New-York daily tribune., 1861-05-13
TENNESSEE.

The people of Tennessee were recently re-
quired by their Governor and Legislature to vote
for or against Convention to take their State
out Of the Union and annex it to the jeff Davis
Confederacy. They voted, by great ma aority,
to do no such mad and traitorOus act, but TO
stay in the Union and have no Convention. In
defiance OF that direct, explicit emphatic vote,
the Governor recently called the Legislature to-
gether, and, with its appreciation, appointed
three " Commissioners" to meet the Hon. aud
Rev. Henry w. IPllliard of Alabama, Com
have cooked up a " temporary convention, agree
"ment and military league" between Tennessee
and the Confederacy aforesaid, whereby
First Until the said State shall become MEM
Der Of said COniederacy according TO the Constitutions
of both pOwers the whole military force and military
operations, offensive and defensive, Of said State in
the imI ending conflict with the United States shall be
under the chief control and direction of the President
of the Confederate States upon the same basis Pnci-
pies and footing as if taid State and dur
ing the interval, member of said Confederacy."
THAT is to say: though it is not pretended
that Tennessee has yet legally seceded-thOueh
it is known that her people recently voted that
they could net secede, and would not clothe any
body with power to do it for them" the whole
military force" and resources Of the State are
at once turned over to JEFF. Davis, to be used
at his unbounded discretion in making war upon
and subverting the Government Of that Union
whereof Tennessee has for nearly seventy years
formed on integral part. This "league" is
formed in direct and oStentatOus defiance Of the
Federal Constitution, which every scoundfel Of
these cOnspratOrs has sOlemnly sworn to sup.
port, and which expressly provides (Art. /. sec.
1O) that "NO State shall enter into any treaty,
"0liianee, or confederation" But what use Of
mentioning oaths to a traitOr2 We only cite
the above clause to show how utterly null and
void this league" would be, even if the Legis-
lature had been empowered by the people to con-
tract it, instead of being virtually instructed to
do nothing of the kind.
Well: the Legislature, having thus committed
perjury and treason, and made JEFF. Davis virtual
dictator of the State, with full control over its
"whole military force" proceeds to enact that
the people thus plunged into treason, SHALL on
the 9Th of June next, be allowed to pOte for
" Separation" is, Dsunion-or No Sepa-
" ration. Il ne mlscnJc1 DclDB uiIcdu! uoDc, duu
every man in the State subjected to the call of
JEFF. Davis, who may have him shot if be hes
tates 10 shoulder his musket and march against
the defenders of the Union-he is to have the
privilege, a month hence, of voting all this down.
But suppose he has meantime been marched to
Arkansas or Kentucky-suppose he has been shot
in an attack on Caro-what chance will he have
to vote y And how will his voting avail
Of course, there is not in this broad land one
fool 30 foolish as to believe that there will be
any thing like fair election in Tennessee on the
9Th Of June. No; there will be just such am
election as the Missouri Border Rufisns were ac-
custonled to hold in Kansas five or six years
sgc, and nothing else. Consider that an attempt
Of the Union men to hold meeting at Paris,
Tenn, few days since, was broken up by
Iorce, two Union men being shot, and that
being asked to meet or follow Mr.
Etheridge at Trenton, responded: =" If he speaks
against the South"-that is, Secession" our
. only answer to him and his baehers must be cold
8 steel and bullets and you see the whole
hing. This election is to be simply farce, in.