Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-02-08
Pause and Reflect.

Pause and Reflect.
If you have not tim. to give the following
suggestions cool and dispassionate eonsid-
Grafton this morning, We beg you to lay aside
the paper, aud when you have left the tolls
and cares of the day and gone to your bone
then, surrounded by your family, read them,
and give them the benefit Of your serious
thought
You have often mingled in heated partisan
strife, and you have seen your favorite men
or your cherished views of political policy
alternately rise and fall at the ballot box.
You have felt deeply and earnestly in these
contests. and have experienced. in all their
power, the joys of triumph and the ehagrin
of defeat. And on the day after, you have
risen from your slumbers, and pursued your
daily avocations, with the government still
extending its protection to you. Perhaps
you have seen your government in wars with
foreign nations, and have marched under its
banner in its defence. If So you have never
seen its fag trail in the dust Of defeat You
have always marched TO victory, and after
seeing your couniry's honor and right vindi-
Gated, you have returned to your homes in
the midst of the plaudits and ovations Of
your grateful countrymen. You have wit
messed its power and its greatness under all
the circumstances of both peace and war. You
have never seen il until now disunited and
distracted. You have witnessed lis strength
and enjoyed its manifold blessings. At all
times and everywhere it has been your i'm
penetrable shield aud uufailing defence.
But now the scene is shifting. The very
existence of this government is in issue
You no longer struggle for party or party
men or measures. The period has arrived
when partitanship and patriotism imply an
tagonistic ideas. You must answer to youT
wives and children, aud to every love and
every interest you have and cherish. whittier
you will perpetuate the government given
you By the sires of the great American
Revolution. Whether you will now, uD-
der existing circumstances, aid in in
augurating revolution to overthrow
that government Whether you will con-
tribute your individual part of the ag-
gregate sovereignty of the American peo-
pie to throwing it off and TO substituting in
its stead, one Of which you know nothing?
These questions are to be answered at The
ball0t-box tomorrow. The insignificant
scrap of paper which you will hand TO the
receiver of votes, may be of greater impOr-
lance to you and your children than any
conveyance of your entire worldly estate
would be. Nay, it may be worth your life
itself. For, IN cur estimation, disunion,
which is oyerthrowiDg the government,
which is revolution, is war. 1t may be that
the reader and the deeply concerned writer
of this appeal, may be alike involved in that
war. should it be brought upon Us, and both
may perish together. Who can tell? If it |
be possible to avoid it, let it by all means be
avoided. We appeal not to the fears of any
man. We trust that neither we nor any
reader who may concur in our views of these
questions and participate with US in our deep
devotion to the American Union. are not in
fuenced by any cowardly motive. On the
contrary, if the course of events should re-
suit in disruption and revolution, We believe
the present friends Of the Union viii be full
as swift in vindicating, at the lannon's
mouth, the honor aud rights of Tennessee.
as any of those who manifest the greatest
impotence with the existing government,
and are the most eager for its destruction.
But war is the very last arbitrament that
should be resorted to TO settle interstate diff
ferences. The indestructible principles of
justice and right imperatively require that
all other remedies shall be exhausted before
an appeal to the sword. As State and as a
people we have not obeyed that requisiticn.
We have to do that yet. Our self-respeci
aud q decent regard for the subject ITSELF
and for the opinions of the civilized world
and OF posterity, require that it shall be
done with a deliberation aud with a dignity
bearing some proportion to the magnitude of
the questions involved.
We desire to make no false impression up-
on the mind of any one on this grave and
momentous subject. There is undoubtedly a
just ground OF the most serious complaint
against the sectional party which has gained
the ascendancy in the late Presidential strug.
gle. They received no votes from our peo
pie. And although they were successful nm
der the Constitution and cannot be opposed
or resisted on that ground, yet their princi-
Piles and purposes, as avowed by their most
conspicuous leaders, are inimical to the
letter and spirit of the Constitution. We
cannot oppose the Inauguration of any one
thus chosen to the Chief Magistracy of the
Union, without ourselves violating the Con
stitution; but we can oppose any measure
brought forward by his administration in
fringing the constitutional rights of cur PEG.
pie in any form, in such way and to such ex
tent as shall be effective in averting the
wrong about to be done, or in relieving our
selves of il, after IL is done. This we are
prepared to do, and will do. Upon this sub
ject, discardins the subtle and timerous no.
lions of secession, of ignominicus fight from
rights and interests which are ours by the
conditions of our birth. we plant ourselves
on the bill of rights OF the State OF Tennes
see, wherein It is declared:-"That all power
il inherent In the people. and all free gov
ernments are founded on their authority. and
inssituted for their peace, safety and happi-
,ness; for the advancement of those ends, they