Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-06-23

Tempt was made to obtain few score recruits in
tne United States for war against asdespotic and
sheroaening power--if they will call to mind how
nAIIuly lney bore upon Us in that moment of our
| ~ea.oAIrAssment, ~ and how severely they insisted
upon the inu punishment of the fault Committed
oy one .. our subOrdinates, they will then, we
think, see now much more friendly and consilerate
mas been cur silence under so serious breach eff
We have heard Of no d.olomat;c rarnonst-.nea an
our part, nor OF any proclamation of these rDercen-
aries. Like all men who shed blood IN a cause with
which they have no natural connection. espec;sIiv-
when they take that stronger and richer side to
which extraneous aid is not Of absolute neeess;tv
these foreign legions find no favor in the ewes ~
their countrymen, and are likely to receive more
maledictions than blessings from home; but we
have prosecuted no American Consul in the courts
Of Canada, and we have threatened to send away
no American Minister from London. When we
were al war with Russia America supplied our
enemy with war steamers SO ostentatiously, that
one Of them, in which the Russian Plenipotentiary
lately disported himself in the China seas, was
named the America"
Now, If we had been inclined to follow such an ex-
ample, We might very likely have got good price
for a fleet Of steamers from the Southern Confed-
eraey, and might have found such occupation for
the Northern navy that there would have been no
danger OF cotton famine in Lancashire. All this
we might have done, and much more and if we had
done it we might have provoked some such language
of menace that now held, although we could not
even then have been accused of doing than re-
turning evil for evil.
But We. on the contrary, have done none Of these
things. We have returned good for evil. We have
not only made formal proelamatious against all in
reference in this melancholy conflict, but we have
addressed ourselves in good faith and with hearty
goodwill to the prevention Of any privateers going
forth from our dockyards. We have issued orders
all over the world that no corner, Of the earth
where the British flag flies shall give shelter to the
armed vessels of either of these two belligerent
parties or shall aid them to dispose Of their prizes
or their plunder. We have not only done these
state acts, but we have aided them with the full
force of our public opinion. Nothing would be
more unpopular in England at this moment than
any interference with this quarrel
sovereign democracy Of federal republics pun
ishing and eonquering rebel democracy Of eonfed-
crate republics may appear strange to the ears Of
students of public law but we have it before
q fact and as q fact we must deal with it. The
words rebellion" and loyalty" when used to indi-
cate the action of independent States Joined togeth
er by contract which derived its validity from
each individual assent, fall strange upon mind ac-
customed to accept the characteristics Of fixed
forms of government, as they have been made fa-
miar TO US by the old writers but here we have
them in use just as we have in Austria or Russia.
If, however, we stretch the right Of sovereignty
to the utmost, Washington can have no fairer title
to sovereignty over Montgomery than the King of
Naples had over Sicily, and Commodore Tstnall
who is the only American who ever yet came to US
in difficulty to prove to that blood is thicker
than water" is, when he goes aiOat certainly not
more of pirate than WAS Garibaldi. As we treat
ed Garibaldi so must we treat Commodore Tatnall.
As we respected the blockade OF the feet CT the
King of Naples. shall respect the blockade of
the Southern ports by the fleets of the North and
as we respected the belhgerent rights Of the con-
queror of Palermo, who was really at that moment
not very distinguishabe from corsair, so we must
most certainly respect the belgerent rights Of eeT-
en- regularly constituted States.
Ii is quite absurd in the Northern States to expect
US to take part in this quarrel, and it is rather
sign of imbecty to suppose their scoding can affect
us. When, if ever, they proclaim the abolition Of
slavery throughout the Union, they will have all
our sentiment on their side. But we have heard no
whisper of this hitherto. In other matters we have
more reason to regret our separation from our Gus
toners of the South than from the protectionsts of
Philadelphia. But they are both, and they are all
our friends, and almost our countrymen; and our
plain duty to do justice to both by holding strictly
to neutral rights and relaxing them to the detri
ment of neither.