Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-01-18

It would therefore be easy to employ them at a
sum sufficient to supply only the actual necsssaries
of life. The poor white man would then 20 to the
wealthy land owner and say, II wish employment.
Hire metto work. i have wife and children who
must have bread" The land owner would offer
probably twenty-five cents per day The laborer
would say, II cannot support my family on that
sum-" The landlord replies q That is not my bust
ness. am sorry for You, but l must look to my
own interest. The black man who lives on my
land has as strong arm, and as heavy muscles as
you have. and can do much labor He works
for me at that rate YOU must work for the same
price, or / cannot employ you" The negro comes
into competition with the white man, and fixes the
price OF his labor, and he must take it or get no
employment
Again, the poor white man wishes to rent land
from the wealthy land lords this landlord asks him
half the crop of common upland, or two-thirds or
even three-fourths, for the best bottom land. The
poor man says this seems very hard. cannot make
descent support for my family at these rates. The
landlord replies, here are negroes all around me
anxious to take it at these rates. lean let you have
it for no less. The negro therefore, comes into
competition with the poor white man, when he
seeks to rent land on which to make his bread, or
shelter to protect his wife and his little ones, from
the cold and from the rain; and when he seeks EN-
ployment as day laborer. In every such case II
the negro will do the work the cheapest he must
be preferred. 1t is sickening to contemplate the
miseries Of the poor white people under these
their labor than the poor of any other eoaatry on
the globe. Most of them are land owuers and they
are now respected. They are in no sense placed
| down upon level with the negro. They are SUI
| perlor race and they feel and know it. Abolish
slavery, and you make the negroes their equals
| legally and socially mot naturally, for no human
| law can change Gods lawl and you very soon
make them all tenants, and reduce their wages for
daily labor to the smallest pitance that viii sustain
| life. Then the negro and the white man. and their
no fhes H.
Their children must go to the same peor school to-
gether, if they are educated at ali. They must 20
to church as equals enter the Courts of justice as
| equals, sue and be sued as equals, sit on lures
together equals, have the right to give evidence
in Court equals stand side by side in our militia
ry corps equals, enter each others houses in So
cial intercourse, equals and very their chill
| dren must marry together equals. May our
kind Heavenly Father avert the evil, and deliver
| the poor from such a fate. SO soon as the
| slaves were at liberty, thousands of them would
leave the cotton and rice fields, in the lower parts
of our State, and make their way to the healthier
| climate in the mountain region. We should have
them plunderlng and stealing, robbing and killing,
! in all the lovely vallies of the mountains This
can never consent to see. The mountains contain
the place of my natiyity,rth home of my manhood.
and the theatre of most Of the acts of my life and
can forget the condition and interest of the
people who reside there 1t is true the people there
are generally poor; but they are brave, honest.
|
know them, have doubted their capacity to under
stand these questions and their patriotism and valor
! to defend their rights when invaded. know them
| well, and know that no greater mistake could be
made They love the Union of our fathers, and
would never consent to dissolve it so long,as the
Constitution is not violated, and so long pro-
tects their rights but they love liberty and justice
more and they viii never consent to submit abo-
litlon rule and permit the evils to come upon them,
which must result from continuance in the Union
yvh 10 in tba md of ppup-
mics, who will all its power for obstruction.
| When it becomes necessary TO defend our rights
against so foul domination, would call upon the
| mountain boys well as the people of the low
lands, and they would come down like avalanche
and swarm around the flag of Georgia with reso-
luton that would strike terror into the ranks of the
abolition cohorts of the North. Wealth is timld,
and wealthy men may cry for peace, and submit to
wrong fer fear they may lose their money; but the
poor. honest aborers of Georgia, can never con-
sent to slavery abolished and submit to all the
TAXATION vessalage low wages and downright degra-
datlon which must follow. They will never take
the negro's place; God forbid. r-sv
l know that some contemplate demagogues have
attempted to deceive them by appealing to their
preudices, and asking them what interest they have
in maintaining the rights of the wealthy slavehold
err They cannot be deceived in this way. They
know that the government of our State protects
their lives their families and their property and
that every dollar the wealthy STAKEHOLDER has, may
De taken Dy the government OF the Otate, II need
be, to protect the rights and liberties of all. One
man. in a large neighborhood, has mill. Not one
in fifty has mill. What would be thought of the
public speaker who would appeal to the fifty, and
ask them what interest they have indefending their
neghbOr mill if an abolition mob were trying to
burn it down? Another has store. Not one in
fifty has store. Who would say the City should
not help the one, if invader is about to burn his
store? Another has a blacksmith shop. Not one
in fifty has a blacksmith shop, Shall the shop be
b-f Tho taat
the owner because no one near, has che same pecu
liar kind of property? II may be that | have no
horse, and you have horse or that have a cow,
and you have no COW. In such case if our rights
of property are assailed by a common enemy shall
we not help each other? Or l have a wife and
children. and house, and another has neither wife
and children nor house. Will he, therefore, stand
by and see my house burned, and my wife and child
rem butchered, because he has none? The slave
holder has honestly invested the money, which it
has cost him years of toll to make in slaves. which
are guaranteed to him by the laws of our State
The common enemy of the South seeks to take this
property from him. Shall all who do not own slaves
stand by and permit 1t to be done? If they have
no right to call upon the Shareholder by taxation,
otherwise, to help protect their property their
liberties. Such doctrine is monstrous and he
who would advance it, deserves TO be rode upon the
sharpest edge of one of L;ncoln's rails. The doe
trne strikes at the very foundation of society and
if carried out would destroy all property and all
t~SNNSNNSAA
The present is a critical time with the people of
the South. We all, poor and rich, have a common
interest, common destiny. 1t is no time to be
wran:ling about old party strifes. Our common
enemy, the Black Republican party, is united and
triumphant Let US all unite. If we cannot all see
alike, let US have charity enough towards each
other, to admit that all equally patriotic in their
efforts to advance the common cause. My honest
convictions are, that we can never again live in
peace with the Northern abolitionsts unless We can
have new constitutional guarantees, which will Sc
our equal rights in the Territories, and effec-
tually stop the discussion of the slavery question in
Congress- and secure the rendition of fugitive
slaves. These guarantees | do not believe the peo-
pie of the Northern States will ever give, while we
remain together in the Union Their opinion is, that
we will always compromise away portion of our
rights, and submit for the sake of peace. If the
Cotton States would all secede from the Union be-
fore the Inauguration of Mr.. Lincoln this might
possibly lead to a Convention of all the States
which might terminate in a reunion with the new
constitutional guarantees necessary for our protec
ton If the Northern States then tailed to give these
guarantees, there can be no doubt that Virginia,
Maryland, North Carolina, Delaware, Kentucky,
Missouri and Tennessee would unite with The Cotton
States in a Southern Confederacy-and should
form Republic in which, under the old Constitution
of our fathers, our people could live in security
and peace. know thar many of our people hon
estly believe that it would be best to wait for these
border slave States to go out with us. If we wait
for this, we shall submit; for of those States
will not consent to go, and the North will then
sent to give new guarantees of peace. They
will say that we have again clustered and submit
ted; as we always do.
In my late message to the General Assembly, l
recommended the enactment of retaliatory laws
against those Northern States which have nullifed
the fugitive slave law. | think those laws should
still be enacted. They would have been equally
applicable had either of the other candidates for the
Presidency been successful. Now, that Mr.. Lincoln
is successful, they should be upon our statute book
so long as we remain in the Union. There can no
longer be reasonable doubt, that the gallant State
of South Carolina will secede from the Union, very
soon after her convention meets. The States of
Florida, Alabama and Mississippi will follow In |
quick succession. While our Convention is in ses
sion, we shall probably be surrounded on every side
but one with free and independent States out Of the
Union. With these States we have common inter-
est Thus surrounded, shall Georgia remain under |
abolition rule and refuse to unite with her sister
States around her? trust not. If so, we forfeit |
all claim to our proud title of Empire State of the
South. Why remain? Will the Northern States re-
peal their personal liberty bills and do justice?
No. The Legislature OF one of the nulifying States
(Veruontl has inst adjourned A bill has been in