The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-10-22

4
forced laborers, and il does not matter in
which state We have them, If we have then
under cur control" Manv instances Of the
utterauce 0fsimilar sentiments, the speaker
remarked, might be brought forward, but
! time would prevent allusi0n 70 Them. Thf
answer would be made. however, on The
part Of some, that the helm was sIill in tht
hands ofthe North, and there WIS no oc.
easion ofgoing south Of Mason and Dixon's
line 70 consider the point at issue. III YOU
please, continued the speaker, We VIII go d
the portico Of the Whits House. we viii
listen 10 the oficial explanation Of the
present stage Of public affairs, we viii take
/ the speeches Of the President himself-the
closest witness We can get as % what vii
be the probable future Of tbs country.
Well, find him surrounded BY a delegation
of South Carolinians, almost every man 81
them familiar to US, by name, for The last
four years, in defiant, unmistakable, une-
quiyocal opposition to the Union. They
are sheltering themselves under his wing.
They are thanking him for his protection.
They are drawiag a line between him and
the North. They say 10 him: eve look
| upon you as our protection from the adverse
| spirit Of Congress and the Northern States"
| What is the answer Of the PRESIDENT Does
he say 81 have no voice but the voice 0fthe
lawf" Does he say, Gentlemen, you lis
tened to me in the cannon shots at Peters
burg; you might have heard my voice in
the last eehoing cannon that Grant fired be-
fore Lee surfendered?' Does he say, "Geu-
| tlemen, the North has fought her
battle and won it, and / stand as
its representatives, Oh, no he accepts
the compliment, he defers TO the insiuuation.
/ He arranges with the Southern half-con-
| vert, and he makes himself thres-quarters
rebel, in order that they may be one quarter
| Union. Ard this is the mouth piece Of the
! North. This is the official voice Of the na-
tion. By what right do rebels, trembling
! for their status, hiding themselves in the
garments Of the nation, by what reason do
they hide even in our chief magistrate, the
| intention Of the North, which she has been
fighting for during the last four years, and
! gained at last. Ladies aud gentlemen, do
| not say this because am discouraged. dc
not believe that Abraham Lincoln has
banked the country, nor Andrew johnson
deprived il Of the success It has achieved
since 1861. I have no lack Of faith in the
future of America. But am not discuss
| ing the future Of America, but am discuss
ing this hour aud its dangers Iturn from
| the interview with the S0utherneTs; and
see the President advancing flom his porti-
co and looking down on q regiment Of coll
Ored men. With the colors OF their banner
! hardly distinguishable, they stand before
him. What words does the President Of the
| United States address TO them. Let me do
| him no injustice. Every one of these men
had given his right hand, and gone into
| battle, his life in his hand, for the nation.
am not seeking 70 blame the President.
To me be is on Y a counter. / am seeking
TO find its meaning. ] want TO know how
much he weighs. I want 10 know the bias
Of his mind. He is not q dead man; ] am
not obliged to CLEAN history two centuries
back, and the scsnty relicts Of his sayings
and doings, and make out his character
| Government is no golden circle Of midnight
conspirators. 1t acts in broad day, twelve
hours in the day, and the President talks
| every day. There is no difficulty in find
ing what things signify, and what are the
plans proposed. / do not wish 70 60 behind
the curtain. There used to be q maxim
"prUfer non clfrat Dc uiiniMis''-''the pr;ctOI
does not care for trifes." Those 90 TO the
lower court Well, ! send down % the
lower court all stories about the President
conversation. II one man tells me that he
said 10 Governor Fletcher, "This IS a white
mans country and-with an oath l need
not repeat-''it shall be the white man
country" ] do not care. If another man
! says that the President said 10 him,-"l
dread the New England radical as much
as the South Carolina dismiOnist;" OF
if he sends down, as be has to-day, and
| gives back to Joe. Davis, on the banks Of
| lhe Mississippi, his plantation and that Of
his brother. These things 60 to the lower
| court For me, I arraign the President Of
! the United States, and know hin by his ac-
tions, and read and know him by his
speeches. Coming into the presence Of
these negro soldiers, he says,-''Liberty-
and may not call You my counuymen, -
etc. Did be ssy TO the South Carolina
traitors, " Shall ! venture 10 cal you
| counirymen? 90 Mo- they were Southern
| white men; he was ready 10 grant them ell
| the facilities agreeable 70 the occasion. Il
| there a New Euglauder who would have
stood in the presence Of the 54th Alassachu-
setts regiment and asked the liberty Of
| calling them countrvmeug Out OF what
soil grew that doubt, whether il was quite
the thing to call b. ack man countryman
Why, out of the latter part Of that very
| speech, which says TO these men who
1 have eemented thirty-six States with
| their blood-"whether Providence means
that it shall be permissible in the
nature Of things Tor you b stay
| here, don't know; it is great question
We did not consider the thing settled when
we asked you 10 fight for the country, but,
now the fight is over, allow me 10 suggest 70
/ you the great laws, about which We know
/ 50 little, on the question whether, or not, il
/ will be possible Tor your race 70 remsin IN
| the same country with the white race which
! represent" IL Is the impraciicability of
/ the white man and the black man living
/ together as equas. Il is the old poison
/ which loaded the cannon at Sumter, which
the smoke and gunpowder Of the last four
years has not exercised from the soul Of the
/ President Of the United States. Well, then
comes the definition Of liberty. Marx you,
| 7 wish you 70 infer not one single element Of
/ blame in what i am saying. j was born
aad brought up in New England, thank
/ Cod but Il WHs no merit Of mine. Andrew
/ johnson was born aud received his esrly
/ education in Tennessee. Let me mourn in
secret that Il was 90 for il may largely in
/ capaciiate him for taking the lead IN this
/ great battle between the ideas Of The North
/ and the ideas Of the South. What I am
/ endeavoring ia my chemistry tonight is b.
| find out whether his soul has been cleansed
/ in this contest of rebellion. When be un-
dertakes 10 deduce liberty to the black man
/ what is it2 I would not insist upon it 81 il
was the first definition he has made.
/ stood on this platform. think, last May,
/ and criticised a speech Of the President in
/ which be made the same definition, aud
I said I shall not eriticiss is i may be an
/ ill-considered, extern poraEeous speech. or
not well reported, one-sided statement
/ which he has not delibsrated but here is
the elioerate thrice repeated statement of
| che same man. What Is liberty said he
my friends, understand wat liberty Is.
/ The United States has struck down slavery
/ in q dread struggle. You are free. Do you
/ want to know what that means? lt meaus
/ liberty 70 woFk-liberty % Work ana enjoy
| what you work for Ell through"
venture to say that in the hundred de-
/ fnitions Of Liberty for the last two hundred
/ years, from Grotius down - Liebes there is
/ not 50 unworthy q definition Of what liberty
means as that uttered By the President II
the United States 20 the men that had won
I Il with their swords ia ks bshalL Through
cut this whole speech be defines liberty By
its duties. There is NOS one single pasain 3
sllus.0n In the whole speech 70 the rights ot
| freemeu. Not one. He says" You are
married you must take the penalties Of
marriage" Well, / don't know exactly
what he means, but be says you are free and
/ freedom means % work, and be says you are
/ free and must take the penalties Of freedom.
He don G grant them even IA idea ore of the
rights. Throughout this whole speech, be-
three times undertakes % tell them what
/ liberty Ineans-libsrty TO the black man-it
/ is liberty o. work. Nov, every student Sf
/ liberty. ia Asa, liberty means uon-slavery
+ Thal Is, you were the property Of another /;
yea nov work ior yolrself That is the
I crystaiiled, stereotypcd, rotten conserva-
tism Of ASIA Come o th0Ussnd miles vest
ward Napoleon describes liberty o. every
/ thing for the pegple-nothing by he pe5-
I pie That is liberty under despaiic insiiu-
lions. Everything i1r the people 10 civil
rights but every Imaginable benefit that
Government can aecure yuu. Lisbar.
| Spencer, and every enhEhtened mind brad
under the Engiish school, laurhed 81 such
dehnitiou. u vas when Goverument wss
weak, ana the ieudal robber ia his cas-
tie was sirong, and the effort fhea va 10
streng gihen the 6oyeE1ment and curb The
reboer. That u the history Of the middle
/ sges, bet SINCE Protesiantism has rcaitered
/ the clouds of Europe, Government is strun <
/ and the indiTi18ai e weak, asd the tenden-
/ g q cur eiFiiizaiien IS 70 bald up 1ui sarka
Z ~ HI|I e = r. a H|Ha.