Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-03-01
Black Republican Hypocrisy and South
erU Credutxfv

anger, If must at least be conceded thai we are
quite as ready to forgive 1t seems but yesterday
that sentiments and purposes were uttered by lead
ing statesmen and Congressman in the North, which
excited such universal thrill of indignation in the
Southern heart shook the Union to its very cen
ter. And yet to-day Hwe roar you" goodly num-
Der of us atleast, sas gently as the sucking dove"
We hardly know which to regard as the most
curious feature of the present crisis the bold and
unparalleled inpudence of the North, or the easy
credulity of the South.
We had scarce finished the task of mining the
full depth of the oracular sayings of Aessrs SEWARD
and LINCOLN, our hearts were still heaving with
pent up grief which could find no utterance in
mere words, because of the disloyal anti-slsvery,
unpatriotic, disunien sentiments which had fouled
the pages Of our congressional journals, when
single breath, patronzing smile from the one, and
joke or two and a riddle from another, and asmple
declaratory vote from the other, all under duress
too are accepted as fuand satisfactory evidence Of
the most amiable intentions, which will beyond all
peradventure, be executed, if we will only confde
fully in their sincerity and possess our souls pa
tience till the thing can be done with statesmanlike
decorum and dignity BETTING the magnitude and
Importance of the subject.
We were not yet done pOuting because Mr.. SEW
ARD had said that there existed between freedom
and slavery an irrepressible conflict of enduring
forces, which would last till these States were all
slave or all free; that it was the failure to compre
bend this great fact that is the irrepressbe, IRE
conciable enduring character of these forces that
had induced so many unsuccessful attempts at COM
promise It was conflict which, from its very
nature admitted of no compromise. In such con-
fict there could be no such thing as drawn bat
tie. 1t was one of victory or death; of peace or
respite truce even, there could be none till the
one or the other should hold undisputed sway.
Had such words fallen from the lips of GARRISON
or PHILLIPS, or LovEJoY any of that pestiferous
class of fanatics who daily and hourly beleh forth the
spleen of their putrid hearts upon the South we
might have regarded it only with the smile of con-
temptuous scorn. But not so, coming from one of
the most astute thoughtful phlosophic statesmen of
the age; one who had in the course of long,
eventful and stormy political life, given utterance
to single hasty unconsidered expression; one
who had never mistaken public sentiment or the
temper of those upon whom he leaned for support
one who had penetrated every avenue of the popu-
lar heart, and made himself fully acquainted with
all its yearnings and aspirations.
For moment we doubted the evidences of our
own senses. We must ad his words amiss
Il could not be, that he, the oracle OF the great
dominant party of the North had in very deed pro-
nounced the death knell of an institution upon the
ex stence of which the Aeace, safety, prosperity,
the very existence of the South, was irrevocably
based. It could not be that the canker worm bad
found its way into the body polite, and was fast
eating its way into very vitals 1t could not be
that social and political death already stood at
very doors. No. No. We could not believe it
Our brothers-they who should have been our
brothers-could not so soon have forgotten the
cred bond which our fathers had signed. They
could not so have forgotten the generous saeri
fee of the South in dedicatng to the North without
price the princely domain upon which teeming.
thousands now reEeI in all the luxuries of life
They could not so soon have forgotten the farewell
admonition of the father of his country.
But at last the ballot spoke and the painful truth
was recognized. The alternative of separation or
death was presented State after State seeded IN
til il seemed the whole family against whom war
had been so unceremoniously declared was about to
erect political barrier to further aggression when
Io the Senator from New York speaks again:
APeace be still. What means all this alarm? IT'S
but the itful gust of momentary passion you heard
lust now It's but the surf of the fretful ocean
beating against the everlasting cliff Ere long this
storm will cease and all again be serene" Do you
really think SO good, Mr.. SEWARD? Kind, generous
hearted Mr.. SEWARD. Do you really mean what
you say? Most assuredly 1 do. l wonder you
can doubt my word"
And we, "good easy souls" with childlike ere
Ell. 61of nofo
totally oblivious of all the ugly things he had nt
tered at Rochester and elsewhere, though the echo
of his mighty voice, cheering the embatted hosts of
black Republicanism to the everlasting conflict
still reverberated throughout the immense battle
field on which was suspended the fate ofan en-
pre- scarcely less than all Europe accept this pledge
of peace, resume our wanted confidence, and with
a vehemence that would do honor TO the hucksters
of Billingsgate denounce usurpers, traitors and
tyrants those who dare to doubt his words. Well
NAV our brothers of the further South exclaim,
did the mighty Cesar when stabbed by him in whose
faith he would have trusted his life "et tn Brute"
But some doubling Thomas ventures to remind
us that Mr. Lincoln, the President elect, had said
all men, including the negro are entitled to liberty
that they who deny freedom to others do not them
selves deserve it, and under just God cannot long
retain il. and that this war upon our institutions
could never cease until the public mind could rest
content that slavery in the course of ultimate
extnctio-. and many other things Of like character
Rut Mr. Lincoln at still later date has SAID thath
had no thought of making upon our rights, that
nothing was hurting us that the distress which we
had foolishly imagined pervsded the land was all
imacinarv. And then with charming nonchatdHce
we again subside into our easy chair, and with an
air of triumph ask if there are any other doubts to
resolve?
But few short months since, Mr.. Blake, of Ohio,
offered in Congress the following preamble ana res
oluton:
WHEREAS. The chattelzing of humanity and the
hOtiing of persons as property, is contrary 70 natu
raj Justice and the fundamental prlneipies ol our
pol ical system and is nationally reproach 70 cur
cOuntry throughout the civilized world. ana Sc
rious hndrance to the progress OF republican hOeF'
ty among the nations of the earth: IherelOre,
ReSOlUed That the Committee on the JUDICIARY oe'
and the are hereby, instructed TO inquire intO
the eXpedency of reporting biz giving lreeoon
to every human being, and interetcnng slavery
wherever Congress has the Constitutions power W
legislate on the subject
This resolution was Fcted for by sixty menu
bers.
Oh, that is easily answered. A resolution was
but the other day unanimously adopted voted for
by these same sixty members upon their oaths:
"Resolved That neither Congress nor the People
nor the governments of the non-slayeholdng States
have any constitutional right to legisate upon or IN
terfere with slavery in any of the slaveholding
States of the Union"
avery strange, one answers Yes, but It's true,
for all that.
But how about the liberty bilss Tut, that's
nothing, they are as good as repealed already, for
many leading men have said they would recommend
that every State in which they have been adopted
should submit them to the strictest legal scrutiny
and that in SO far az they were found to be in con-
Dict with the Constitution they should be repealed
We might go on with tbs list of disgusting SUD-
terfuges on the one hand and of eOnhdlng humili'-
ting trust on the other but our article Us alreaoy
Iorr ano,c1 and vre mnst trust to the information