Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-02-21
OF HON. II. HATToN,
OF TENNESSEE,
IN The HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
February 8, 1861.
(CoSCLUDED.1

Appeals are addressed to US IN soft and
winning phrase about sour sister States of
the South" Eulogies are pronounced upon
toe GLORIOUS little South Carolina;'' and we
are asked if We can hesitate to follow .sher
noble examplef"
Mr.. Speaker, have nothing unkind to say
of South Carolina No one of her sons is here
to speak for her, to-day. Within her borders
under the lead of Marion and Sumter my
ancestry suffered and sacrificed much that
she might b. free. Her soil was wet with
their blood, and in il. to-day, repOse the
bones Of those who fell in her service Her
commercial metropolis was the birth place
and early home of my father. Let no hos
tliity To her people be attributed to me.
Though she has acted most precipitaiely,
wrOnged the Government, and injured my
people, still my wish Is, whether united or
not with Tennessee, that "length of DAYS
may lie in Der right 6and and in her left
riches and honor; may her ways b. ways Of
pleassntness, and all her paths be peace"
But whatever may be my feelings person
ally to her people. owe it to the generous
men who sent me here. to warn them against
the folly Of being controlled by Der mad
counsels, OF, in the least, Influenced by her
example Of weakness and wickedness- She
advises rebellion against the best Govern
ment on earth; say rebellion, for that is the
true and manly word.
The doctrine of peaceable secession l ut
terly repudiate. As a remedy, under the
Constitution, | believe il to be wholly with
out warrant. We have, however, reserved
to Us the great inherent right, that oyerrides
all constitutions, of revolution. When il is
no longer tolerable for Tenuesseans to re-
main in the Union, l trust they will boldly
proclaim themselves in rebellion, and meet
its responsibilities like men. The right and
the duty of rebellion usually go together.
When so perverted that the aggregate is
more than oyerbalanced by the injuries it in
ficts, 1t is the right, and, generally, then it
becomes the duty, OF the people to throw off
such government. This is, however, ques-
ton which it is improbable to discuss.
Whether the withdrawal of State is called
secession or revolution, is now unimportant.
The practical question is, "what profit" shall
we have in doing what South Carolina ad-
vises?
Let US hear one of her own citizens upon
the subject of secession
1T is no redress for the past, j. is no secu-
rity for the future. 1t is only magnificent
sacrifice of the present, without in any wise
gaining in the future. Such is the intensity
of my conviction on the subject, that if Sc
cession should take place-and of which
have no idea, for / cannot believe in such
sTUPENDoUs MADNEsS-I shall consider the insti
tutisn Of SLAVERY as doomed, and that the great
God, in our blindness has made US the in
struments of its destruction"
This is the language of Mr.. BOyce, late a
Representative upon this floor from South
Carolina, in an address, but a few years
since. to the people of his State who were
then threatening secession.
He thought it ''stupendous Madness
"Only magnificent sacrifice of the present,
without in any wise gaining in the furure.'
If it took place, be said, he would consider
the institution of slavery doomed, and that
the great God in their blindness had made
them the Instruments of its destruction"
The idea of making nation out ofSouth
Carolina seemed TO strike him as absurd. In
the same address. he said:
South Carolina cannot become a nation.
God makes natiOns-nOt man. You cannot
extempOriZe nation out of South Carolina.
1t is simply impossible: we have not the re
sources. We could exist by tolerance; and
what that tolerance would be, when we con-
slider the present hostile spirit of the age to
the institution of slavery, all may readily i'm
agine. L trust We may never have to look
upon the painful and humiliating spectacle.
From the weakness Of our national Govern
ment feeling of insecurity would arise, and
capital would take the alarm and leave US.
But it may be said, LET capital gol' To
this l reply, that capital is the ife-blood of
a modern community; and in losing it, you
lose the vitality of the State"
ing but ruin.
The leaders in this movement in the cot
ton States. and Others who are aspiring to
position with them, tell Us that they slowed
the Union as our fathers made it. What is
il now? Just what our fathers made il. If
not, in what has it been changed: We have
the same Constitution. There is not law
not One-upOu our Federal statute-book. of
which we complain The adiadicatiOns of
the Supreme Court, upon all questions affect
ing Southern Institutions are precisely as we |
would have them. the statesmen of the |
South have dictated the entire policy of the |
Federal Government upon slavery since the |
formation OF the Constitution. II there is |
an exception to this rule, would ask to DE |
informed OF it. There Is none, sn. What then |
becomes o! this twaddIe of gentlemen about |
their love OF the Union as it came from our |
ialbeTsI"
As have said before, there are serious |
grounds Of complaint on our part against |
the North. No one of them, however, has its |
origin In the Constitution, in the Union. or |
in any law enacted by Congress. Most of |
them, all that are serious may be remedied |
in the Union. All of them, more effectually |
in it, than out of it.
But as a reason for our burrying out of the |
Union. we are told by the leaders in South |
Carolina and other cotton States that we are |
and have been for years." that |
''the yoke of bondage must be thrown off, |
"that we must be free" We, of the border |
States, have not been aware of our sad con- |
ditioD. Men of all parties, in Tennessee, at |
least, have innocently been of the opinion |
that they were free" Until this storm of |
disunion broke over their heads, they !
were certainly happy and prosperous; as |
contented with their Government as any |
people on earth. But, it seems our content |
ment was the result OF our ignorance and |
stupidity
The chivalry of the cotton States have |
kindly stepped forward and informed US that |
we had not the sensibility to feel an insult, |
nor the sense to know when we we're |
They have generously assumed. |
gentlemen of the border States, the guard |
ianship of both our interests and our honor:
for the protection of the one, and the vindi
dication of the other, they counsel that We !
put in jeopardy our every material interest. |
and then-cOmmit suicide How, Mr.. |
Speaker. shall we of the border States ever
be able to repay our southern brethren Tor |
this unselfish and considerate advice: |
Should we, after respectful consideration of
their counsels, inform them that the remedies
are worse than the evils complained
of, and beg to be permitted to choose cur
own mode and measure OF redress of griev- |
ances, and "to regulate our own domestic
concerns in our own way" trust we will he
pardoned.
Mr.. Speaker. do not think have mis-
taken the motives of South Carolina Her
purpose has not been the redress of South
ern grievances, but the total and final de.
struction of the Union, and the establish
ment of government. the policy of which
she expects to control. Disunion which has
in the language of Mr.. Rhett, been "a matter
which has been gathering head for thirty
years. disunion for the purpose of reopen
ing the African slave trade, or some other
imagined advantage to herself, having been
determined on, her policy was to secure the
speedy cooperation of the other cotton
States, and then coerce the border States t.
follow, by forcing upon them, in the Ian
yuage of Governor Gist. the alternative CT
their slaves or going into the |