The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1863-11-27

/ Following this, Mr.. Everett gives a
I connected resume Of the invasion Of
1 Pennsylvania by Lee, eliminating in the
battles of July 1, 2, aud g, and his re-
treat across the Potomac into Virgins
WHO II REsPoSsIBLE TOR THE wAR-RE-
a.. BILLION AS A CRIME.
And now, friends, fellow citizens, IS
We stand among she hOnOsed graves, the
momentous question presents itself, which
of the two parties to the war is RESPONSE
BILE for all this sufiering-for this dread
! full sacrifice of life-the lawful and con-
stitutionAl government Of the United
States, or the ambitions men who have
rebelled against it? say "rebelled
! against it, though Earl Russell, the Brit
I ish Secretary Of State for Foreign Affairs,
in his recent temperate and conciiistory
| speech in Scotland, seems to intimate
that no prejudice ought to attach to that
word inasmuch as our English forefath-
ers rebelled against Charles J, and James
| II and our American fathers rebelled
against George III. These certainly sre
venerable precedents, but they prove only
that it is just and proper TO rebel against
oppressive governments. They do not
prove that it was just and proper for the
son of James III. TO rebel against George
l., or bis grandson, Charles Edward, 70
rebel against George H.. nor, as it seems
to NE, ought these dynastic struggles,
little better than family quaFrels, to be
compared with this mohstrous Conspiracy
against the American Union. These
precedenls do not prove that it was just
and proTer for the disappointed great
men" of the cotton-groWing States to re-
bel against "the most bsnefcent govern
ment Of which history gives US any &C.
count" As the Vice-Presideut of the Con-
federscy, in November, 1850, charged
them with doing. They do not create =
presumption, even, in favor of the dis
loyal stockholders Of the South, who,
living under Q government Of which Mr.
jefferson Davis, in the session of l660-6l,
said that 1t was " the best government
ever instituted By man, JtRexceptiOhably
administered, and under which the peoN
pie have been prosperous beyond COM
parison with any other people whose ca
reer has been recorded in history )" re-
belled against il because their aspiring
politicians, himself among the rest, were
in danger Of losing their monopoly of its
Offices. What would have betn thought
by an impartial Posterity Of the Ameri-
can rebellion against George III, if the
coloDists had been at all times more than
equally represented ia Parliament, aud
James Ole, and Patrick Henry, and
Washington, and franklin, aud the
Adamses, and Hancock, and Jeffer-
son, and men of their stamp, bad for
two generations enjoyed the confidence
of the sovereign aud administered the
government of the Empire. What would
have been thought Of the rebellion against
Charles !, if Cromwell and the men of
his sch9ol had been the responsible ad-
visers of that Prince from his accession
TO the throne, and then, on account Of a
partial change in the Ministry, brought
his head TO the block, and involved the
country in a desolating war! What
would have been thought Of the Wings Of
1853. if they had themselves composed
the Cabinet of James III, and been the
advisers of the measures, and the pro-
moters Of the policy which drove him into
exilet The Puritans of 1910 ana the
Wings of 1888, rebelled against arbitra-
ry power in order to establish eOnstitu-
tionsl liberty. If they had risen against
Charles aud JAmes, because those mon
srchs favored equai rights, and in order
themselves, "fOr the frat time in the his
tory of the world, to establish an OIL
garchy" founded on the CONVERSIONS OF |
slavery, they truly would have furnished
precedent for the rebels of the South,
but their cause would not have been sus-
tanned by the tloquence of Pym or of
Somers, or sealed with the blood of
Hampden or Russell. l call the war
which the Confederscy are waging
against the Union rebellion" because
it is one, and in grave matters it is bes:
to call things By their right names. The
Constitution of the United States puts
rebellion" on a par with invasion
The Constitution and law not only of
England, but Of every civilized country,
regard them in the same light, or rather
they regard the rebels in arms as tar
worse than the alien enemy. To levy
war against the United States is the con-
stitutional definition Of treason, and that
crime is, by every civilized Government
regarded SIS the highest which citizen nr
subject can commit Not content with
the sanctions Of human justice, Of all
the crimes against the law of the land,
it is singled out for the denunciations of
religion. The Litsnies Of every church
in ChristendOm, as far IS / an aware,
from the metropolitan csthedrals of Eu-
rope to the humblest missionary chapel |
in the Islands of the sea, concur with the |
Church of England in imploriug the SJve
reign sof the Universe, by the most aw-
full sdjuratiOns which the heart OF man
can Conceive or his tongue utter, to de-
liver us from "sedition, privy conspiracy,
and rebellion"