Brownlow's Knoxville Whig, and rebel ventilator. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1863-1866, 1865-08-09
The Authority OF the Existing State
Government.

When shrewd aspirants 70 political power would
lead of the multitude, they always put on the mask
Of principle and profess profound veneratiOn and
scrupulous regard for established law. Such is the
course now pursued by the turbulent faction which
seeks TO destroy public confidence in the legality and
authority Of the existing State government of Ten
nessee The leaders Of this faction protest that is
usurpation, and violation Of the Constitution of
1885, and that the present amended Constitution of
the State is invalid because not amended and rati-
fed according 10 certain directions laid down in the
former Constitution. By this sophistry the people
are infsmed and disconnected; they are taught that
they are the oppressed victims Of utterly unau-
thorZed usurpstion that the present State govern
ment Is the work Of despotism, and has no law nor
principle of justice to susts;n it. 1t is manifest to
sl that if such inhsmmstory language does not ex-
cite the popuace TO actual rebellion it must be either
because they do not believe the statements Of the
seditionist because they are restrained by fear
from repeating the madness Of 1861. It is idle for
8 man to harsngue a multitude for hours, denounc-
ing the very organization of the Government as q
despotism, a fraud, usurpation, swindle, mock
cry Of justice and then stouty declare that he does
not mean sedition. Bis appeals and sophistry lead
TO sedition and nothing else. Rebellion and treason
are the legitimate results Of his talk. Let US 90
back 70 the primary principles Of government and
see how far the old Constitution had any authority
over the loyal people of Tennessee after 1851. We
think that every candid person will that the old
Constitution had no existence except upon paper
and consequently was no more binding upon the
people than the laws of ancient Athens and Sparta.
From 1861 70 February 22, 1856, Tennessee had no
living Constitution. It was dead as any docu-
nent could be- True the rules contained in il were
used BY the Provisional Government in many in
stances SIS convenience but further than that they
had no validity, no force. The evidence Of the life
Of constitution is not Of En abstract nature but is
essentially one of fact. A government exists not
in metaphysics nor in abstract reasoning, but in
sction so frequent so plain, so universal that the
of its
ly IS they are conscious Of the existence of light
and darkness, winter and summer. A Constitution
which has no government TO carry out its provisions
and put it in practical operation among the people
is no more valid than paper which any theorizer
may draft in his study-Toom; such one as John
Locke is said 70 have drafted for one Of the old
American Colonies prior TO the Revolution. True
If the loyal people Of Tennessee chose 70 adopt in
part either of the former Constitutions of the State
whether of 1885, or Of 1884 they had perfect right
TO do SO; but they were under obligations 10 do
so. It was matter of convenience, not of obliga-
ton.
If it be admitted that the Constitution Of 1884
was binding upon the people after its suspension in
1861, By rebellion then several years must have
elapsed before il could be amended and during that
time the State must have suffered from the very
evil but in an aggravated degree which caused the
rebellion. Anarchy would have disturbed the whole
Commonwealth with ten-fold violence, and the land
would have flowed with blood, from the rage and
termned 10 break their chains and assert their free
dom at all hazards 4 reformed government was
an immediate necessity. The safety Of over eleven
hundred thousand people could not wait upon the
forms and ceremonies laid down for times Of peace
The necessity was not imaginary; twas immediate,
absolute, urgent, positive, peremPtory. The men
who stood up for the National Government were re-
soiTeo not TO have proslsvery Constitution re-es-
taoIshed over them, to Oppress them sgain with its
Inso,ersoe evils and the men who rebelled against
the National Government had no voice in The decjs-
Ion OF this matter. There were only two methods
BY which Tennessee could be governed--either as
colony or territory of the United States, or As a
State organized under new Constitution. The lat
ter method was believed 10 be preferable both by
President Lincoln and by the loyal citizens of the
State, and if was adopted. A convention, summon
ed by respectable loyal citizens from all parts of the
State, met and presented 8 new Constitution, the
exact copy Of that Of 1885, except 70 slavery and
few other points, which was ratified and adopted
by the people The State Government thus estsb-
lshed Of right has also become one Of fact It has
established cours inferior and superior It has levied
and collected revenue; it has chartered commercial
manufacturing, mining, religious, benevolent and
literary societies. it has arrested trEnsgresors of the
law; It has regulated the finances Of the State: Il
holds correspondence with the President Of the