Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-03-21


Our national constellation is wrapped in
clouds. But viii not you-bending through
the medium Of a pure patriotism the steady
eye of au honest statesmansdip-report back
to US how the clouds break away, and the
stars loom up each on its accustomed course
even as the cloudy nebule resolves itself
into shining orbs under the glass of old
Gallileo! It is for you this day to write
yourselves down patriots or partisans. Your
country even now awaits your decision In
reference to a trio of American statesmen
and pstriets-the grandest contemporaheous
trio the world has ever seen, we have said:
CLAY, WEBSTER, and CALHOUN. The chill
dren grouped around the "ingle-side," of a
stormy evening, may tell you in return for
some fairy legend, the familiar story of
brave old soldier, who, in the war for Ameri-
cas- Independence, fell, nobly fighting, in
the van of the army. The roar of battle
had died away at eye-the dead were gath
cred to sleep from which no trump save
that of the Arch-angel shall arouse them
the broken battalions were closed up, until
the eye H1dEktu HUI buClI SuC&ub pidCcS.
The roll-caI was opened-name after name
sounded that met with no response. At
length came that of the old veteran, and
deep, anxious, breathless pause succeeded.
He had never failed-never deserted his
post before; and wild thrill shook that
serried column of iron men, as an old COM
rade answered for him. DEAD, on the
field" His name was never stricken from
their number, but whenever it was called,
solemn hush crept over the long lines, and
some war-worn eomrade answered in his
stead" DEAD-on the field" And thus it
shall be with those three names of the great
departed, through the long campaign of
Time; they shall still remain upon the roll-
call of Humanity-and eyer-ever, shall the
mighty voice of our country go up in answer
for them. DEAD, on the field"
And what, countrymen and brothers, is
America to answer for youP This day she
is to pass sentence upon your devotion, or
your desertion, Those men just mentioned
were inherently great, and at times exigen-
cies called forth their noblest energies-but
such grand hour for summoning forth the
patriot and the hero, never surged and
swclled beneath thcBs--as now bears you for
ward to goal, which, according as you will
it, is to be disastrous or glorious. We put
the question to you-vhdt is your country TO
dn,wer for you, from this hour until the final
kneIl of Time? Shall she declare that your
voice was given TO blot out America, the
rainbow of the nations, and that in the de-
struction of that bow of promise you blotted
out from earth the only pledge that despot-
ism shall not again deluge the world
Shall she answer-when all is lost-that
your voice was given for the sinking of each
gallant barque of State, in vortex of an
archy-shall she point to you as the traitors,
when our electric cord of Union, like the
dead wire in the Atlantic, swings idly, life
less and submerged, amid the wreck and
ruin of our lost Armadas? Shall she re-
cord it that your voice went forth to stop her
now in her triumphal career; just as she
has begun the march of Destiny--when the
first century of Americas example is only
the first audible football of Freedom, on its
sublime outs going among the nations? Her
march of Destiny is onward-the slumber-
ing Isles of distant seas have heard 1.-THE
might West has come forward to meet it
and even the drewsy, dreaming Orient is
aroused, and looks forth in wonder from the
windows of sunrise, Shall your voice be
given for the manning and retarding of
your country's progress? viii you send
forth the fiat of Folly Halt ." as she
marches onward TO the redemption of the
world? No1C she is the Pole-star Of all
easth's Empires. We read it recorded by
science, that in every one of the Pyramids
the entrance is so placed, and the descent
into its depths so constructed, that person
standing at the lowest point in its labyrinth
inc corridors, can see the still steady eye of
the Polar star. And thus it is with on
Federal Republic. There is no stronghold |
of despotism-no broad-based consolidated
monarchy-no dark, deep mausoleum of
Freedom any where existant throughout the |
world into which the beautiful, cfsar-shining |
and soul-cheering Pole star of American
uOtS HUI lUOh dONA uho pVoi lO1 I'll
its benign, enlightening, and enlivening |
ray! Shall your voice go forth for the |
blotting out of that star of all the world +? |
We cannot believe it.
The few words we have felt impelled to |
say to you are almost ended. We have ap- |
pealed only to the noblest sentiments-only |
to the lordliest impulses that exalt and en- |
ergise, that refine and redeem human ma |
turc. We have presented our feelings, |
"pluckcd as they were growing, and deliv- |
cred to you with the dew on them" in |
some instances the heart-dew of tears. |
Through this mist of tears we see your po-
sition to-day-proud, but perilous. You are
dealing now with the universal and the eter-
nal. You stand in the presence of majestic /
Past, of momentous Present land of Future |
which it is yours to make, or mar. Bring |
then, your theories and opinions TO the test |
of TRUTH, for that alone can stand the test |
of Time. Under the pleasant shadows of |
the Homes to which you will soon return
there are little children who watch for your
coming footsteps, there are soft eyes which |
call up for you in a moment all the sunny |
side of Life Will you keep the old homes |
sacred and peaceful still will you keep the |
loved eyes soft and clear ?-then remember |
that they have grown into the Union soil, |
and do not attempt to transplant them, lest, |
in doing so, 'they leare their roots behind |
them" Home. sweet, sweet Home They |
will meet you there-the loved ones and |
the ittlo ones-by the hearthstone, in the |
doorway, or down the paths under the |
broad bare arms of the old ancestral trees |
Shall they come forth like the e1ultant Mi
Ram. chanting a friumnhal strain in which |