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

that 1t will bring upon us2 What rea
sons can you give to the nations of tn
earth to justify IT'D They viii be tn
calm and deliberate judges in this case
and to what cause or one overt act cal
you point, on which to rest the work o
justification2 Whatright has the Nortl
assailed2 What interest of the South ha
i been invaded What Justice has beef
denied? and what claim founded il
justice and right has been withheld
Can either of you to-day name one gov
ermental act of wrong deliberately anC
! pnrposely done BY the Government a
Washington, Of which the South has
right to complaint I challenge the an
swer While on the other hand, let me
show the facts land believe me, gentle
men, am not here the advocate of the
| North, but | am here the friend, The
/ firm friend and lover of the South and
her institutions, and for this reason
speak thus plainly and faithfully to
| yours, mine, and every other mans in
terest, the words of truth and sober
ness, of which / wish you to Judge,
and 1 will only state facts which are
clear and undeniable,) and which now
stand as records authentic in the his
tory of our country.
/ "When we of the South demanded
the slave trade or the importation of
Africans for the cultivation of our
lands, did they not yield the right for
twenty years. When we asked a three
fifths representation in Congress for
our slaves, was it not granted2 When
We asked and demanded the return of
any fugitive from Justice, or the recoy-
cry of those persons ewing labor or al
legiance, was it not Incorporated in the
Constitutions and again ratified and
strengthened in the Fugitive Slave law
Of 1850 !. ...au-
sDo you reply that in many in
stances they have violated this compact,
and have not been faithful to their en-
gagements AS individuals and local
communities they may have done So
but not by the sanction Of the govern
nent, for that has always been true to
Southern interests. Again, gentlemen,
look at another fact; when We have
asked that more territory should be ad-
ded, that we might spread the institu-
ton of slavery, have they not yielded
to our demands, and given US Louisia-
ma, Florida and Texas, out of which
four States have been carved, and am-
pie territory for four more to be added
In due time, if you by this unwise and
impolitic act do not destroy this hope,
and perhaps by it lose. all, and. have
yourdast slave wrenched from you by
stern military rule, as South America
and Mexico were; or by the vindictive
decree of universal emancipation, which
may reasonably be expected to follow
"But again, gentlemen, what have we to
gain by this proposed change of our res
lation to the General Government We
have always had the control, and can
yet, if we remain in it, and are as unit
ed as we have been. We have had a
majority of the Presidents chosen from
the South, as well as the control and
mana cement Of those from the North.
( We have had sixty years of Southern
Presidents to their twenty-four, thus
controlling the Executive Department.
So of the Judges of the Supreme Court,
we have had eighteen from the South
and but eleven from the North: al
though nearly four-6fths Of the judicial
business has arisen in the Free States,
yet majority of the Court has always
been from the south. This we have re-
quired so as to guard against any inter
probation of the Constitution unfavor-
able to US. In like manner we have
been equally watchful to guard our in
terests in the legislative branch of the
Government In choosing the presid-
ing officer (pro TEN of the Senate, we
have had twenty four and they eleven.
While the majority of the Representa-
tives, from their greater population,
have always been from the North, vet
we have generally secured the Speaker,
because he, to a great extent, shapes
and controls the Legislation of the
country. Nor have we had less control
in every department. of the General
Government Attorney Generals we
had fourteen, while the North had but
five. Foreign Ministers we had eighty
six, and they but forty-four. While
three-fourths of the business which de-
mands diplomatic agents from abroad
is clearly from the North from their
greater commercial interests, vet we
have had the principal embassies, so as
to secure the worlds markets for our
cotton, tobacco and sugar on the best
possible terms. We have had a vast
majority of the higher Offices of both
army and navy, while large portion
of both soldiers and sailors were drawn
from the North. Equally so of clerks,
auditors and comptrollers filling the
Executive department; the records
show that, for the last fifty years, of
the three thousand thus employed, we
have had more than two-thirds, while
we have had but one-third of the white
population Of the Republic.
pause, now, while you can, gentle
men, and contemplate carefully and
candidly these important items. Look
at another necessary branch of Govern
ment, and learn from stern statistical
facts how matters stand in that depart
ment mean the mail and post office
privileges that we now enjoy under the
General Government as it has been for
years past. The expense for the trans
portation of the mail in the free States
was. by the report of the Post Master
General for 1860, a little over $1,000
600, while the income was Sl9,0O0O00
But In the slave States the transporta~
ton of the mail was 81, $4,000, while
the revenue from the mail WAS - Co.,
265, leaving deficit Of Sc, 1857 to be
supplied by the North for our accom-
mediation, and without which we must
have been entirely cut off from this
most essential branch Of the Governs
ment. ~
Now. for you 70 attempt to overthrow
such aGcyernment as this, under which !
we have lived for more than three !
quarters of q century-in which We |
have gained our wealth, our standing |
as a nation, our domestic safety, while |
the elements of peril surround Us, with /
peace and tranquility, accompanied /
with unbounded prosperity and rights
unassailed--is the height of madness,
folly and wickedness, to which 1 can /
neither lend my sanction nor my vote.
Until that speech shall have been pro
faisehood, (hear, hear and
when It is, the chronicles that relate
the surrender at Saratoga, the crossing
Of the Delaware, and all the other ex-
PLOTS of George Washington will have
been declared spocTyphal. Hear,
near And everybody-everybody but
1 Britisher, perhaps-will ask if there
-. -. ....sh I. men "a Andra.~ Tartc-- /