The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-01-10


ton in that direction. OF al the differ
ent plans proposed, we sccept that Of the
President as the best, and as all would
accomplish the asme end, there can Be no
propristy Of qusrrsling about the means.
Poliiicsl mistakes usually arise from
disregard Ct existing conditions; from .
vain attempt to apply mere theories to a
people not prepared for their recsp-
tioD; 10 shape conditions to written con-
stitutiOus rather than written constitu.
tons 20 conditions.
Il was disregard CT this plain law
that caused the existing war; Every
where, save in the Southern States, slave
~ was condemned by public opinion;
was looked upon as 3 relic Of barbarism,
whose breath was poison-whose touch,
death. Those interested in the institu-
ton we're not unaware of this feeling
acknowledged it openly-but with
stubbornness which usually precedes
desperation, they determined 10 reverse
laws which had been made in pursuance
Of the public will; endssvored to compel
the people of the North to allow them to
carry their slaves temporarily into any
free State, and permanently iato the terri
tories; aud demanded that the COnstitu-
ton be construed as recognizing slaves
as property, which was tantamount TO
Masking it legal everywhere, as the Con-
stitutiOn of she United States was So.
preme; and . direct demand to that effect
would speedily have been made;
and ii was against these unreasonable
assumptions that the thinking men Of the
country revOlted-Eevolted through the
ballot-box.
The effect of tits attempt TO force
laws upon : community, which were OPP
posed 10 the conditions of society,
throughout the free States, was the fri
umph of . party whose strength was 20
be found almost exclusively in one Sec
tiOn of the Union. The language Of the
ballot box, in 1860, was "YOu have at
tempted to force laws upon us, which are
unsuited to our political and social con-
ditions, and revolving to our ideas of
right and wrong these States are free
the territories are free; we ask you to
recognize things as they are. You have
slavery; your social system is built
upon il; your political institutions are
based upon that fact and we viii not dis
turb you. But we ask that you recog-
nize existing conditions outside of the
slave States, as we do within them"
had the South accepted the situation,
they might, and would hare retained
slavery lOng-retsined it till change in
condition required its abolition. But
they refused-would not act upon the
assumption that in many of the States,
and all OF tho territories slavery was i'm
possible, without violence; and the con-
sequence was an effort to effect separa-
tian, and establish a government whose
cornerstone should be their peculiar in
situation; agovernment in which capital
should own labor. From this utter dis
regard Of existing conditions, arose The
war, through which came-naturally
and without efforts revelation in the
social system in the South revolution
SO radical that the old order of things
can never be restored; and as political
institutions must always be regulated by
che social, the restored State governments
must necessarily be changed. All con-
stitutiOns and laws must be made with
full recognition of the fact that slavery
is dead, ard thatit is our duty to decenily
bury il, and recover from the effects of
she shock its demise produced, as best we
can. 1t can never be rssurrected.
We believe there are few people
through the country, whether in or out
Of the loyal States, who really differ |
from this conclusion. The rebsls them
selves admit it. Slavery" says the
Richmond Wing, "has stabbed itself to
death. 1t has sinned against the light
committed The objectionable sin, and
must die"
Other admissions Of an equally can
did nature have been made; but il is in
acts, not words, that the evidences are
most unmistskeable. The Huntsville
Confederate, Of late date, has the fol-
lowing;
Al Macon, last Tuesday, John B. Ha-
bersham & Co. sold 1Oi negroes at an
average price of $4,000. OF these "A
sold in families of two to six persons,
and a man and q woman sold separately,
brought an aggregate of Sl63S 2S 90.
The Confederate beasts wonderfully
ever these singh prices" as it terms
tbeil But this is mere bOmbsst The
negroes were paid for in rebel money,
which, ct that tine, was worth just I've
cents on The dollar, and consequently,
taking gold as the standard, the sctual
prics was but S110, or tenth Of the aY-
~lesc A-No thHoe years eAnSc5 anu less
than the prizes Of 8 good hand for
year. Flour is now worth $3.50 per bar
rel, meal SI2 per bushel, and meat $500
per barrel; 80 that in barter, = negro
would bs worth less than 10 barrels Of
hOur, or $50 bushels of meal, or bar
reis OF meat; while three years since,
with these articles st their usual price. Z
che fguris would have been 40 barrels 4
of -four, 2,2Oo bushels Of meal, and 80
barrels Of meat +
The fact that negro in the south now 4
sells for less than one years hire, three b
years since, is evidence conclusive that ?
al expect the institution to cease entirely 4
By the end Of 1864 The demand for ]
bread is 60 imperative in the South, that I
labor ought. taking gold IS the standard {
tc be valued much higher than in 1850 i
and If negroes were really IS scarce as !