Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-11-13

responded at once 60 ham thai / did nst int6n
10 recall to him ihat he was minority Pfesidsn'
bat simply to announces the broad facs that n
was the President, rot of the men Who voted 70
him, bat of the whols people Of the Unite
States, and that the wishes and feelings and in
terests of the whole people Of the Uni,ed State
the party with l,IO0O00 nsjority IS well a
the minority party By when he was elected
ought to be consulted by him. General D0no
vah here interpOsed and presented three alter
native propositions to him First that b,
might remain purfectly idle and passive
aud let the dIsintegmtion of the S5g'e'
go On as it had gone on; second
give guarantees such as were asked, and bring
I the whole power Of his administration TO bea
in obtaining those guarantees; or, third, resort
30 coercion and attempt to force the SO sedng
States into Obedience. He illustrated very dis
tiuctly and clearly those three propositions
! When the conversation had slackaued little
yentured TO appeal to him, in manner in which
l never appealed to rny other man and never
expect 10 10 egain. I said that as to the last
! proposition I desired to say one woTd-that !
trusted and prayed to G5d that be would not re-
sort to coercion; that, if he did, the history OF
the administration would be written in blood,
and all the waters cf the Atlantic Ocean could
never wash Is from his hands C'Hsar, hear, ,
and applause He asked me, what I would do,
and if meant by coerciQu the collecting of the
revenue and the taking back of the forts which
he said belonged TO the United States I re-
/ Piled that that was the only mode in which it
was possible thai he could, under the Constitu-
ton, resort to coeTciOn-by an attempt to col
lsct tbs revenue and to take back the forts. He
had placed hms If in a chair with rounds to IT,
with bis feet upon the highest FoUnd--a long
lsnky msR, with very large side ShiskPrs, with
his elbows upon his knees, and his hands upoR
l1l 0F s-
and when he would speak he would drop his
hsndF ard raise bis head. DsOpping his hands
aud raising his head, he said he would tell me
little anecdots which had happened when he
first came 10 the bar An Old man, he said, had
applied to him to bring a suit, and made out
capital case as he thought but whom the evi-
denCe was detailed before the jury it was the
worst case that be had ever listened TO, aud
? hiie the evidence was going on the old m4u
cam. listening TO the evidence hjmseit,aud whis-
pered in his ear, Guy itUp.' Laughter Now,
said he, Governor, wouidu's this be gum it
up?" Iassur5 you, III. Chairman, don't pre-
sent in any light different from that in which
il actually 0ccurred-uone whatever. I said
to him, "Ar. President, il may be said th.t
it would be guyin' it up but hadn't you
better - guv it UpP without blo0dshed than
drench this laud with blood, and then have TO
guv it up ~ Applause He Lhan asked
what be was TO do vita his oath of cfice. he
said he had sworn to see the laws faithfully exc
cuLed, and, addressing himself to me, he sad
! would Like TO know from you what I am to
do with my oath of Office I said to him that
hs had taken a solemn oath tJ see the laws faith
fully executed; bus that Congress wss than in
session, and application had been made TO Con
gress to give the President Of ths United States
the power 10 collect the revenue by armed yes
se!s outside OF the ports, aud Congress had
refused 70 gi.e that power. IT, 1 said, Con
gress fails to give the necessary power, Mr
President, to you to c0llaCt the revenue by yes
sells outside the ports, how are you to collect it
Do you think that you ela send a collector to
the port Of Charleston 10 She pJC. of Savannah
OF Of New Orleans to collect the revenue there
Is il not an impossibiity, aud does your oath
bind you to DO 2 thing thal is impossibl-7 Az
TO th5 forts. that is a nstiey withs your discre-
ton, sir You can withdraw tho troops if you
please. You are the Commander in chief and
il belongs to you either to keep them there sr
to withdraw thom totally, and prevent a col
lislon, and q consequent deadly and Tuinous
war Well said be, raising himself again,
will only answer you By telling you a little
anecdots which struck me as you were g0ing
on 1. is from Esop'5 fables, and, doubt
less, IN your seho9i10Y days, you have read
1t. Esop, you know, says he, illustrates
E4lAb ptltGiflta tltrE ny hlHaLNE lGAL1 hLll-
mails speak and act, snj, according to him,
there was = lion once shat was desperately
in lows with = beautiful lsdy end he
courted the lady, and the lady became encnorad
Of him ard ngresd 20 marry him, and the old
people were asked for III sir consent They were
afrGid of the power of the lion, with his long and
sharp claws aud bis tusks, and taey said to him:
We can have no objection 90 SD rasusctEb,s
personass - you, but our daughter Is frsil and
delicate, and We hope that you will submit to
have your csws Gu; of and yonr tu5ks drawn,
because they might do very serious iuigry &c
her The lion submitted being very much In
love. His claws were cut IF and his tasks
drawn, and they took clubs then and knocked
him on the head" Laughter I replied,
think, about in substance ihis-lhat it was an
exceedingly Interesting hDecjete. sni very apro-
pos, but not altogether E satis factory answer to
me, and then said to him, Mr. Lincoln, this, to
me, sir, is The most serious sid 81! absorbing sub
ject that has ever engaged my attention as pub
lie man. depTecate ard look with horror up0n
ffatricidsl war. I look 70 the iuiury that it is
to do, not only 30 my 0v-n seciion-thsl I know
is 10 b. desolsted aud drenched m blOod-5ut |
lock to the jury that 1t is TO the cause Of hu-
manitY itself, and [ sppeal to you, apart from
these jesis, to lon1 us your aid and countensnee
in sveTtinq a calamity like that BsfOre he re-
piled, Mr.. RveS, of Virginia. got up. We had
before that, conversed sitting in semi-circle
round the 7 esident bat Af. Raves rose from his
chair, aud, with dignity and eloqueues that
have seldom heard surpassed in the course Of my
liis he appealed to him l could not pretend
to give even the substance OF his speech but |
remember that he told him that he was then
very old man; that there never had boen throb
Of bis hesIt thst was not in favor of the psrpst-
uatioH of the Union; that he eanle there with
hoHC aud fs4, & euI
all his efforts had been exerted ia endesvoring
to procure such guarantees az would perpet-
uats it but ihst he desired to say 90 him
ard he said it with trembling vOicc-in Ordsr
that he might know, aud not say thereafter that
he was not fully warned, that he agTeed with
every word | hEd said with regard to the horrors
of this anticipated war, and tnstif he did resort
to coercion Virginia would leave the Union and
Join the seeding States. Nay, SIR he said,
old as | am, snd desrly as I have loved this
Union, in that event 60 with all my heart a0d
soul Mr.. Lincoln jumped up ffom bis chair,
as Mr.. RIves WAS standing, advanced one step
toward him snd said Mr. Rives, Mr. Rjves,
| if Virgins will stay ia I will withdraw the
troops from Fort Sdmter.' Mr.. Rives stepped
back aud said: Mr. President, have no au-
tsouty to speak for Virginia. I am one of the
hUmblest OF her sonsi but if you do that, it
will be one of the wisest things you have ever
done Do that, and give US guarantees, and
can only promise you that whatever indu.ncs 1
| possass shall be eKerted to promote the Union,
ard to restore it to what it was We then all
Of US got up and were standing was ou tao
outer circle. Ho said We'll gentlemen,
have heen wondering very much whether, if
Mr. Douglas OF Mir. Bell had been elected Pres
ident, you would have dared to talk to him as
| freely as you have to me- / did not exactly
hear the answer, but am told that Iy. Gath
ris answered him in about this way: Mr.. Pres
| ident, if General Washington occupied the seat
that you viii soon aIl and it had been net essay
70 talk to him as we have TO you to save such q
Uniop % his, for ore should talk to him IS
we have to yen CHsir, hear That closed
the conversation"