Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-03-05


ement Of weakness, and as drawback upon th
prosperity and glory of the country. They pity tn
South as caught IN the foles of serpent, which
| gradually squeezing ont her life. And. even whei
they defend US from the reproach of sin in sustain
| ing the relation, they make 50 many distinction.
between the abstract notion Of slavery and the sys
| TEN of our own laws, that their defence would
hardly avail to save us, if there were any power
4 competent TO hang and quarter us. We are SURF
that we do not misrepresent the general tone Of
Northern sentiment 1t is of hostility TO slavery
lit is one which, while it might not be willing &c
break faith under the present administration with
respect to the express injunctions of the Consttu
/ ton is utterly and absolutely opposed to any fur
| Their extension Of the system
| 90 In the third place, let it be distinctly under
stood that we have no complaint TO make of the
opinions of the North, considered simply az their
| opinions. They have right so far as human
authority is concerned to think they please THE
| South has never asked them to approve of slavery
to change their own institutions and to introduce
/ it among themselves The South has been willing
accord to them the most perfect and unrestricted
| right of private judgment.
/ az But, in the fourth place. what we do complain
of, and what we have right to complain of, is that
they should not be content with thinking their own
| thoughts themselves but should undertake to make
| the Government think them likewise. We of the
South have, also certain thoughts concerning
slavery, and can not understand upon what prin-
cipe the thinking of the South is totally excluded
and the thinking Of the North made supreme. The
! Government is as much as theirs, and we can
not see why. in a matter that vitality concerns
| ourselves, we shall be allowed to do effec-
tive thinking at all. This is the grievance. The
| Government is made to take the type of Northern
sentlmentit is animated in its relations to slavery,
by the Northern mind, and the South, henceforward,
IS no longer of the Government but only under the
| Government. The extension of slavery, in ODE
dienee to Northern prejudice is to be for ever
rested Congress is 70 treat it as an evil, an ee-
ment of political weakness and to RESTRAIN its in
huence within the limits which circumscrbe it.
| All this because the North thinks so; while the
South an equal party to the Government, has quite
other thoughts. And when we indignantlyicomplain
OF this absolute suppression of all right to think
in and through four Government, upon subject
that involves our own homes and our fresides, we
are cooliy reminded, that, long Congress does
not usurp the rights of our own Legislatures, and
abolish slavery on soil, harbor our fugitives
when they attempt to escape from us, we have rea-
to be grateful for the indulgence accorded to u.s.
The right to breathe is as much as we should ven
ture TO claim. You may exist, says freesoilism
as States, and manage your slaves st home-we
VIII not abrogale your sovereignty. Your ruua-
ways we do not want, and we may occasionally
send them back to you. But if you think you have
q right to be heard at Washington upon this great
subject, it is time your presumption should be re-
buked. The North is the thinking power-the soul
of the Government. The life Of the Government
is Northern-not Southern the type to be Impress
The North becomes the United States and the South
subject province.
Now, say that this is state of things not to be
borne. A free people can never consent to their
| own degradation. We say boldly, that the Govern
ment has no more right to adopt Northern thoughts
the subject Of slavery than those of the South.
1t has no more right to presume that they true
1t has right to arbtrate between them, 1t must
treat them both with equal respect, and give them
an equal chance. Upon no otler footing can the
Gnt,fn Nth ~ JIa;o V+
to be endured for moment, that fifteen sovereign
States enbodying in proportion to their population
as much Intelligence virtue public spirit, and pa
triotism. as any other people On the globe, should
be quietly reduced to Zero in a Government which
they framed for their own protectioni We put the
question again to the North If the tahlea were
turned, and it was your thoughts. your life, your
institutions, that the Government henceforward
to discountenance; If non slaveholding hereaf
Ter to be prohibited in every Territory, and the
whole policy of the Government shaped by the
principle that slavery is blessing would you en-
dure it? Would NOT your blood boil, and would
you not call upon your hungry millions to come to
the rescueg And yet this 10 precisely what you
have done to US, and think we ought not to resist
You have made US cphers, and are utterly amazed
that we should claim to be anything.
But apart from the degradation which it lnfiicts
upon the South, it may be asked, what real injury
will result from putting the Government in atti-
tude of hostility to slavery?
The answer is, in the first place, that it will
tainly lead 10 the exti7stop of the system. You
may destroy the oak etfectually by girdling it
by cutting it down. The North are well assured
that if they creumscribe the area of slavery if
they can surround it with circle of nom
saVeholding States and prevent it from expanding,
nothing more is required to secure its ultimate
abolition. Like the scorpion grit by fire." it will
plunge its faDgs into its body, and perish. If
therefore, the South is not prepared see her In
| situations surrounded by eneWies and witheH and
decay under these hostile influences, if abe means
to Cherish and protect them, il is her bounden duty
to resist the revolution which threatens them with
ruin The triumph of the principles which Mr.
Lincoln is pledged to carry out is the deathknell of
slavery,
In tire next place. the state of the Northern mind
which has produced this revolution can not be ex-
pected to remain content with its present victory
1t will hasten to other triumphs. The spirit
which has prevarcated with the express provisions
of the Constitution, and resOrted to eXpedients to
evade the most sacred obligations, will not hesitate
for moment to change the Constitution when it
finds itself in possession of the power 1t will only be
consistency 20 harmonic the fundamental law of
the Government with its chosen policy, the real
workings of its life. The same hostility to slavery
which numerical majority has impressed upon
the Federal Legislature. it will not scruple to i'm
press upon the Federal Constitution. If the South
could be induced to submit to Lincoln, the time,
confidently predict will come when all grounds of
controversy will be removed in relation 70 fugitive
slaves, by expunging the provision under which they
claimed The principle is at work and enthroned
in power, whose inevitable tendency is to secure
this result. Letus crush the serpent in the egg.
From these considerations, it is obvious that
nothing nor less is at stake in this controversy
than the very life of the South. The real question
is whether she shall be politically annihiated. We
are not struggling for fleeing and temporary inter
ests We are struggling for OFT very baing. And
none know better than the Republican party itself,
our fate as sayeholding is forever sealed. They
have already exulted in the prospect of this glorious
contamination. They boast that they have laid
mine which must ultimately explode in o4r utter
ruin. They are singing songs of victory in advance
and are confidently anticipating the suspicious hour
when they shall have nothing to do but to return to
the field and bury the dead
The sum of what we have said is briefly this:
We have shown that the Constitutional attitude of
the Government towards slavery is one of absolute
neutrality Indifference in relation to the moral
and political aspects of the subject. We have shown
in the next place that 1t is hereafter to take
titude of hostility; that it is to represent tie opin
ions and feelings exclusively of the North; that il s
to BECOME the Government Of one section over an
other; and that the South as South is to sustain no
other relation to 1t but the duty of obedience.
This is thorough and radical revolution 1t makes
q new Governmental proposes new and extraordi-
nary terms of union, The old Government ia az
completely abolished if the people of the United
States had met in convention and repealed the Con-
stituon. 1t is frivolous to tell that the change
has been made through the forms of the Constitu-
ton. This is to add insult to injury. What signify
forms, when the substance is gone? OF what value
j. tie shell when the kernel is extracted? Rght9
are things, and not words; and when the things are
taken from u.s. it is no time to be nibbng at phrases
If witness under oath designedly gives testimony,
which, though literally true, conveys false impress
sion is he not guilty of perjury! Is not his truth
LEY TemHres Kept the letter of his promise to the
garrison of Sebsstia, that if they would s4rr ender
the scandal of treachery in burying them alive? No
man objects to the legality of the process of Mr..
Lincoln's election. The objection is to the legality
of that 90 which he is elected. He has been chosen,
not 10 administer but to revolutonize. the Govern
ment The very moment he goes into Office, the
Constitution OF the United States, as touching the
great nnestinn between the North and South, is