Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1861-04-26

- We have seen, with regret II thefKYh-
lville resrs 40 address to the people Of Tennessee,
isgre4 81 some q tn. leading in tue State, urg
ps he arued neutrality Of Tennessee and another
Senorat peeifcntion by the Border States. That the
mct,yes e those gentlemen are honest and patriots
lie No one viii question; but the history Of past eff
forts no, only teaches the utter hopelessness of any
furiher labor in the direction, but warns us
tha, such nn,riug perseverance may cast shadow
Of suspicion upon that manly independence and
high-oned honor for which the South is everywhere
distinguished The Border States have done enough
for peace. Their efforts, through Congress through
the Peace Conference, through Committeeman Com
missioners have sigpaIly failed and during the
whole time, thus spent the Black Republicans made
not one solitary proposiliontook not single step
towards AN honorable and satisfactory settlement
Shall we st play the suppliant, when we Should
stand erect clad in the armor of justice and the ka
bilAments of WARP Tie Northern Administration
never contemplated settlement. When they sent
= feet TO provision Sumpter, they knew that call
had been made for Border State Convention to
make one more effort for peace, but resolved that
there should lie no peace without submission they
treated that call with contempt and FASTENED to ini-
tiate war Lincoln in the face of the law and
the Constitution, is calling around him an army,
aud usrrping power nowhere conferred upon him,
is waging war upon sovereign States. All that "
has done is usurpaton and revolution, and shall$e
humbly eutreat him to desst, and stand idly by
whilst be butchers our moro Southern brethren?
For one we are tired of humble petitions and
Peace Conferences, and if there is to be peace let
the North asi. It, and then let it moi be granted ex-
Icep; upon the broad basis of equitable and eter
nal separation of the free and slave States An an
tagonism of twenty-five years embittered by blood
shed, an irrepresslble conflict between fanaticsm
the Que SIDE and simple justice the other forbid
the hope that the two sections again liye
together in peace. No two civilized people on esfth
are more dssimilar than those of the North fnd
South, or have fewer impulses and principles in
common. The one brave, generous, con6ding; the
other, calculating, suspicious and fanatical The
one, asking nothing but what is right and conce-
ding all that is just; the other asking all they can
get and concedng nothing they can hold. Differ
ing less widely in moral attributes thann social
and commercial habits there can be no Iympathy
between them since the only one that ever bound
them together common nationality-has been
sundered forever From them, we should ask and
desire nothing but peace and comfy, and that a
separate and distinct nation. Then away with ne
gotiaons for peace unless they originate with those
who have rejected our overtures with scorn and
contempt Away with the idea of armed neutral
ityi--rebels to the government at Washington we
are already shall defy and not dare to strike?
Such il not the spirit of Tennesseeans. Their foot
prints upon an hundred battle fields show no heels
towards the foe, and spot earth bears the i'm
press of their knees, in humble duplication for
peace at TIE hands of an enemy To avert the
the horrors of civil war, Tennessee has argued and
protested against the policy Of the tyrant who has
forced that war upon the South but the first blow
has been struck; the argument is closed, and the
gallant of Tennessee have no favors to ask and
none to grant Armed resstance-not neutrality
is their duty and their highest interest is speedy
and everlasting separation from the North.