The dollar weekly bulletin. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1862-1864, 1862-10-30
OF Hon. T. A. II. Nelson TO inc
PEOPLE OfEast Tennessee.


object of the North to subjugate the South
and to emancipate our slaves, in violation OF
the constitution, would have gone as lar as
the farthest in advocating resistance to the
utmost extent
NV attention has Just been called to n proc
lamation issued by the President of the United
States on the 22d of September, 1862, in which
he declares that ''on the first day of January,
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and slxty-three, all persons held as
slaves within any State, or any designated
part ola State, the people whereof shall then
be in rebellion against the United States, shall
be henceforward and forever free, and the
executive government Of the United States,
including the military and naval authority,
will recognize and maintain the freedom OF
such persons, and will do no act acts to re-
press such persons, or any of them, in any
efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
need scarcely remind you that one of the
evils which | dreaded and predicted as the re
suits of the efforts which were made to dissolve
the Union was that, in the progress of the
war, they might open the way for servile in
surrection and the overthrow ofthe institution
of slavery. My opinions to the unconsti-
nationality and impolicy of Secession remain
unchanged; but in my last speech in Congress,
and on various other pnblic occasions, have
indicated and maintained, and still maintain,
the right of revolution. On no occasion, how
lation ofthe Constitution by one party would
authorize or Justify similar or other violations
by the opposing party. The paramount
causes'whIch have controlled or influenced
my conduct and opinions were love for the
Union and an mistaken confidence that we
had the best constitution and government in
the world. But, of all the acts of despotism
of which the civil war in which we are now
gagged has been the prolific source, there is not
one which, IN the slightest degree, equals the
atroclty and barbarism of Mr. Lincoln's proc
lamation.- AT one blow it depriyes all the citi-
zens of the slave States without distinction, of
the right to hold slaves-a right guaranteed by
the very constitution he pretends to uphold
1t is true, he makes an intination that he will
recommend to Congress to provide just COM
pensatlon to MON masters in the slave States;
but what right has he or the government of
the United States to deprive them of this prop
erty without their consent? And what assur-
ance have they that his vague and general in
timation Will be applied to them, or that an
abolition Congress, reeking with the blood of
the South, and jubilant in the possession of
usurped power, will adopt his recommends
ton?
We are in the midst ola sea of difficulties
Many acts have been done in the South to
which we were bitterly opposed as people,
and which we who have adhered to the Union,
in spite ofperils and dangers, could not justify
or palliate. But the Union men of East Ten
nessee are not now, and never were, Adolf
tionists. The Union men of East Tennessee
are not now, and never have been, committed
to the doctrines of incendiarism and murder
to which Mr.: Llncoln's proclamation leads
What, then, is the path of duty in the trying
circumstances which surround us? is it to be-
lie all our past professions and to sustain Mr.
Llncolns administration, right or wrong? Is
1t to Justify a man, whom We had no agency in
elevatinS to power, not only in abandoning
SIeao ,fY.ev< f.I.-
repudIating the Chicago platform, his inaugu-
raj address and messages to Congress in which
the absolute right to slavery in the States
where1texists was distinctly and unequivocally
conceded? Or is it, in view of his many viola
tions of the constitution, and this browning
act OF usurpation to join that side which at
present affords the only earthly hope of sue
cessful resistance?
L am aware my countrymen, that you will
find difficulties in bringing your minds to the
same conclusion at which my own has arrived
Many wanton and unauthorized acts of cru
city and oppression have been perpetratcd
among you, which, instead of changing your
opinions, have only been calculated to agra
yate and intensity heroic principle of endu-
rance. Many of these acts have been COM
mltted IN remote places, without the knOwl-
edge orapprObation of the authorities at Rich
mond, or OF those who have held the supreme
command in East Tennessee, and under such
circumstances that you have felt it dangerous
to complain. Gradually and slowly these cut
RACES have ut last beco known, and in the
very recent proclamation issued by Major
General Jones you have the assurance that
your complaints will be heard, and the most en-
ergetic measures adopted to remedy the evils
to which you have been subjected,
Let, not, then, a sense of private and pres
ent wrong blind you against the enormities
already perpetrated, and still more seriously
contemplated, by Mr.. Lincoln's Administra-
ton. II a majority of the Republican party
have been sincere in their professions of a de-
termination to respect the right of slavery in
the States, and if the light of freedom is not
utterly extinguished in the North may we not
hope that spirit OF resistance will be aroused
in that section, which, combined with the ef-
forts of the South will hurl MIR. Lincoln from
power and even YET restore peace and harmony
TO our distracted and DIVIDED country? But If,
through fear or any other cause, Mi. Lincoln
Infamous proclamation is sustained then we
have no Union to hope for, no Constitution to
struggle for, no magnificent and unbrOken her.
itage to maintain, no peace to expect, save
such as with the blessing of Providence we
may conquer. The armies which have been
sent near you to tantalize you with hope have
been Withdrawn, and, with cool audacity, Mr..
Lincoln virtually tells you that you have no
rights. No alternative remains but to choose
the destiny which an arrogant and unprinci
pied administration forces upon US.
Its almost Unnecessary to declare to you that
l adhered to the Union amidst good report and
evil report, suffering and danger, while it was
IN my power to support it, and that, when my
efforts were paralyzed and my voice silenced
by causes beyond my control, have cherish
cd the hope that all might yet be WE'LL but