The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-05-11
Saashrille Mnioll.
Nm. OANEROS 8 co, Publishers.
THURSDAY, MAY II, 1865.
The poctrIne Of rrue ChIralrr

10 submit, says the \. Y. True
Delta, Ito inexorable necessity can
not be imputed to any man or people
as fault The bravest knights in the
days of chivalry counted it no disgrace
to yield'their swords to a more forum
ate, if not braver foe. Nay, to yield
gracefully when fairly vanquished was
no less the duty of brave warrior than
to fight manfully while he has the
power. The illustrious Bayard-the
knight sans pellr 60 sans TepTOch6-the
victor in a hundred well fought fields
when skill Bnd strength had done
their best in vain, yielded as nobly as
he had fought Twice was he taken
prisoner, and twice released unran-
somed by his chiyalrous captors. The
brilliant Francis the First of France,
when wounded and taken prisoner at
the battle of Pavia, acquainted his
mother with his defeat in the
celebrated words, "All is lost
save honor" So it has always been
with the truly brave. While dar-
ing "all that may become a man, they
recognize the point beyond which fight.
ing is inhuman. The spirit Of chiv-
airy and that which animates the guer-
rilla system are utterly incompatible.
The first had completely died out of
Spain long before the second found a
home in her mountain fastnesses. To
yield to superior force, and then by
guile or assassination accomplish the
death of the victor, is an act worthy
only of savage and degraded nature.
While one spark of the fire of true
chivalry yet burns in the heart, such
an act must be execrated.
That the Southern people have
fought bravely in their bad cause, no
fair-minded person will deny. That
they have been fairly beaten is equally
indisputable. The question with them
now is in what spirit should they take
their defeat As soldiers or as guerril-
las; as Christians or as barbarians?
Which act will they hold up before the
world, which inscribe upon the page of
history as characteristic of Southern |
civilization and Southern manhood, the |
surrender of their brilliant chieftain,
Lee, to generous Grant, or the assas-
sination of Abraham Lincoln in
the very act of extending to them ex-
ecutive clemency2 While hesitating |
whom to blame for an act as evidently |
the result of conspiracy as the massa-
ere of St bartholomew, we do not hes
itate a moment IN generating the !
Southern people from all participation,
by sympathy or otherwise, in its afro
cious guilt. Nay, we believe that some
among them, even among those who |
have most cordially hated the illustri-
GUS victim, would be the first, had they |
the power, to yield up to condign pun
ishment the criminals, however exalted |
in position, however identified with |
the Southern cause, deliver them up |
the more quickly for being so identifi- !
ed. Once convinced that deed so |
vile, so cowardly, so brutal, had been !
planned in a Southern brain, and all |
the dormant ability of the Southern |
nature would rouse to wash our the |
stain in the blood of the criminal
While doning this justice to the nobil- |
ity of the Southern people, we feel new
ertheless compelled to remind them
that until the instigator of this foul |
crime is found, and found to be not |
one of their leadres, until the guilt of
it is fixed beyond the possibility of |
doubts on other hands, there is no |
power in human language that can |
persuade the world to regard it in any |
other light than as the elimination Of |
the rebellion" For so surely as Abra-
ham Lincoln represented the spirit of |
National Government, so surely did his |
assassination represent the spirit which |
has arrayed itself against that Govern.
ment
"Let II true SoutheTners then show
their adherence of this act by dis
countenancing the cowardly guerrilla
system, SO closely akin to the spirit Of
assas sination; and by accepting the
capitulation of Gen. Lee as an example
for their imitation. Like him let them
submit nobly, when to continue the
struggle would be as foolish as wicked
Let those in high position not only
yield ready obedience to the laws, but
influence their neighbors to do likes
wise. Let them Danish from their hearts
all hate and bitterness, and remem-
Der that not as conquerers but
as brethren do the soldiers of the Re
public plant again on Southern soil the
flag of their fathers. Let them recall
all the ties Of nature, to association,
and of interest that unite the two sec
ton of the country, and comparing
them with the one conflicting feature
of their society now dead by their own
act let them do all in their power to
make the inevitable acceptable; and
for the enmity which they have so
blindly cherished, and whose real ma
ture they now see personifed in deed
they abhor, (for what is murder
but hatred acted out let them bury it
in the tomb of him who in all he did
sought only their welfare; and whom
their own children in future years viii
rise up and call blessed.
"ThIs, then, is the dictate Of that
spirit to which the Southern people
have always land in many instances not
unfairly laid elaim-the spirit of Chiv-
airy. Bravery, gentleness, candor and
digni6ed submission in defeat, are its
distinguishing characteristics and we
sincerely trust that in this hour of trial
the people Of the South may prove
their claim to that spirit by displaying
the three last as oonspicuously as they
have already done the first"
AMOUNT OF USTrED STATES SECURITIES
ABRoAD.-InformAtiOn has been re-
ceived from our conIuls and from
American bankers in Europe that there
are now in European markets between