Clarksville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1865-1867, 1866-08-31
los. eus7Avus !. HENRY.
His'spccsh at nc Great johnson Rat.
incatlon Meeting N Memphis.

a.f7IT - ~ ~ ~
Hon. Gus. A. Henry, being loudly called
upon, advanced and spoke as follows:
III Tennessee II was not so much the right
of secession as the right of revolution against
the exercise of powers not. granted by the
Constitution, and, therefore despotic on The
part of the Government which impelled us
TO arms. And this Is clearly proven by the
fact, that in February, 1851, our people voted
against secession by an overwhelming ma
jority, and in Juue of the same year, voted
by still more unanimous voice in favor Of
the right Of revolution--that IL was the
rightful remedy against the exercise Of ty-
rannical power by the Government, in VIOLA
tion Of the Constitution. We never sought
TO overthrow, but to vindicate violated
Constitution. As evidence of the fact that
we loved the old Constitution, and venerated
| IL as the sheet anchor of our liberty, the
Confederate States adopted new constitution
| in all respects similar 70 the old one made by
our fathers, and which we inherited from
them, with here and there a clause explains
tory of something which was left doubtful in
the old Constitution, and over which contend
| ing parties had kept up a perpetual war, as,
for example, that Congress had no power TO
levy taxes for the encouragement of domes-
tic manufacturer, but for revenue alone, 10
support and carry ON the Government. We
were always content with the Constitution OF
tho United States with the guarantees our
fathers had thrown around our lives, liberty
and property, II was not to destroy the Con-
stitution, but TO preserve II, that we appealed
to arms, after all efforts at Cancellation had
been exhausted. We fought to preserve our
property which was guaranteed to us by the
Constitution, and which could not be taken
away but in its violation. We did only
what every gallant people on earth would do;
resist when an attempt was made TO take
from them four thousand millions of proper
ty, against the law, and in violation of the
Constitution. And 10 have done otherwise
we would have merited the scorn of the
world, and would Justly have incurred the
contempt ofall mankind. Could New England
or Pennsylvania have done otherwise if their
looms and spindles and iron foundries had
been taken from them without just compen-
sationl We favored battle therefore, not to
overthrow but to uphold and vindicate the
Constitution, which guaranteed our property
to us, and which was the only shield by
which it could be preserved. In that conflict
being Overpowered by numbers, we lost that
property which became involved as an issue
Of the war. We could do nothing less than
fight for it, or ANONYMOUSLY surrender it
without a struggle. We chose the first. As
dire as was the alternative it was all that
was left US. The truth is, the war was inev-
table, IL was our destiny, it lay in our path,
and wss as nnshunnable as death. We lost
all but our honor, and that could only be
maintained by resistance, unsuccessful though
IL was. To have yielded without struggle
we would have lost honor and property too,
and thus would have been bankrupt indeed.
We fought then, to maintain the Constitu-
ton, which guarantee our property to us; to
uphold Constitutional freedom, and the
equality Of the States, as its best, indeed, and
its only guardian. This was our aim, and
whosoever supposcs we wished to destroy the
Constitution of the United States, but poor
ly understands our object, and has short
sighted vision of the real purposes that
swelled our hearts and nerved our arms. We
fought for Constitutional freedom as guaran-
'teed to us by the Constitution, ordained and
established BY our fathers. 1t was TO estab-
lisli these and the equality of the States, TO
guard them forever, that we trod the fiery
path of war, and barred our bosoms to the
storm Of battle and the leaden hail Of death.
These lay at the foundation of our struggle,
and we sought to establish them upon ba-
sis that could never be Overthrown, but fail
ing to do so by the arbitranent of arms, we
turn with joy to the declaration of princi-
pies at Philadelphia, which we have met here
to ratify, second only in magnitude to the
inn do hx,o fharc at
the same place, in l776, and which guaran-
tees tous Constitutional freedom, and ackno vi
edges the equality Of the States and our
right to representation in Congress. Thisde-
claratiOn of principles we cordially embrace
as the substance Of things hoped for, and the
realization of that for which We fought and
bled to establish, and for which so many of
our soldiers have been laid led in their graves.
Had these guarantees been rendered to US in
good faith, before the war, that war would
never have desolated our land, and the tears
and the blood that flowed in such torrents
would never have been shed. On this plat
form Of principles willingly take my stand,
and invoke all the people VI the South to
rally upon ii. F-
confess there are some things in this plat
form do not like--some things said that
ought not to bave been said, and something's
omitted which ought to have been said. ]
have, however, never seen platform en-
tirely approved. My friends used to say !
was hard to please about such things and
probably | was, and my old inirmity clings
to me in this instance. While do not yield
my entire assent to all, do, however, en-
brace, with all my heart, the guaranty of
Constitutional freedom contained therein, the
equality of the States, their right to repre-
sentation in Congress, and the creed, that to
amend the Constitution, the whole, and not
part only, OF the States, should participate
in the recommendation and adoption of any
amendment thereto.
When was in North Carolina, in 1865,
keeping, as well as could, out of the way
Of the Federal forces, was pointed to an
humble cabin, on a sand hill, surrounded by
a cluster Of stunted pines. Idrew up tOsur-
vey the scene. There, said my travelling
companion, is the birthplace Of the Vice
President of the United States, Andrew
johnson. A thousand times has that OBJ
scure and neglected spot forced itself upon
my memory since. That humble dwelling
and the pine forest that surrounded it are fast
becoming historic places, and will be memo
rable as the birthplace of one of our most re-
markable men. No diamond ever lay in the
quarry or in the depths of ocean more OBJ
scure or unconscious of the splendor it was
to flash upon the world, after undergoing the
polish OF the lapidary, than An irew John
son, while toiling in the fields to gain mea-
gre subsistence for his parents and himself
Let not the grandees of earth frown upon his
humble birth, for he who followed the pillow
on those barren hills is destined TO more
immortal renown than history has awarded
to Caesar or Cromwell. Looking, for time
! on the place of his birth. my Imagination tool