo
the Northern people, who have viii
fully broken the bond Of Unior
repudiated the obligations and du
Il.