The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1863-02-03


ton 81 the insolence of the consoli-
dated slave oligarchy been mani.
Tested. All would have gone on
well had the people tamely swal.
lowed the insolence of Brooks,
KErrr, and WIGFALL, and submit
ted to the dictation OF CALHOUN,
DAVIS, and Mason. "At least halt
Of the odium of our civil war, says
the Journal, belongs to the anti
slavery party" at least half Per.
haps q great deal more than half
Who knowsl Some of the con-
sentative newspapers say that
Southern rebels are a great deal
better than abolitionists. A at
tempts to outrage B; B resents the
injury, and A kills him and AS
counsel argues that B was as much
in fault as A, because if he had
submitted A would not have killed
him. b, by his argument, is made
one of the original and real au-
thors of the crime, and must bear
sat least half of its odium.' The
Journal talks of our fallacies In its
argument it has, at least not utter
ed a fallacy, nor presented a soph-
ism. An eminent writer on logic
says; "When an invalid argument
appears at first sight to be valid, it
is a fa1lacy If it be used with the
intention to deceive, it is called a
SQphi8m. An argument manifestly
and foolishly invalid, is neither a
sophism, nor fallacy."
But let us examine a little fur
Their the logic Of our critic, who
talks so imperiously, if not impe-
rally, about igaoratio elenchi,' and
muddles," and critical hotch-
potches," and vulgar and despi-
cable fallacies," and "arguments
which defy not merely logic, BIT
common sense and common knowl-
edge" We are not sure that these
terms belong to legitimate logic,
but they may be some Of the "po-
lite and virtuous euphemisms' OF
which the journal speaks. and we
shall not object. We wish to in.
quire e0hoSe policy and a0hose
speeches and editorials furnished
the leaders of the cotton State re-
bellion with preteXts for inhaming
and exasperating the popular mind
of the South Those of the
anti.slavery party alonel Far
from it. The tariff of 1928, 9th.
erwise called the "Bill of Abomi,
nations" furnished CALHOUN and
his followers with a pretext for
notification, which was the vesti,
bale of the internal temple Of
rebellion.
Nothing but the Compromise OF
Mr.. CLAY averted civil war in 1920
Unhappily the Government made
concessions to the rebel leaders
then, and disunion was abandoned.
Thus it appears that the Southern
heart was fred on the tariff
pretext, and by the help of the tar.
if men, over forty years ago. Had
that tariff bill not been modified
armed resistance to the Govern.
ment would have been made, co.
ercion would have followed, and
the first gun would have fired the
Southern heart just as the guns Of
Fort Sumter did. If the Journals
logic be sound, every man who
voted for that tariff gave the
Southern leaders a pretext to rebel
and helped them to exasperate the
people, and would have been al
responsible for the civil war, haC
it followed, as CALHOUN himself
The offence of furnishing the Grim
inal a pretext, however trifling
and insufficient, makes him wh(
affords the pretext as much re
sponsible for the crime as its per
petrator. Such is the reasoning o
this new logic. We now see th'
force of the distinctive conjunc
ton but, in the Journals remarl
that there are arguments which
'sdefy not merely logic, bit com
man sense and common knolOJedge.
Its argument is logic, we suppose
but it ignores common knowledge
and, of course, common sense. w,
thought that logic was the exercis,
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