Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-10-22

Constitution. and this crowning act Of usur-
patton. TO join that side which At present af-
foFds the only earthly hope Of successful re
sissances
am aware my countrymen. that YOU viii find
difficulties IN bringing your minds 10 the same
CONCLUSION at which my own has arrived. Many
wanton and unauthorized acts OF cruelty and OPP
preston have been perpetrated among YOU which
instead of changing your opinions have only been
calculated 70 aggravate and Intensity heroic
principle of endurance Many OF these acts have
been committed in remote places, without the
knowledge or appreciation Of the authorities AZ
Richmond. or of those who have held the SUI
preme command in East Tennessee, and under
such circumstances that you have felt it danger
Gus to complain. Gradually and SLOWLY these
outrages have at last become known, and in the
very recent proclamation issued by Major General
Jones, YOU have the assurance that your COM
plants will be heard and the most energetic meas
ures adopted TO remedy the evils to which YOU
have been subjected
Let not, then, a sense of private and present
wrongs blind you against the enormtiss already
perpetrated and still more seriously contemplated
by MIR. Lincoln's Administration. Ii a majority
OF the Republican party have been sinners in
their professions of "A determination 10 respect the
rights of slavery in the States and if the light of
freedom is not utterly extinguished in the North,
aroused in that section, which. combined with the
efforts of the South, will hurl Mr. Lincoln from
power. and even vet restore peace and harmony
10 our distracted and divided cOuntryl But if,
through fear or any other cause, Mr. Lincoln in
famous proclamation is sustained, then we have
no Union, no Constitution 10 struggle for, no
magnificent and unbroken heritage To maintain,
no peace TO expect save such as with the blessing
OF Providence We may conquer.
tantalize you with hope have been Withdrawn,
and with cool audacity Mr. Lincoln virtually tells
you that YOU have no rights. No alternative re
mains but to choose the destiny which AFRO
giant and unprincipled Administration forces up
on Us.
1t is almost unnecessary 70 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 il, and that, when my efforts
were paralyzed and nv voice silenced by causes
beyond my control have cherished the hope
that all might yet be well; but 1.-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 ii my duty to
encourage the most perseverng and determined
resistance against the tyrants and usurpers of the
Federal Administration. who have blasted our
hopes and are cruelty seeking 10 destroy the last
vestige of freedom among Us. If you would
save yourselves from species of carnage unex-
ampled in the history of North America. but IN
equvocally invited in NJ. Lncoln's procama
ton, let every man who is able to fight buckle On
his armor, and. without awaiting the slow and tie
dious process OF cOnscripti0D, at once volunteer
in the struggle against him The race is not al
ways to the swift nor the strong, and 1t can not,
in The nature of things, be possible that just
God will prosper the efforts of a man or Gov.
eminent which has hypocritcally pretended to
wage war in behalf of the Constitution. but now
throws off the mask and sets it utterly at def
ance. No despot in Europe would dare to exer-
else the powers which Mr.. Lincoln in less than
two brief years. tas boldly usurped He has sus
pended the writ of habeas corpus in regard to all
persons who have been or may be imprisoned
by military authority. and thus destroyed ihs
right essential to the liberty of the citizen, right
which the mailed barons of England wreste1 by
force from King John, and inserted in the great
charter of British freedom; right which Il cost
centuries of contest To engraft upon the British
constitution; a right for which our fathers sterny
struggled, and which is incorporated in every
American constitution. He has called armies
into the field without authority. according TO ms
own acknowledgment, and has become military
dictator. He now claims the prerogative Il
abolish slavery without our CONSENT aud, ii he
thus take our negroes, why may he not take
our lands, and everything else we possess, and
reduce us to state of vassalage to which no
parallel can be found, save in the history OF the
Middle Ages. THos A r. NELSON.
Knoxville, October 3, 1862