Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-03-29
From the St. Louis News, March g.
Let the Seeding states 60.

Let the Seeding states 60.
There is contingency which no govern
ment ever framed can provide against, and
that is Revolution. A government cannot
provide against it, because it will not admit
! the possibility of such an event. A State
may wisely contemplate invasiens from
| abroad, and Instructions from within, and
pass laws beforehand to repel the one and
| suppress the other; but State that admits
| the possibility of Revolution. (Which is sue
cessful, established insurrection) b. passing
| enactments TO meet it, at once acknowledges
it own terminability, and Invites the very
Revolution it apprehends.
The movement at the South that has de-
| tached, de facto, if not de jure, seven States
| from the American Union. is called BY its
authors Secession. But it is nothing less than
Revolution. 1t was illegal, unconstitution-
| al. and, we are compelled to think, uuwar-
| rantable and unnatural. But it is q fdct-
| The Federal Government witnessed its rise
| and progress without the will to prevent it,
| and the Federal Government is now COM
| PEELED to behold its practical success without
| the power to overthrow it; and the simple
question now presented is, how shall the Gov
| eminent treat this strange, unprecedented.
and unnatural fact?
We cannot look into the Constitution for
counsel, because the fact is not provided for
| in the Constitution. We cannot look to the
laws for instructions, because the laws, thou Oh
| providing against slight disturbances and
| ephemeral instructions, make no provisions
for the terrible exigency of Revolution. 1t
| is the duty of the President to enforce the
| laws, but how can he enforce the laws when
he has not the means of doing so? The
strength of the Republic does not consist in
rigid laws with powerful standing army and
huge navy to execute them, but In the
| hearts and the arms of its People.
| But portion of the People have revolted
abandoned the Republic. and erected new
Government. What shall we do? The Sc
| ceding States have not only wronged, but
have insulted, the Government. They have
| committed outrages on what 1c1s their flag,
and what is still ours, which if perpetrated by
foreign State-aye. or by dozen combined
| foreign States, would cause nation to rise
as one man, while million glad swords
would leap from their scabbardS to avenge
the affront. All this, Seeding States have
| undeniably done; and yet-and yet-but a
moment ago, they were our brothers, and the
bleeding wounds of the severed lgaments
must be healed and hardened by years OF
separation, before we can forget the old fra
ternal relation.
Having been brothers, it is no dishonor to
endure the affronts which in their madness
| they have offered us. Having been brothers
and equals, we cannot treat them as subjects,
and go to war to re-impose on them the au
thority they have thrown of. Besides, al
though they have left us for insufficient
causes. and left US, too, in manner that
sets all dignity and propriety at defiance, we
cannot, perhaps, and we should not, force
them, an unwilling People, to live associated
with US.
A war between the Federal Government
and them would not be a war in the modern
sense of the word; it would be a series
of massacres, characterized by that hellish-
ness into which estranged and embittered
fraternity never fails to degenerate, and
prosecuted with unlagging fierceness, until
both parties. dripping from hundred cruel
wounds, and exhausted by bleeding, could
scarcely raise their arms to strike. Every
field would be blasted with desolation or
drenched with gore, and every happy hearth
stone would be made dreary with the shadow
OF a bloody bereavement. Every city and
town would become the scene of deadly COM
bats, and every house would become the
house of mourning.
The Federal Government would enter up
on the struggle with scarcely less than mil
lion adult vehement opponents of the move
ment on its own ground, and the Confederate
States would be compelled to recognize and
treat as tories, the thousands and scores of
thousands who still cherish longing affec-
ton for the old Union.
The inevitable result would be not only
fierce and long prOtracted duel between the
Federal Government and the revolted States,
but chapter of carriages and butcheries
throughout the land, that would surpass in
reeklng horror, that troublous thirty years
period of civil strife in England, during
which no one of her noblemen died peaceful
ly on his bed, since all persisted on the battle
field, by assassination, or on the block.
We are not prepared for this. The very
thought makes the heart shudder with
deathly sickness. We honor the natural feel
ing in the breasts of loyal Americans that
prompts them to make an effort to maintain
the unity and coherency of their Govern
ment. 1t is a noble and salutary sentiment,
and when evoked by the prospect of attacks
from foreign foes, should be encouraged to
the largest development, and the most ener-
ge.ic actioa.
But the horrors of such a war as that which
would ensue from conflict between the Gov
eminent and the revolted States, would new
er find compensation in the indicated
strength and integrity of the Union, and we
may as well cease to hope for the latter at the
cost of the former.
Then let the revolted States go. We would
rather leave them to the vengeance of events
than draw the sword against them. They
have challenged history on the Righteousness
of their cause. Let history be their judge.
If the people of those States should repent
the step into which they have been driven,
hurl their deceivers from power, and return
to the old Union, we will receive them with
gladness and joy. But if they persist in their
course, we would not seek to bring them
back by force. Let US have peace, even with
a diminished Union, rather than war with its
mournful horrors.