Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1861-10-18
GOVERNORS MESSAGE.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, |
NASHVILLE, Oct. Z, 1851.
Gentlemen Of The SeSates

| ana i9hSc y detpFe5cHhUOcss
Since the adjournment Of the last regulaf session,
1 | have deemed it my duty 10 the Legisa-
ture twice in extre session.
My messages to, and the legislation by those ex-
ira sessions will furnish fd information as 10 the
action Of the State in the most important period 10
Its history resulting in the resumption of her orig
nal sovereignty by the almost unanimous action Of
her people and union with the Government of
the Confederate States Of America
lmpeed to this action by "a long train OF abuses
and usurpations pursuing the same object" evnc-
ling settled purpose on the part Of those controll-
Ing the Federal Government to degrade the South
ern States below the level of equality depreciate
and destroy their property In open violation Of the
lplainest guarantees OF the Constitution leaving
those States no alternative but humlatng submis-
sion, or manly resistance to the tyranny Of usur-
patton. ~
! In contemplating the present condition Of the
lcouutry and the exciting and important events
4 which are now transpiring II may not be unprof-
table to review, briefly the history of the past and
follow step by step the progress Of that revolution
lin the public sentiment of the North which has cl
minated in the utter repudaton of those vital prn
lciples of personal freedom, political equality and
State sovereignty, upon which the union Of the
States was originally established.
AS our country expanded into the magnificent
proportions of a great empire, majority Of the
Northern people were dazzled by the opening splen
pride and satisfaction The development of gigan-
tic power capable of contending upon equal terms
with any nation of the Garth they overlooked the
important truth that this colossal Government was
indebted for its greatness TO the aggregated power
of the separate sovereign States which composed it,
developed by their respective local laws and insti-
{ tutions
Thecountry being naturally divided by geograpb-
ical dstinctons-di of pursuits ifsttn-
tions, local laws and diversity of interests-into
two great sections, upon the very instant when the
equality and sovereignty of the States were denied
by majority of The members composing the Con-
federacy, the tendency of the stronger section was
to widen the breach between them, and to etimu-
late sectional animorities in order that it might
seize upon the control of the power Of the General
!, Government.
The struggle for supremacy, therefore, was soon
narrowed down to contest between these two
great sections the South gallantly battling for the
fnaintanance of constitutional liberty State SOW
regnty and political equality, while the North dis
regarding these great cardinals sought to obtain
power and spoils upon their ruins.
In such a contest the victory at the ballot-bo4
necessarily Injured to that section which was num-
! ereally the stronger.
. ,The exclusion Of the Southern States from all
practical participation in the control of the General
Government was the immediate and unavoidable
consequence
Upon the election of President Lincoln Under
such auspices, the Southern people were left IL a
condition of dependence as hopeless as that held
10y their fathers when they occupied the position of
provincial subjects of the British Crown All po-
u sitions of influence and power in the Government
" at the disposal Of the Presidential Chief were i'm
mediately filed with those who were the most bit
ter and clainorous enemies Of the South. He who
had manifested the greaeest degree of yirulence
against the domestic institutions and well-delned
, constitutional righx Of tfe Sorthern States and
people. was regarded as possessing the hghestclaim
to Executive favor and patronage. What hope
could the Southern people indulge, for justice at the
hands of such rulers
}. The Congress which was in session at the inai-
guration of the President, enacted tariff law for
the undisguised purpose of transferring the earn
ings of the farmers and planters of the South into
the pockets of the manufacturers at the North.
The Executive, Legislative and Diplomatic func-
tions Of the Government were in the possession of
a party, backed by the power of a dominant sec
ton, declaring and inaugurating policy revou-
tonary in itself and destructive of the rights and
liberties of the people of the Southern States. aud
measures were in active progress to carry out their
ott-repeated threat to re-organze the Judiciary
as tc make that last and only bulwark of constitu-
tonal liberty subseryient 10 their selfish and sec
tiona purposes.
e Having exclusive control of the Government
II they refused to listen to any overtures the part
/ of the South for peaceful solution Of the difficult
ties and dangers which they had precipitated upon
the country In the blind wantOnness of sectional
J pride and imaginary power they haughtily refused
to entertain any terms of compromise or TO abate in
the smallest degree their arrogant pretensions.
They insultihgly proclaimed that the will Of a
majority was the viii of the Government and
hence the will of majority Of the people Of the
Northern States must be regarded the law of the
Union regardless of constitutional restrictions JUS
p tice and equality.
" Having exhausted every peaceful measure which
tho
in truitess efforts 70 induce this sectional party TO
pause in its career of unjust aggression, the people
OF the South, almost as one man, prepared to meet
the crisis as became the descendants of brave and
liberty-loving ancestry Eleven States Have re-
sumed the powers which they had delegated to the
General Government, and in the exercise of their
inaenable rights have united themselves together
and started upon their under the auspices
of new Conlederacy.
Our late associates, dissenting from our course,
and maddened by unexpected resistance TO their as
sumptions of authority, have hurled upon our un.
offending people their legons Of mercenary soldiers
In order TO bend the necks of the freemen of the
J, South to the CALLING yoke of military despotsm
Their President has officially announced through
the medium Of his message, the monstrous heresy
h that the several States of The Union are indebted tc
the Federal Government for their existence and the
duration Of their separate authority, in effect
signing 10 them the same relation TO the Union that
counties bear to States and ioreshadowing the pol
icy of consolidating such States rs submit TO il In
single sovereignty, while such as have the spirit tC
resist are TO be su6jugated and held as conquered
provinces.
Let us for a moment, SURVEY the humiliatins
:, spectacle which is presented by the present eondi
>, ton Of the people Of the North, who in their sui
cidal efforts to aid the drspotsm which has been es
tablished at Washington, haze suffered themselve
IL TO be despoled of the last vestge Of real liberty
on which they inherited from their fathers
IRE However bitterly the opponents Of the Republi
can party may have resisted its advent to power
who OF It's most determined enemies could have be
leved that within six mouths ater the inauguration
of their chosen President the freedom Of the Pres
would have been utterly aunhiated and the cir
'c cnlation of all newspapers through the mails prohh
itsd witch dared to question the wisdom OF hi
policy or his measures Who could have belieye