Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-08-31
fFrsm the Cincinnati Daily Press
The Insurrectfonary Idea--The New
York Independent.

fFrsm the Cincinnati Daily Press.l
The Insurrectfonary Idea--The New
| York Independent.
| The New York Independent is now devotine
| itself almost exclusively to the enterprise OF
compelling the Government to make war d.
rectiy upon slavery. Its editor and its stated
contributors, among whom are several wri
| tiers of unusual vigor, appear to have turned
| their attention to this subject, with a view to
create q current of popular feeling which the
| Administration will be unable to resist The
| measure which they propose is. that the Pres
| ident shall, by proclamation, declare freedom
| to the slaves of the South, and invite them to
rise and take possession of and defend their
| liberties. EE
The papers, editorial and communicated
of the Lldepa7dezf, are written by clergymen;
| in most cases by men of known eminence in
their profession The Lsdspcndnt enjoys a
| wide circulation, and no public journal in the
United States, perhaps. exerts an influence
more extensive. Its writer's speak with Off
cial authority, and to many thousan their
opinions have all the force of divine oracIes
There is, therefore, to such as would not ap-
prove of the measure proposed, reason to
dread its influence
1t may be said, to the credit of the Lnde-
pendent, that they show no disposition to I'M
derrate the consequences of the measure they
propose. Indeed, it Is for its presumed de-
structive effects that they propose it, They
virtually admit that the effect of the proceed.
ing Will be to open the way to a war of races.
IN The progress of which one race must be to-
tally, and the other nearly exterminated-a
war Ia which there can, from the nature of
the case, be no quarter given or asked; which
shall discriminate neither in respect to age
or sex, and which must include in its destruc-
ton, everything that either party can hold
dear or valuable. They do not deny that this
Is what they intend to substitute 10 the place
OF the present conditions; but on the contrary.
profess to believe that the war is means in
stituted by divine Providence. with a special
view to bring about the change which they
desire.
What an argument an infdel might make
against religion from the cruelty of its min
listers In all ages of the world, and in all
forms OF religion, the Priest has been cruel
The smell of blood in his garments. which he
caught at the altar where human victims
were inundated when the world was new,
still remains to stimulate his appetite. A
man may be tenderly nurtured and politely
educated; he may eat of the delicatest and
recline upon the downiest; be may have soft
white hands, ahd gentle voice, and be the
oracle of society, the center of public admi-
ration, and the especial agent of God upon
earth, and yet be barbarian. 1t is an awful
fact that they who invariably give the cruel
est counsels are they who profess to speak in
the name of the most merciful of beings
Where are we to go for an explanation of so
frightfui an anomaly?
The dominant idea in the minds of the wri-
tiers OF the Lndependsnt evidently is this: that
the troubles into which the country is plung
ed must be taken advantage of to put an end
to slavery, or a settlement by division will
take place, through which their occupation, as
wi ha for
While, therefore, they exaggerate by every
effort OF perversion and amplificatiOn, the
dangers that beset the country, and the evils
that must spring from division, they present
emancipation by force as the only possible
resource. They insist that, to subdue the
South by the processes of ordinary warfare,
is utterly impracticable-tha to conquer a
brave and determined people on their own
soil, however great the disparity of numbers
and means, never has been done; and that
we have no reason to suppose that it will be
our lot to do what so many others have failed
to accomplish.
The writers of the Independent refuse to con-
slider, under any imaginable contingency, the
question of a division and separate indepen-
dence; and correspondent is editorially re-
buked for communication, admitted through
inadvertence, in which was presented the al
tentative, Separation or Emancipation"
They hold that in the contest that is now GO
ing on. the North or the South, one or the
Other, must conquer; that the war must be
carried on against slavery as long as there is
a weapon to lift, or hand to lift it; and,
substantially, that if the North cannot con-
quer the South, the conquest of the North by
the South is the next thing in the order of re-
suits, to be desired.
We are. therefore, called upon to consider
the probable efficacy of the means proposed
and advocated with go much vigor and force
OF language by the entire editorial and sub
editorial staff OF an influential and widely
circulated newspaper, as the only ones by
which there is even remote probability that |
the Government will succeed in what it has
Whatever may be the actual |
effect OF the measure, in case it should be
adopted, 1t is. to them, through a serVile war
and its attendant horrors, the single and only |
solution of our difficulties; and if it should
happen to fail to call servile war into being, |
then the case of the Government, as they un-
derstand it, is hopeless, and we may look
upon ourselves as a conquered people.
We may therefore consider, for this Occa-
sion only, that the cause of Government, law |
and civil liberty, in the Northern States, |
hang upon the question; What will be the |
effect OF a proclamation by the President of |
the United States, declaring that the slaves |
of the Southern States are free, and no longer |
under obligation to serve their masters. 1t |
will be admitted that the proclamation can |
be carried into effect by force no faster than |
our armies progress into the territory of the |
rebels; Its efficiency in aid of the cause of the
Government will consist in its power to ex- |
cite insurrectiOnary movements in advance |
of our columns; and that therefore if it does |
not excite such movements, the plan may be |
considered as having failed, and the cause of |
civilization be set down as ruined
We are inclined to believe that procla- |
nation by the President of freedom to the |
slave would produce about as much disturb
ance in the seeded States as his recent pro-
of day of fasting and prayer did |
n the loyal ones. The insurrectionary spir-
I, if any exists, wonld not be perceptibly
increased OF diminished by it. The negroes
believe more now of the benevolent intentions
If the Government than they could be in
ormed in innumerable proclamations. II
hey are DESTROYS, as it is supposed they are,
o rise, it is not proclamations that they
want, but opportunity. Every day develops
evidence that the South has gone into this af
air with full moral preparation to meet all
Is ext gencies, from whatever quarter they
nay come. 1t has been, thus far, able to out
lumber the forces of the Government in any
ield OF operations; and there is no reason to
suppose that it has not men and women
enough left al home To see to its domestic
citations.
We say, them that 1t will not do for the
Government to rely upon emancipation pro-
.lamations to reduce the South to obedience.
f this great work-the heaviest contract that
las been undertaken by any Government of
modern times-is to be accomplished, force
lirectly applied is the only means upon
which dependence can be placed. War must
,e made as one nation or people makes war
lpOn another. We have been prone to look
It the weakness of the South, and to rely
lpon that rather than upon our own strength
or victory. 1t is true that this was discon-
ipued Whether the South has or has not