The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-01-17
5 avn rnR UNION.
Interesting SpeecA Of On CAN'T, late q the
Rebel Aymy-Desirs Of The People Of Ar-
kansas 10 Rc,nn totle Union.

SIS their duties 10 the great Government
prevents me from speaking to the peopl
of the North Sc I would like to. ] hav'
been engaged, as you know, in address
ing the people aud soldiers Of the South
/ desired that my speeches might reaci
the hearts Of all my fellow citizens. Ant
know that my words did reach soldier
in Mr.. Prices I've call him Mr. Price il
Arkansas) army, and had their effect
They reached, too, beyond Nr. Prices
army, snd have had many letters frOn
Union men among the rebels, assuring
me that my words had brought TO them :
bright ray Of hope in the future, and hac
nerVed them with comfort and courage
And they call upon me, on every hand
10 pursUe the course have started in
And I shall pursue il, my friends. Ap-
plause In writing my letter to The peo-
pie Of Arkansas gave great offence t.
the leaders Of the renellioB; and it could
have been otherwise. / struggled
not 10 write that letter, for / sm q
Southern man. But / saw that the re-
belhOn was only . struggle 10 extend
and perpetuats negro Slavery; I saw
my people, whom love so well, FroaB-
Jog beneath the desposiism Of JEFF Davis
and his minions, and / could not be 81
lent desired to retire from the stIug-
gle and seek some corner where I could
live in peace, unObserved. But with
these. facts before me, how could ] but
speakP { Then, when l spoke through
that letter, there was raised against me,
by the copperheads Of the North, cry
that did il with 5 view to Office. But
| told them, as l now tell you, that
would not accept any Office or emOlu
lent which it is in the power of the pfo-
pie or their President TO give. | wanted
only TO see peace restored TO my people
| would that would God blsst all dems-
g0gues and place true men in Office. In
the first days Of this Government, when
the ship Of State started out on its voy-
age, our fathers bad ever before them .
warning that it might be wrecked on the
rock of Slavery It has been to the
people of the South the root of all their
evils-this Slavery subject Of con-
tinual commotion In 1860, when the
people were 30 sgitsted on the suhjsc'J /
did all in my power to sllay the excite
ment. ( I called upon them to bear in
mind that the Constitution gave them
sufficient guarantees for the safety of
slavery but they wanted new and sd-
ditioual guarantees Mr. Lincoln bad
truthfully said in Illinois that Slavery
aud Freedom could not exist together,
and ,hSt it must be all Slavery, or sll the
other thing; and the people Of South.
fearing il was going to be all the other
thing, cried out for more guarantees
of the safety of the institution
And when the blow was struck,
we found that the Confederacy
was based on negro Slavery-establish
ed solely for the perpetuatiOn Of that
institution. We had never divided the
Government of our fathers; and we
found, to our grief, that in our anxiety
for the safety of slavery we had founded
. government on no principles of Latri-
otism-merely as 3 matter of dollars and
cents. We thought you wanted to drive
slavery in corner where it would stag
itself TO death, and we wanted to pro-
lect il. We thought we would have a
Q government all to ourselves, where this
institution would not be interfered with.
and we hoped still further TO strengthen
It, in the course Of time, by grasping the
islands adjacent to our States; by an
nexing Mexico, and by reaching forward
even, and swallowing some Of the anacon-
das of South America. Laughter. This
was all before Lincoln's Proclamation.
But what was the result? Delaware
would not come with us Maryland hes
itated, and then cluDg to the old flag
Kentucky did not respond. She besita.
ted in gloom and amid fields Of blood,
and then, emerging from the cloud, shone
brightly as ever in the collection of stzrs.
Missouri, too, long scene of bloody con-
fict. has returned to the Union. She
toppled amid the wreck and disorder, but
again sparkles in the nations coronet CT
stars. This looked bad to u.s. Slavery
seemed worse hemmed in than ever be-
fore, and we feared we should be forced
to abandon it and the struggle. We wait
ed long and patiently for our recognition
By foreign Powers. But, instead of that,
came Lincoln's Proclamation of Enamel
patton. Prolonged spplause.] don't
think the vast importance Of that measure
was fully understood, either by the people
or the President himself, when 1t was
issued. We Of the South certainly
did not fully or nearly appreciate it
But first came his notice, and st this We
laughed. What, said we, has Lincoln
or his Government TO do with us, that
be sends as bis notices? Let him try it
on, and see what good il will do him.
Sure enough, the famous Emancipation
Proclamation was issued. But still We
laughed. What does his Proclamation
amount b.? said we. Our Government
doesn't ratify il; it doesn't affect our
Constitution. But armies bad been rails
ed, and under the old flag the legions Of
the North and West bore down upon us,
and they brought with them-tbe Proc
lamAtiOD! Cheers We called them
Lincoln's hordes, but with their appear
ance, the manacles fell from of our
slaves, aud they were free. We in the
interior saw this result along the rivers,
and we pitied our friends who were thus
feeling the effects of the Proclamation;
but we soon felt the same trouble, and
we laughed no more on that subject.
And here let me express my belief that
God Almighty intended this war to be
the death blow 20 Slav-ry. From the
FIRST we can trace circumstances and sig
nails which point Enthusiastically to this
fact. Every circumstance 10 this rebel
lion shows q struggle in the nature Of
things 70 fee the nation from the blight
Of this curse. And we will throw il off
and be n more homogeneous and united
people than ever before. The people Of
the South did not understand this at first
but they are beginning 10 learn il, and to
see the philosophy of events. Many Of
as see il now, and desire the evil upgoOt-
ed forever. ] believe this war nearly en-
ded. believe that if certain men in the
North will stop talking about peace and
conservatism, and use every effort in
support OF the war, that the rebellion will
be so pushed a. 10 collapse by Spring
time. You would think, if you visited
as in Arkansas, that the seat of Adolf
tionism had been transferred from New
T.I.I Al