Daily Nashville union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1862, 1862-05-25
serrors. We shall close

hllS aItlClt WIN an eAtAaSb AlOhA ANSChh
speech Of that able and conservative man,
Senator Wright, Of Indiana, on the Con-
fiscation bill as somewhat pertinent to
this matter:
have no patience for long disquisi-
tons upon the power of Congress TO pass
an act of confscation It is not denied
that we have the power to declare war
and to suppress rebellion, have we not
also the power for the vigorous and sue
cessful prosecution Of these objects? The
greater power certainly includes the less
er one. By depriving the rebels Of their
means of continuing this rebellion, we
60 a great way towards securing its ex-
tinotiOn. But away with these bubbles
about the cOnstitutionality of this pro-
position or that proposition. Instead Of
granting powers, and also affording all
the necessary means for their execution,
IL would seem to be the belief of those
VINO SO frequently advance the objection
of unconstitutionality that the Constitu-
\ tion has conferred powers never intend
ing they should be exercised; that it is
so fettePed as to be incapable Of making
a struggle for the preservation of the in
| tegrity of the Government to which it
gave birth. may say, sir, outside of all
questions of constitutiOnaity in times of
| great peril 10 our free institutions, when
recFeant and disloyal citizens6n large
portion of the country rise in rebellion,
spurn the Constitution, defy the laws,
and resist the authority of the Govern
ment, there is one duty supreme and abb
sOrbiRg, duty TO which all others are
subordinate-a,e duty of Self-preseyvatiOn,
the safety Of the Union from disruption, and
Of The constitution from GaniliLGtion. Eve
rything opposed to the existence of the
Government must be made TO yield, or
swept off with an iron hand. That the
Slate may 6ve, all minor considerations
must be neglected, all inferior interests
must perish.
/ wish to refer for moment, to the
character of the war in which we are
now engaged, in order that the mind may
not be led astray by citations from and
references to authorities which have and
can have no application to this subject
There are two kinds of war; the one /
may denOminate perfect war and the
other mixed war. A perfect war is
where one nation declares war against
another nation; and it has laws which
are as well understood, and which must
be adhered to as strictly, as any other
laws. A mixed war, on the contrary, is
a rebellion or instruction of portion of
the people of country against the Gov
eminent. 1t is against law, in defiance of
authority, and meets with no encourage
ment from the laws of nations. In per-
feet war, the citizens, or subjects of one
country are each and all the enemies of
the citizens or subjects with which it is
carrying on hostilities. They are so re-
cognized and so treated in the laws of
war. There is no exception. All those
owing allegiance to the one nation are the
foes of the other. It is far different in a
mixed war. In that case, the loyal citi-
zens are the enemies of the disloyal citi-
zens.
When we declare war against the re-
bellion in the South we do not declare war
against the States, nor against indepen-
dent natiOnalities. Our hOstilities are
only directed against those who have
taken up arms against the Government,
and those who render them assistance;
and the end which we seek is the sup
preston Of the instruction and the res
toratiOn of order. We do not declare
that the citizens of all the secession States
shall be considered as alien enemies; that
the innocent shall be involved in ruin
with the guilty; that there shall be no
/ discrimination between those who are
| loyal and those who are disloyal; but we
ask, and in no measure more plainly than
the one before us, that there shall be a
discrimination, that there shall be me-
thod of determining between the true
men and the false, and where we shall
intiict severe punishment and where ex-
tend the protecting help or the clemency
of this Government
A war, strictly speaking, is between
Independent powers. Its laws are a
tionai law, No single member of the
family of nations can establish, alter or
amend them; but a suggestion made by
one Power becomes, when approved by
others, g part of the code. Our present
contest may, on the contrary, as i have
said, be called a mixed war-One of the
parties standing to the other in the dou-
BILE relation of enemies and citizens. In
other words, it is mere multiplication
of crimes committed by individual citi-
zens until the attempt of the Government
to put them down has grown to the di-
mansions and assumed the name of a war;
which crimes may be dealt with In de-
tail under the names Of murder theft,
arson, as the case may be, or comprehend
ed under the name of treason, which ex-
presses the animus of the whole.
We see it stated that a German paper
annoEacs the formation in Berlin of a So
ciety fer the abolition Of Christianity.
We advise the Society to elect DR.. Meier