Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-03-21
An Appeal on B ehalf Equality and
Union.

An Appeal on B ehalf Equality and
Union.
Deeply impressed with the grave issues
which environ us-deeply sorrowing for thai
necessity which seems to US to render it &
duty-we, the Women of many sections o.
our common country, would essay to appsa
to you to-day. We deem apologies unneces
sary, since we assume naught save thai
which God and Nature have vouchsafed u
us-the right to love our country, and to say
to those who are her true patriots, sou,
hearts are with you" We come-bidden by
duty-saying to you prayerfully and fearful
sly, " GiUe US back cur Country"
Aswomen, we indulge in no denunciations.
Woman may storm the soul; to do that, she
need not stun the ear 1t is not hers to
speak the language whose every sentence
holds sneer, or strikes a blow Hers is the
'still small voice '-hcr lips are the CLAW
Of kindness" Here, TO the scenes of high
debate, comes the voice of Woman from the
shades of Home-but comes only like the
breath of the " sweet South /" comes like
the soft triIling of some lonely bird amid the
tempest; and miDgles with the laundering
bravurss of oratory, its cadence so lowly
and SO loving-so musical and yet so melan-
choly. That voice speaks to you to-day, be-
cause by the very name of American aromen,
We are entitled TO suffer with our brothers,
or to triumph with them, as the case may be.
For either event We must hold ourselves in
readiness. Well We know that if our coun-
try goes down to dissolution and death, who
are to be the greatest sufferers-if our Con-
stitution can be maintained in its full integ-
rity, who are to be the chosen recipients of
its blessings As women, we are more pro-
foundry Interested in the triumph of Right,
and the defeat of Wrong, than it is possible
if we have not more to gain by the one, we
have more, much more. to lose by the other
Man may attain to place and power amid
revolutions; but the highest destiny of Wo-
man can only be fulfilled under the egis of
good government, and settled social Or
ganization. These, therefore, which we have
hitherto enjoyed, we come now TO require at
your hands We come from many sections
yet our minds and hearts are character
lied by cosmopolitan citizenship-in the
ever to be remembered words OF another,
and a greater, We ssknow no North, no
South, no East, no West but one common
Country" We, who are of the South, are
none the less Southern in that we are not
shaoa of h0 of
are none the less national in that we are
Northern. We look at the one great ques-
ton of to-day-UNIos, or DIsUNIoN - from
no sectional standpoint we look from the
centre of things, from the heart of our coun-
try-its HOMES. From thence we view both
the South and the North, we take in the
Past, the Present, and the Future; we re-
gard both the Old World, and the New
and more, we regard the fiat of that History
which is to record your actions, and forget
ours, when the spring violets bloom over the
dead hearts of both. Personally unknown
to you, we are yet American women-your
sisters-children of the same country, CO.
heirs with you in the rich heritage of 50 Lii
berty and Union" That heritage, rightful-
ly belonging to US, and to our children, we
are not yet prepared to resign. Others may
fling it from them, as thing of little worth
but as for us, We gather it all the more
closely to our hearts, as our best and high
est hope, next TO that of Heaven. Among
US there are those whose fathers fought for
Charleston in her day of trial; those whose
grandsires stood by Boston in her hour of
fearful need; some whose noble ancestry re-
claimed from the wilderness the Land of
Penn" the "Old Dominion and the Ozark
and Bloody Ground" the kindred blood of
some was poured OUT bravely at Brandy
wine, and the same lifetide which now kin
dies in the veins of others, crimsoned with
the flush of victory the rocks of Cerro Cor
do, and the heights of Chepultapec. These
were our fathers and our brothers; and ahi
the mothers and the sisters of that by-gone
dsy-what did they? They lived their lives
Of self abnegation, they wept their tears,
they prayed their prayers for US; and now
they realize the promise, "There remaineth,
Simple and humble, you may regard them,
but to US their memories are as great and
grand as are those Of the men who now
stand like statues Of Victory and Valor upon
the pedestals of the world. On their proud
hearts the word America" was struck by
the tremendous die Of Revolution. and they
have transmitted it to ours. Queen of
England once declared that when she died.
the name Of lost city would be found en-
craven on her heart. But the name stamped
into ours Is not that of a solitary city, or
even of q solitary section; it is the name of
our whole country, one and undivided. We
are, therefore, not prepared to resign without
another struggle, this Unborn impress of our
nationality. 1t is branded deep into our
souls, where NO erasing hand can ever reach
it We would say to you-prayerfully.
tearfully-"Do not attempt it," We plead
for it IS for more than life, or love. or
liberty; for to us il is all Of these, and more.
Driven az il were by a necessity that knows
no Law, we appeal to you in behalf of our
nationality. No maid of Athens, though
standing in the shadow of her Parthenon,
ever felt rs we do, under the grand arches
Of our free institutions; no Spartan mother,
Rirding her sons for battle, ever felt the
sting Of Q stimulus Like this stimulus
which eoads ~ onward to the question,