Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1862-10-17
ADDRESS OF HON. T. A. R. NELSON.
TO THE PEOPLE OF EAST TENNESSEE.

3Oth of Nav 1851, declared, IN substance, that II
had believed it was the object of the North to sub
dugate the South and to emancipate our slaves, in
violation of the Constitution, would have gone as
far as the farthest In adVocaung RESISTANCE U LUG
utmost extent -
Nv attention has Dust been called to proclama-
ton issued by the President of the United States on
the 22d of September, 1862, in whCh he declares
that Ion the first day of January, in the year of
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty
three all persons held slaves within any State, or
any designated part of State, the people whereof
shall then be in rebellion against the United States,
shall be thenceforward and forever free, and the
executive government of the United States, inclu-
ding the military and naval authority, will recog
MIC and maintain the freedom Of such persons and
will do act or acts to suppress 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 results OF the
efforts which were made to dissolve The Union, was
that in the progress of the war, they might open
the way for servie insurrecton and the overthrow
of the institution of slavery. My opinions as TO
the unconstitutionality and impOlicy OF secession
remain unchanged hut in my last speech in Con-
gress and on various other public occasions, have
yindicated and maintained and still maintain, the
right of revolution. On no occasion, however, did
Il ever assert the doctrine that violation of the
fy similar or other violations by the opposing party
The paramount causes which have controlled or in
tuenced my conduct and opinions were love for the
5Uninn and an mistaken confidence that We had the
best Constitution and government in the world
But of all the acts of deSpotiS of which the civil
war in which we are now engaged has been the pro-
life source there is not one which, in the slightest
degree, equals the atrocty and bar0ariSm of Mr..
Lincoln's proclamation. At one blow, it depriyeS
all the citizens of the slave States without distnc
ton of the right to hold slaves-aright guaranteed
by the very Constitution ne pretends to uphold
1t is true he makes an intimation tina: he will re-
commend to Congress to provide just compensation
to 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 con-
sent? And what assurance have they that this
vague and general intimaton will be applied to
them, or that an abolition Congress, reeking with
the blood of the South, and jubilant in the posses
sion OF usurped power, will adopt his recommen-
'dation?
We are in the midst of a 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 of perilS and
dangers could not justify palliate. But the Union
men of East Tennessee are not now, and never were
Abolitionists. The Union men of East Tennessee
are not now, and never have been committed to the
doctrines of incendiarism and murder to which Mr..
Lincoln's proclamation leads. What, then, is the
path of duty in the trying circumstances which
surround US? Is it to belle all our past professions
and to sustain Mr. Lncons administration, right or
wrong? Is it to justify man, whom we had no
agency in eevating to power, not only in abandon
ing the Constitution of the United States but in
pudating the Chicago platform, his inaugural ad.
dress and messages to Congress in which the absO
lutte right to slavery in the States where it exists
was distinctly and unequivocaly conceded? Or is
it. in view of his many violations of tie Consttu-
ton, and this browning act of usurpaton, to join
that side which at present affords the only earthly
hope of successful resistance?
am aware. my countrymen, that you will find
difficulties in bringing your minds to the same
clusiun at which my own has arrived. Many
ton and unauthorized acts of cruelty and oppression
have been perpetrated among you, which, instead
OF changing your opinions, have only been calcula-
ted to aggravate and intensity heroic principle of
endurance Many of these acts have been commit
ted in remote places, without the knowledge or ap-
probation of the authorities at Richmond, or of
those who have held the'supreme command in East
Tennessee and under such circumstances that YOU
felt it dangerous to complain Gradually ard slowly
the outrages have at last become known and in the
very recent proclamation issued by Major General
Jones, you have the that your complaints
will be heard, and the most energetic measures
adopted to remedy the evils to which you have been
. subjected.
Letnot then, sense of private and present wrongs
blind you against the enormitieS already perpetra-
ted, and still more seriously contemplated by DR.
Lincolns Administration. If a majority of the Re-
publican party have been sincere in their profess
sions of determination respect the right of slave
ry in the States and if the light of freedom is not
utterly extnguished in the North may we not hope
that spirit of resistance will be aroused in that
section when, combined with the efforts of the South
Will htlrl Mr. Lincoln from and
store peace and harmony to cur distracted and d.
vided country? But if through fear or any other
cause, Mr.. Lincoln's Infamous proclamation is sus-
tanned, then we have Union to hope for, no Con-
stituton to struggle for, no magnificent and unbro-
ken heritage 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 audaclty, Mr. Lincoln virtually tells
you that you have no rights. No alternative re-
mains but to choose the destiny which an arrogant
and unprincipled' Administration forces upon u.s.
1t is almost unnecessary to declare to you that
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
jparalyzed and my voice silenced by causes beyond
my control have cherished the hope that all might
yet be well; but "the last link is broken that
bound me to a government for which my ancestors
fought, and whatever may be the course of others,
shall feel 1t my duty to encourage the most perse
Verng and determined resistance against the tyrants
and usurpers of the Federal administration who
have blasted our hopes and are cruelty seeking to
destroy the last vestige of freedom among us. If
you would yourselves from species Of carnage
unexampled In the history of North America, but
uneduivocally invited in Mr.. Lncon's proclamation
let every man who is able to fight buckle on his
armor, and, without awaiting the slow and tedious
process of CONSUMPTION, at once volunteer in the
struggle against him. The is not always to the
swift the battle to the strong and it cannot in
the nature of things be possible that just God will
prosper the efforts of a man government which
has hypocritcally pretended to wage war in behalf
OF the constitution, but now throws off the mask
ana sets 1t utterly at defiance No despot in Europe
would dare to exercise the powers which Mr. Lin
S9n IN less than two brief years. has boldly usurped
lie mas suspended the writ of ha6eaS corpus in re-
gard to all persons who have been or may be i'm
PSsonea oy military authority, and thus destroyed
the right essential to the liberty of the citizen n
right which the mailed barons Of England. wrested