The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-10-29

AND THE WAR.
The enthusiastic cheers which greetet
Gen. Meagher on his arrival at the hal
having died away, His Honor tn
Mayor introduced the General to thu
very numerous audience, after which
tae speaker addressed them as follows
FEEow-C CITIZENS 1t will always b.
to me truly gratifying reflection tina
the position in which / stand to day, In
relation to the National Government
and the instruction with which it is in
conflict, is precisely the same as that
assumed in April, 1861, subsequent tc
the call of the President for ), 900 men
to suppress the rebellion, (hear, hear,
and that the motives and convictions
which then governed me were happily
so well matured-were So thoroughly
the result of an impartial and consei-
entious consideration of the great ques
ton submitted to the people--that no
subsequent event has had the effect
to shake them cloud cheers.) Some
days elapsed after that call had been
made before | came to the conclusion
that it was clearly the right, the wise
policy, the imperative duty of the Ma
tional Government to take up arms and
forcibly assert its authority against the
characterization and depredations OF
the South lmpulsive, as / confess my.
self to be, and liable as am to be sud
denly influenced by the action of the
popular mind when circumstances of
great moment excite its enthusiasm, it
may seem strange that did not give
way at the first outburst of indignation
which the assault upon Fort Sumter
provoked everywhere throughout the
loyal States, and which was so sweeping
and overwhelming that not q solitary
voice, true or false, was for months
heard in depreciation of it, Loud
cheering But apart from my grateful
recollections of the South-the honors
and hospitality of which ] had largely
shared, and in the principal cities of
which / had formed many delightful
associations-(hear, hear,)-I was ar
rested by the fact that | myself had
been an insurrectionist against the
Government which claimed legitimacy
in Ireland-( loud cheers)-and that,
moreover, my sympathies had been
fully avowed, as they had been
thoroughly awakened in favor of the
European revolutions of l84S, and
those of other lands and other epochs.
{ Hear, hear, and great cheering.) To
an Irishman who, with the stormy his
tory of his country, has inherited a
deathless detestation OF every govern.
ment that would shackle or subsidize
religion-extirpate, pauperize, or per.
vert the ancient proprietors of the soil
-paralyze or cripple the Wholesome
energies and just ambition of people
-vulgarize the character and extin-
guish the glory of nation--to every
Irishman in whom the spirit of his
race and the lessons Of its history abide
-(hear, hear, )-every demand for liber-
ty, every declaration of independence,
carries with it eongenial and dominant
appeal loud cheers) So quick, in
deed, and with such an impetuous lib
crafty, does the Irish heart respond to
such invocations, even in the hours of
its bitterest sorrow, and down in the
darkest depths of its desolation, it has
for the time forgotten the vulture that
gnaws and rends it in its crucifxion to
the rock to which it has been dashed,
and, looking up, has grown glad and
exultant in the spendor radiating from
the battle ard the victory of any people
no matter Whom-who, having fought
for freedom, have prevailed and been
disenthralled. Enthusiastic cheers.
An imperishable testament to the good
ness of that heart, whilst it furnishes a
divine assurance, almost, that the nation
which of all others has suffered most,
and been the longest defrauded of its
rights and baffied in its career, shall not
die out in restitution and obscurity, but
survive its centuries of chastisement,
and, in a compensating fortune. trans
scend the black havoc as well as the
brightest visions of the past. cloud
cheering) This noble disposition has
made Ireland the faYorite of all the
more impressionsble and chivalrous
races, (hear, hear) while it has familiar
lied the world with the names and say
ings of her superior orators, the plain
tive but ever hopeful burden of her
minstrelsy,- and the tragedies Of her
devoted patriotism Great applause y
But, true to the tendency of every dis
position that is generous and affluent,
this love of freedom and Independence
in the Irish heart has its erroneous
excuses Hence. We find to-day this
generous and chivalrous disposition
swayed, as it is, by the llyingl legend on
the banner of the South, and fooled, as
it is,by the develish sophistry and false
hoods of the press and preachers in the
of French Imperialism and
British Toryism, (hear, hear, hear
hence, we find to-day this noble heart
more in sympathy with the Rebel
lion which aims to dismember, than
with that loyalty which throbs and
bleeds to preserve, and in the plen-
titude of its power, perpetuate the dem
ocratic republic of the United States. /
("Hear, hear, hear Into this greyious
fault 1, too, might have fallen, had
] not paused and given to the
claims of the South--her claims for
government and the partition
of the national territory-an impartial
and conscientious consideration, as I
have said-( @hear, hear and cheers III
the result of which consideration was
to convince me, that the claims of the
South were founded neither in history,
nor in Justice; nor were they constite-
reserved TO II; nor were they
by patriotism, nor dictated
by Lore OF liberty nor by any interest
whatever in the progress Of democracy.
("Hear, hear, and loud cheers Ia
king up the political history of the
country, from the adoption of the Con-
TO the election Of Abraham
Lincoln in November, 1860. found that
the South, 50 far from being aegrieved,
had been exorbitantly favored-( hear,
hear, land that, instead of being OPP |
pressed by the North, the South had |
carried dominesring head throughout |
The Congressional and Executive trans
actions of more than half century. |
Cries Of SHEAR, hear The Vice
President Of the Southern Confederacy,
N that mastery speech he delivered TO
he Georgia Convention, at the time that
he ordinances of secession was under
discussion, has placed incontrovertibly
lpon record, the iniustiee, the ingrati~
Nde, the downright bad faith, the
ganton wicke1ness Of the rebellion
hear, hear, hear, showing, as he
Toes, by complete enumeration Of
a.. a =