The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-03-03
Whal ara Ne Flghting Forf


IS still probably the best answer to be
given; but made we apprehend, with
very different meaning from that
which it formerly conveyed. We We're
so startled and shocked by the incipi-
ent movements of treason-so anxious
that our country, endeared by as
ISOLATION and a common history, should
continue to grow in greatness and
poWer-that we were quite willing to
say with agonizing tenderness: tCome
back to us, and all shall be as it was =
But there IS a Nemesis which follows
evildoing beyond the ken or the control
Of man. Every individual act is oper-
ating on the life of him who performs
it and of all who are to come after him
The deed of to-day is the seed of an
after harvest Of gladness or Of grief
The ghost of an early acted crime
haunts the after life with the retribu-
ton of embittered remembrance, and
the closing in of remote consequences.
This is the new unvarying law to which
men and nations are alike subject.
They who fred the first shot at Sum
ter destroyed the mighty fabric of the
Union as It s0as Not all the genius the
world has ever known could replace the
fallen columns of the temple, OF restore
the basso-relievo which eighty years Of
peace and prosperity had wrought upon
its pediments Its foundations, thank
God. are yet secure, and able hands and
brave hearts are needed to build up
anew the greater and nobler Union as Il
shall be The dead past must bury its
dead-to the future the hopes of the
nation are directed He who still yainly
clings to the past and asks for q resto-
ration of the Union as it was. asks an
impossibil!ty of statesmanship-asks
man to conquer fate, to override immu-
table law
The fact that the Rebellion came at
all-that men calling themselves citi-
Gems of the United States could so COM
bine the strength Of the largest section
Of the country against their Govern
ment-shows conclusively that its work
under the existing combination was
done. The Union as it was had become
impossible; therefore the war of Slavery
to destroy it Had it been all we were
in the habit of regarding it, the wal
could not have occurred. The war is
but the breaking out Of the disease
which fingered long in the system of the
Union as it was. That disease was and
is Slavery, and a healthy tone can only
be restored to the country by its total
eradication Wemust purge the system
that health shall invigorate it in the
future
The Union as it was, then, is thing
of the past--the Union as it is, a tur-
bulent conflict for the mastery of
living principle-the Union as it shall
be-aye, there's the rubl Enshrouded
in the mystery of the future-but of a
future whose germ is expanding in the
presents the destiny of our nation
and country. Ideas govern the world
Nations develope in accordance with
fixed laws under the operations of q
ruling idea. 1t is the all-pervading
sentiment which compels social and
political organizations The laws in
tended for the protection of society
only make more sure its development |
in accordance with the original inn
pelling idea We to-day are only be-
ginning to do the work cut out for |
!
The doctrines of the Declaration of In
are just beginning to carry
their fell meaning to the mind Of the
Nation They are the governing prin-
ciples which form the groundwork of
our society, and the conflict of to-day is |
but the struggle of the system to throw
off foreign and deleterious matter which |
interferes with its proper functions. |
Hard as the war is to bear it will fill |
up but small period in the history of |
national progress, and to generations
succeeding us it will be matter of |
wonder how the slave system could have
gathered sufficient strength to impede |
our progress as it has done, or in dying |
make so fearful struggle
The Union as it shall be, we hope will /
be a Union of really similar States, |
based upon the same general principle,
and free We hope it
may not be a Union of compromises
and corporations. The proper name
for Pandora's box is Compromise 1t is
a snakes egg, full of venomous vipers,
which are belched out in the warmth
of national prosperity However tired
we may be Of war, let us not submit to
be duped for the sake ofpeaee. Letus
secure our future as we move towards
the end of strife and the beginning of
Let us be firm in our
that the war shall carry
off the cause of it, and that as slavery
cannot content herself in the house of
Freedom, slavery shall be turned out,
neck and crop, that Freedom may live
N peace
Are we preparing ourselves for this
work ? Are we looking ahead to the
time when the din of arms shall cease
md the real work of reorganization be
when we shall have to re-
adjust the rights of the States and the
Federal Government, secure liberty,
the disbanded soldiery into
citizenship, and conduct our
Government according to well-establish-
ID principles?
This rebellion has so disorganized So
'iety and shivered things to their very
foundations, that we find ourselves call
ID upon to 60 back to first principles in
the aim and duty of the
Government In the active excitement
# warlilze times, theories are no longer
barren speculations, nor is oratory mere
reclamation. The theory proclaimed
O-day soon becomes a practical object
f desire Opinions move fast, and men
7ho a short time ago were opposed to
are now its ardent sup
,orters 1t is, therefore, of the first inn
that we should perfect the ;
heory of politics-base it first on the
foundations ofjustce-satisfy
he reason before setting the passions
nfame by which an army of bayonets,
acked by national enthusiasm, are to :
make our Government possible. :
We think our views of reconstruction
re rapidly spreading through the
States. The recent ac-
ion of the people of Louisiana shows
hat they are thoroughly imbued with
be belief that Emancipation is neces-
ary for their future welfare. The Free
tate men there as here have their di-
isions, some being for gradual, others
,r immediate Emancipation. The for
Ter, by some singular prediction of
-en. Banks have been given the imme-
late ascendancy. he is said to have
reeipitated the election on the I'D
lstant, in order to give advantages to