The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1863-04-10

| 1860, shook hands on terms of friend
ship with Jefferson Davis, and on the
28th of December, 1862, had the pleas
ure Of reading his proclamation that
was to be hanged at sight. Laughter
and applause. And now, my friends, if
! you will allow me this line of thought
moment, as we come up to the point OF
time when these men laid down their
constitutional obligations, l will inquire
what We're my rights and what were
theirs. At that hour they repudiated the
constitution of the United States by SOL
emn vote, under the forms Of law, in sol
emn convention. And not only that, but
they took arms in their hands and UNDER
took by force to rend from under the con-
stitution what seemed to them the fairest
portion of the heritage which my fathers
! had given TO me and my children as a
rich legacy and when they did that,
concluded, from every fact, that they
had derogated and forfeited every con-
stitutional right and had relieved me
| from every constitutional obligation to
| them. cloud and long continued APP
plause.) And when | was called upon
to say what should be my action in re-
gard to slavery, l was left to the natural
| instincts of my heart, as prompted by a
| Christian education in New England
| (applause)-and / dealt with il accord
ingly, for l was not bound by constitu-
tional obligations. (Applause) THIS |
undertake TO claim, respectfully but
earnestly, that the same sense of duty TO
my constitutional obligations, and TO the
rights of States, which require me, so
long as they remain loyal, to support the
system of slavery-that same sense of
duty and of right, say, after they had
gone out from under the constitution,
caused me to follow the dictates of my
ewn conscience, untrammelled as had
been heretofore. (Applause.) And SO,
my friends, however misjudging may
have been-and speak to my old demo-
cratic friends-I claim that we went
along step by step together up to that
point and we shall still go along step by
step. If the sacred obligations that
bound us together had not been broken,
would not thus have been left to follow
the dictates of Gods law and Of humani-
ty. loud applause,)
HIS ADMINISTRATION IN NEW ORLEANS.
By the exigencies of the public service
being removed once more to another
sphere of action in New Orleans, | found
this problem to come up in another form
which lod me 70 examine and see how
far we had progressed with the sette-
ment of the question. | found that un-
der our complex system of States, with
independment governments and the
United States government covering all,
that there could be treason to State and
not to the United States; that there
could be a revolution in q State without
there being revolution in regard TO the
United States that there might be 10y
alty to State and disloyal to the Union
and loyalty to the Union and disloyalty
} to the organized government OF the
States. In Louisiana | found that the
!, State government had entirely changed
its form and had completely revolution
lied itself. 1t had erected courts, i'm
posed taxes, and made every possible
kind of governmental organization; aud I
found that that State was completely
. revoiutionized, so far as its State govern
f ment was concerned, and that it was
l no longer. and Of itself, one Of the United
States of America. 1t had by solemn
= act forever seeded from the United
States of America, and had attempted to
4 ioin the Confederate States of America,
taking that portion of the United States
{ of America in which its government was
: established. Now, on what basis shall
t deal with that people, organized into a
l. community under the forms of law, and
: In hostility 20 the United States ? | re-
D spectfully submit that must deal with
Q il as with alien enemies. (Applause
= l submit that those people had passed the
2 boundaries of "wayward sisters or OF
r "erring brethren" (applauseg they had
= passed beyond and outside of the gov
= ernment and had seized 7pon our terri
1 tory--territory which the government OF
1 the United States had bought and paid
3 for, aud therefore | dealt with them as
4 alien enemies. (Applause) And what
: are the rights of alien enemies? In time
a of war they have the right, so long as
g they behave themselves and are not in
Q insubOrdinatiOn, TO be free from personal
o violence. They have no other right, and
d therefore il was my duty TO see TO IL, anc
believe that the records will show that
n did see 20 it--(loud laughter and ap'
J, plause)-that order was preserved RnC
o that every man who behaved well anC
= did not aid the Confederate States shOulc
n be free from molestation in his person.
e hold that everything else they had wa'
Q at the mercy of the cOnqueror. CHEERS
2, To give you an idea, permit me TO STATE
i tbs mode in which their rights were de-
: fined by one gentleman of my stati. liz
i very cody paraphTased the Dred Scot
) decision, and said that they had no rightI
!, which a negro WAS bound to respect
d daughter and applause) In dealing
n with them l took care to preserve per
g, sonal safety to every man. / heard 1
II friend behind me say just now, "Bu
j. how did that affect loyal men?" Tht
a. difficulty with that proposition Is this
| The government in making peace or car
IF rying on war, cannot deal with indiyid
d ais, but with organized communities
= whether organized rightly OF organize,
,e wrongly; aud all could do, 80 far as m
J. judgment taught me, was to see that n
N exactIOn was put upon any loyal individu
It al and no property taken from him tina
Of was not absolutely necessary for the sue
al cess Of military operations. l know
" nothing else that / could do. coul
D not alter the carrying on Of the war be
le cause q loyal citizen was unfortunately
ct like poor Tray, caught in bad company
u (Laughter) But TO such persons aud {
e. their property all possible protection wa
l- afforded Let me repeat--as h Is quit
ID necessary to keep it ia my mind, and
b. am afraid that that is the cause Of 8
many of my democratic friends geltin
g. lost-that IN making war, declarin