The eastern clarion. [volume] (Paulding, Miss.) 1837-1863, 1861-04-12

his Constituents.
TO my fcllo1c-eitizens of the Tenth CoHgTes-
sioHaL District of Tennessee:
am daily solicited by many partial
friends from different portions of the dis
trict again to be candidate for Congress.
As l had some time since determined,
under no sort of circumstances to be a
candidate for reelection, deem it my
duty to make some public expression of
this fixed purpose, in order that you may
seek another servant.
Keenly alive as | am and will ever be
to the honor and interests of my native /
State, and especially that portion OF it in
which my life has been spent and my foT-
tunes cast, | trust | will be pardoned for /
addressing to you a few words. Since |
left you, but little more than three |
months ago, to take my seat as your rep |
resentative in the Congress of the then |
United States of America, events have |
transpired moro momentous than any |
which have ever happened in our history |
since the foundation of our Government. |
Seven of the Sovereign States of this |
Union have seen fit to sever their connec- |
tion from the Federal Government, and |
to set up for themselves separate, dis |
AAhONs anu III lly OHAiAAOhS q pCAhlouCnt
nationality. As to the causes which i'm |
PEELED them to this separation it is not !
necessary now to speak. 1t is enough to |
know that this Union is absolutely and |
Internationally dissolved, and that there
are now in actual existence, with full
functions and powers as such, two COM
| plete COnfederacies-a Northern and q
Southern. The history of the world, from
its foundation to the present time, fur
nishes to it no parallel-without the she'd
ding of one drop of blood, by the voice
alone Of free and independent people,
another and powerful Republic, as if by
magic, has been peacefully spoken into
being, soon to take its place issll 2apQplied
among the natiOnalities of the earth.
Superior statesmanship has stamped its
empress upon every act of the Congress of
| the Confederate States. Their Constitu-
tion stands out to all the civilized world
the acknowledged work of consummate
wisdom. Had the provisions it contains
been implanted in the old one, this Gov
ernment might, and doubtless would have
been perpetual. That these States intend
to maintain their position, at all peril.
amongst the principalities and powers of
the world, no sane man can now for a
moment doubt. The thirteen Colonies,
when they parted from Britain and sealed
their solemn separation with the blood of
a seven years war, meditated as much
the idea of Reconstruction" as do these
seeded States. These are no longer mat
ters of speculation and cavil for the timid
and doubling. but great, existing, start
ling facts, and as such it is our duty to
deal with them.
In letter to my constituents, written
from Washington, some two months or
more ago, before these occurrences, so
rapidly transpiring, had so fully developed
hemselves-whilst they were yet in pro-
spective-I ventured an opinion as to the
position Tennessee should take, with some
reasons therefor. l shall not now reca-
pitulate them.
The events of each succeeding day
only serve to confirm me in that most sin
cere and solemn judgment. Her true po-
sition is immediate and unqualified union
with the Southern States. 1t is her right
full and proper place. Her every interest,
: agricultural, commercial and mechanical,
demand it. Agricultural, because the
surplus products of every farm find q
, market in the South. In the South alone
do the farmers and stock-raisers of Ten
nessee sell their corn, wheat, oats, hay,
horses, mules, cattle and hogs. CONNER
cial because the chief trade of her heavy
T merchants is to the South. Mechanical,
f because every mechanic and manufacture
er, by being a member of the Southern
! Confederacy, makes himself there by q
: YaoHopoist in his branch ofindustry where
: as, by remaining in the old Union, he is
forced to be a competitor of the cheaper
: labor of the North in all the avenues of
art. The mechanics and manufacturers,
2 of all people, are most Immediately and
directly interested in uniting with the
: Southern Confederacy. II we of the
+ South-I mean the remaining border
I States-could get every guaranty that
. justice and equality might demand upon
, the question of slavery, powerless, as we
a now are, and ever would be in the Gov
: ernment, the hostile legislation of the
' North alone upon the mere questions OF
+ political economy, would make it ruinous
q for us to remain with them. There Nor
e rill tariffs. fishing bounties, Northern Pa
f cifc railroads, Northern Mail Steamer
> lines, with every other conceivable scheme
: speculation and plunder which we would
be utterly powerless to resist, would con
stitute sufficient causes for separation. II
would place us powerless in a state Of alb
, solute vassalage. / have already felt
s this humiliating helplessness in my place
i upon the floor Of Congress, too keenly to
g covet it again. But when coupled with
l. this grinding, crushing legislation upon
" matters of mere public policy, you see 9
:, determined and unbending purpose Il
e strike down and destroy that institution
7, of the South of which she is justly ieal
II Gus, what hope have you TO remain in
e such a Union? You will be cut off forever
d from all power of expansion. l am al
ardent advocate of the advancement o
W our institutions. / want to belong to tina
: Government which looks South and no
ie North for the peaceful spread of empire
20 The appointments of Cassius NJ. Clay a
y Minister to Spain, and Corwin to Mexico
o are at this moment ominous signs, por
O. tending no good to the South, as to Cub
le and Mexico.
NV fellow-citizens | thought when
stood upon the floor Of the America
y Congress and put the standard of Ter
nessee upon the question of Southern
rights up to the point of her own resolT
1t tions, that had warrant for taking q
IN least step as bold as that but | mus
acknowledge to modification most deeE
d, when Black Republican arrogance, an
I'd inflated insolence triumphantly flauntedi i
1t the face of Southern Representatives tn
as subsequent vote of Tennessee as a proc
es that Andrew johnson and Emerson Ethe
s; ridge were the true types Of Tennesse
"a sentiment, and that those who battled 10
le your rights against the black cohorts 9
'e Abohtionism, misrepresented you. VIII
N a firm purpose, yet within wounded pflds
le ! still denied it. do not yet bellev
ID that the true voice Of Tennessee in tina
re vote was spoken. That vote was give
r under the press of peculiar circumstances
to and will yet be reversed.
~ Every so-called compromise and measur
y Of adjustment was then pending: IN
Committee of Thirty-three, the borde
State propositions, the Crittenden resoir
IN tions, the Peace Congress, were all goin
he to save the country. The people wer
ne promised a speedy settlement from tnes
ed sources, of all their difficulties. The
ho were told that the Black Republican part
ne would give and grant to them all thos
et Constitutional guarantees which the mos
Ir. devout Union-loving man and conservl
n tive then clamored for. These have q
Sc siqnally, ANONYMOUSLY failed as kne'
Of thew would. Propositions, one after an'
lis ther. in Senate and House. we're indil
tv nantly spurned. Even that poor abortio
IA. of the Peace Congress brought forth atte
ed almost q months parturihon, was COZ
tsmptuously thrust nom the threshold [