The daily bulletin. [volume] (Winchester, Tenn) 1862-1863, 1862-10-16
Address of the Hon. 7. A. r..
Nelson.
TO THE PEOPLE OF EAST TENNESSEE

Ill SuDSlullCc, lHul IL L iiuu SiiCNO ~ was thS
object of tho North to su~bjugate the South and
TO cmancipate our slaves, in violation OF the
Constitution, | would have gone as lar as the
fai thest in advocating resistance 10 the utmost
extent.
Ny attention has Just been called to a proc
lamation issued by the President of the United
States on the 22nd Sept, 1862, in which ne de-
clares that son the first day OF January, IN
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun
jdrcd and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves
within any State or any designated part OF a
state. the people whereof shall then be in re-
ballion again the United States shall be
thonccforwarl md forever free, and the eXecu-
dive uove-uuuaut OF The United States, inclu-
!liprth .%nilityr, and naval authority, will re-
! ~coguizc ans maintain the freedom OF such per-
sons, and will do no act or acts, to repress such
persons or any Of them, in any efforts they
may make for their actual freedom.
/ need scarcely remind you that enc 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 war,
thev might open the way for scrvile insurrcc-
ton and the overthrow of the institution Of
slavery. Ny opinion us to the demonstrations
ality and mpolicy of Secession remain UNI
changed, but inmy last speech in Congress, and
on various ether occasions; | have vindicated
and mai..!,iu d, and still maintain the right OF
yeroLtiOn. IA no occasion, however, did L
ever assert the doctrine that a violation Of the
Constitution by one party would authorize or
Justify si.ailar or other violations by the oppo-
sing party. The paramount causes which have
controlled and influenced my conduct and opln-
ions were love for the Union and an mistaken
confidence that we had the best government in
the world. But, of all the acts OF despotism
of which the civil war III which W c are now en-
cared has been the prolific source, there is not
one which in the slightest degree, equals the
~atrocity and barbarism of Mr.. Lincoln's proc
lamati0n. At one blow it deprives the citizens
of the slave States, without distinction, OF the
right to hold slaves, ii right guaranteed by the
very Constitution he ~pretends TO uphold. 1t is
true he makes an %intimatlon that he will re-
commend to Congress to provide just compen-
sation to the Union masters in the slave States.
but what right has he, or the government of
the United States, to deprive them OF this
property without their consent? And what
assurance have they that his vague and general
intimation will be applied to them, or that an
abolition Congress, rocking with the blood OF
the South, and jubilant in the possession Of
usurped power, will adopt his recommended
ton.
4 are in the midst of q sea Of difficulties.
Many acts have been done in the South to
which we were bitterly opposed as a people,
and which we who have adhered to the Union
in spite of perils and dangers, could not justify
or palliate. But the Cnlon men OF East Ten
ncisec are not and never were abolitionists.
The Union men of East Tennessee arc not now
and never have been committed to incenaiar-
ism and murder to which Mr.. Lincoln's procla-
nation leads. What, then, il the path Of duty
| in the trying circumstances watch surround us!
r Is it to belle al vur past professions and to
sustain Mr.. Lincoln's administration, right or
; wrong? Is i :, i's's'v n man, whom we had
9 no agency in .~'eynt,"s - power, rot only In
t abandor,Ls t.y Const' ltion OF the United
: States, but in repudiating the Chicago plat
form, his :; augural address ana messages to
Congress in which the absolute right to slavery
in the States where it exists was distinctly and
meouivocally conceded: Or is it, in view Of
= his many violations of the Constitution, and
Ills crowning act Of usurpation, to join that
) side which at present affords the only earthly
I hone of successful resistance!
= | am aware, my countrymen, that you will
J. find diff culties in bringing your minds to the
, same conclusion at which my own has arrived
. MANY wanton and unauthorized acts of cruelty
e and oppression have been perpetrated among
u YOU. which, instead Of changing your opinions,
- have only been calculated to asgravate anG
=. intensity a heroic principal of endurance
I slanv Of these acts have been committed IN re
g q mote places without the knowledge or appro
bation of the authorities at Richmond, or thos'
who have held the supreme command in Eas
Tennessee, and under such circumstances tina
YOU have felt it dangerous tocomplain. Grad
ually and slowly these outrages have at last be
come known, and in the very recent proclama
ton isued by Major General Jones, you hav
the assurance that your complaints will b
r heard, and the most energetic measures adop
ted to remedy the evils to which you have beel
o. subjected.
= Let not, then, a sense of private and presen
wrongs, blind you against the enormities al
a ready perpetrated, and still more seriously con
templated by Mr. Lircoln's administration
fla majority of the republican party hav
It been sincere in thcir professions of a determin
alton to respect the right of slavery in tn
' States, and if the right of freedom is not utter
Of " destroyed in the North, may we not hop
Ia that u spirit of resistance will be aroused i
that section, which, combined with the effort
y of the South, will hurl Mr.. Lincoln from pow
er, and even yet restore peace and harmony t