The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-08-04


We have had frequent reports that
Mr. Stephens, in making application
for pardon under the amnesty procls-
nation, stated that while he was origi-
nally personally opposed 20 the act of
seeding, he vas led to believe the
right to seeede existed, and any attempt
TO DO 50 would be aequiesced in, BY
reading the Republican journals OF the
North, published in 1860 Among 9TH
ers he referred TO the N. Y. Tribune,
and quoted the following which ap-
peared in that journal, Nov. Both, ls60
If the cotton States generally unite
with her South CarOlina) IN seeding
we insist that they cannot be prevent.
ed, aud that the attempt must not be
made. Five millions Of people, moro
than half Of them uf the dominant
race of whom st least half q million
are able and wiling 70 shoulder ma +
kets, can never be, subdued while
fighting aronnd their own hearth
stones lf they could, they would no
longer be equal members Of the Union,
but conquered dependencies Suppose
they could be overcome aud their mill
taTy force destroyed, what then? Can
yon compel them 70 send members to
the COngress2 Cen you make them ae-
eept federal ofhcens2 Can VOC prevent |
them tarring and feathering those who |
dos If not, how idle to talk of subdu>
ing them? If eight States, having five |
millions Of people, choose to separate /
from Us they cannot permanently be |
withheld from 50 doing by federal can
non. We propose TO wrest this potent
engine from disunionist by saying /
frankly to the slave States, If you
choose to leave the Union, leave it. but
let Us have no quarrel about it If you
think it q curse to you, and an unfair
advantagelto Us repudiate II, and see
if you are not mistaken. If you are
better by yourselves, land God speed
you; for our part, we are quite willing
to keep along with you, but if the as
sociation is irhsome 10 you, we have too
much selfrespect to insist upon its con-
tindance
Mr.. Stephens opposed secession to
the. last moment; Greeley said to the
"wayward sisters, go, and God speed
you He had too much self-respect
70 insist upon q continuance" of the
Union. Long after Mr., Lipcoln was
elected, Mr.. s gave his whole influence
TO prevent the step taken; Mr. Greeley,
to say the least, encouragedit it. If eth
er committed crime, the latter is the
greater criminal While Mr.. Stephens
was laboring to convince his friends in
Georgia that secession would bring
trouble, Greeley WAS telling them that if
they chose to leave the Union, they
might do it without quarrel, etc.
Who, then, is most blameableR
If the government would, by the tK<
eFcise Of It's power to pardon at discre-
ton, return Mr.. Stephens to the people
of his own State and the South, it would
do an act that would at once compel
the lasting gratitude and support of the
whole people. Clemency, when exer-
cised properly, never fails to impress
mankind favorably. If the voice of
Georgis's 8 great statesman could now be
heard, as it would be under other cir
in support of the policy Of
the national administration, the end
would soon be reached, and with the
most satisfactory result We observe
that many of the Northern journals
are advocating the immediate release
Of Mr. Stephens, among them some of
those classed as radical and in GeOr-
gia the sentiment of gratitude for such
an act on the part Of the President
would be unanimous.