The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-08-06
~ From The Baltimore Clipper
Itch lera for tho ConnIIInfion


Were Il not for impudenoe Of the thing
il would be amusing to hear the seces-
sionists pirate about the violations Of the
Constitution, on the part Of the officers Of
the government, in their efforts 10 put
down the rebellion. The very men who
to-day may be denouncing the Union
and the government, which are the fruits
Of the Constitution, and by which il
alone can be maintained--Who are de-
claring in fact, that we hare no GDveyn.
ment that the Union Is oone,--when In
trouble and ,hey begin 10 find that there
IS government, under that constitution,
able and ready to punish the violators Of
law, are loud in their claims for the
benefits afforded under it,--they then
raise that their rights have been invaded,
and that the constitution is violated, which
they are striving with all their might 20
destroy Such eonsummate impudence
was probably never before exhibited, as
is presented in the case Of these traitors.
Men who, with arms in their hands,
are caught in the very act Of attempting
the moral murder of the constitution,
and uniting with the intended literal as
okaaAAAa VI tttN EAENullNt WIN Is bWAEn 10
protect and support that constitution,
attempt to raise terrible hue and cry,
If they are placed in durance vile for
their great crime, and are refused the
privilege of renewing their ontrages
against the country.
Gov. Pierpoint of Western Virginia, in
his letter to the late monster war meeting
at New York, takes hold of this subject
and shows the hypocrisy Of these traitors,
who would trample under their feet q
thousand constitutions, If they stood in
the way of accomplishing the object of
the getters-up of this rebellion. Those
who had no word of condemnation for
the violence upon the constitution and the
laws Of the land, on the 10Th Of April,
were Mortified when traitors were denied
the use Of the huJeas corpus, and lifted up
their hands with holy horror at the pro-
fessed proclamation of the constitution -
and these same men have been heard to
exult in the supposed defeat of those who
have left everything dear 10 man to de-
fend the constitution and their country
from the traitors in arms who have inn
perilled the very existence of bothl Mr..
Pierpoint In his letter gives Mr. JefIer-
sons views upon the subject before US,
and surely no one can doubt that Mr.,
Jefferson understood the nature of the
constitution, and the duties of those who
are sworn to "protect and defend" it which
in an especial and peculiar manner is
made the duty Of the President. He
says: erat
Mr.. Jefferson has given us advice, in
tended, doubtless, for occasions like the
present. lie says: "a strict observance of
the written law is doubtless one of the
highest duties of good citizen; but not
the highest. The law of necessity, self
preservation, or saving our country when
in danger, are of higher obligation. To
lose our country by a scrupulous adher-
enco to written law, would be TO lose the
law ITSELF with life, liberty, property, and
all those who are enjoying them with us;
thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the
means Here is a chart made for the
occasion by one who cOmprehended our
institutions and the enornities of rebel
lion"
The following eloquent and truthful
remarks of Gov. 2. will find response
in the hearts of every loyal man:
"SiX months before the breaking out
Of the rebellion, all that portion of our
country outside of the rebel States was
the most prosperous and happy people on
the face of the earth. But the rebels,
like Haman, borne down by the weight
of their own impotency, envious of their
more prosperous neighbors, conceived the
scheme of taking from us, by inaugu-
rating this rebellion, the glorious inheri-
lance of our fathers, purchased by their
blood freely spilled upon an hundred
battle fields. We owe it to ourselves, to
posterity, to the sacred memory Of our
fathers, 10 mete TO them Haman's fate.
To do this, we should be as economical
as possible Of the lives of the loyal SOL
diers, and provide bountifully for those
going to the field and for those they leave
behind.
"Say TO them when they go: Use all
the means God, and nature, and circum-
stances have put in your power TO sup
press the rebellion and punish traitors
Rebels property in the rebel sense of the
word, Of whatever kind, sensible or in
sensible, should be made to contribute TO
the suppression of the rebellion in any
manner that it can be made available. +
"This war has been inauguratcd and
prosecuted by the rebels without refer
ence to the rights OF Union men. 1t is
not for them to claim Constitutional
guarantees. They have no rights under
the Constitution, save the inliction of
the penalty of their crimes. They have
grown insolent by their dominion over
their slaves, until they have adopted as
their political axiom, that slavery is the
normal condition of the working classes
Upon that principle they are attempting
to build their empire, This is in dero-
cation of English liberty and American
liberty, and Of all that has raised the
Anglo-Saxon race TO its greatness in this
country and in Europe. 1t is an attempt
TO degrade every free laboring man in the
nation not only the native born, but the
German and Irishman, who seek an
asylum in this land OF the free, are de-
nounCed as only iii for slaves"