Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-01-19

IHE GREAT IHSt I~-~~e9k IA IL - -
PRESIDENT BE SUSTAINED.
The memorials to the President and TO the
Sumner-Stevens non-reconstruction Commit
tee Of Congress Of certain so-called Union
lists Of this State, amount, in our Judgment TO.
an attack upon the disposition and policy OF
the President towards the Southern people
and a restoration of relations of fraternity
among Che States Of the Union. ltis due
from the friends Of President johnson in
this State, and Of the true friends Of harmo
nious Union, that they should speak some
good and rong word in defence Of both.
We mean those friends who stood by
the President when he was the military
Governor Of the State, and by the Union
in Its sorest trials and in Its darkest days
Many Of this class, who were most powerful
and influential in upholding the power and
authority of the Federal Government, and
who were endeavoring, like the Prcsi-
dent, to preserve the Union against the
warfare upon its integrity, and to perpet-
uate i. in its spirit and under its consti-
tuition, We are sure, do not concur in the
course and policy Of those who, like these
memorialists, would throw every obstacle in
the way of peace and harmony. Ii is grow
ing painfully apparent that in this State, as
well as elsewhere, ii is becoming a most
grave and important question, whether
the successful assertion of the Federal
authority at the point Of the sword shall
bear lis legitimate frnits--whether the war
who waged by the friends Of Union to restore
that which was delivered 10 South Carolina
and Massachusetts by common ancestry
or whether il was designed 10 upset the old
government, nderadicate fromthe american
heart and mind the principles upon which
| il was based, and substitute in its place a
new one on the modern radical idea OF pro-
gress, which has no parallel either in ancient
or modern history. This question, in its
decision, affects the "loyalD as well as the
disloyap States--it affects alike every man,
woman and child, white or black, from the
st. Croix TO the Rio Grande, and from
the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Upon il
people are arraying themselves. On one
side we have Summer and Stephens and
their blind followers in Congress and the
@memorialists" of Tennessee, and on the
other we have the friends of the President
and Of genuine republican government
everywhere In this State the gauntlet has
been thrown down. 1t is incumbent on the
| friends Of good government to take il up
Il is the present and imperative duty Of
those who have been true to the Union in
all its vicissitudes to stand by il now in
what may become its greatest and severest
trial. They should not suffer these memori-
ais to pass unnoticed and unchallenged. We
are not, perhaps, their most proper advisers,
but We cannot refrain from uttering to them
serious and significant warning. We
tell them now that unless the true friends Of
peace and harmony and good government
bestir themselves, the United States viii pass
into a new form Of government and one,
too, which will lead its people into a despot-
ism the like of which has never been known
among men. The Presiden. cannot with
stand everything; he is powerless for good
without the honest. faithful and earnest sup
port of the people The pressure upon him,
in the noble and patriotic stand he has taken,
is great, and he needs the support, the
manly and outspoken support, of all
who have been, or intend to be, faithful to
the Constitution and all the just and equal
laws Of the land. In this, the honest man
who has been "rebel'' can strike hands
with the honest Unionist. While both live
under common government, the cause OF
the Constitution, the-eause of republican lib
erty must be common one. And we will
assume to say that the dishonest "rebel,' ;,
If there be any such, and the dishonest
Unionist, must herd together, in common
effiart IN defeat the ends Of peace and good
government We mean by dishonest
rebel" person who, failing in his effort to
establish Southern Confederacy, still re-
mains in the country devoting his eff
forts 10 perpetuate strife and to To-
menting disorder, and yielding no support
TO the ends Of good government. Such char
acters, in our belief are merely imaginary,
and only exist in the fancies of those who
would be delighted TO have them exist BY
the dishonest Unionist" we mean the man
who protested attachment to the Union dur
ing the struggle, but who after the struggle
is over despises it in his heart and spurns
and obstructs its complete restoration in his
acts
The issue is distinctly made, not only in
this State, but throughout the Union, and
deserves the serious and prompt action of
the people.