Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-04-20
atnion and Smtrifau.
AN ADDRESS TO THE PRESIDENT BY
A TENNESSEAN.

Executive mansion, and was favored witt
se7eral interviews by the President. In on
of these he delivered the following address
which we copy from the National Republican
Mr.. President: The diyersities Of hu
man nature are very great; but they ar
natural, and consequently can never be an
INITIATED. We have in individual expert
ence and associated progress to recognize tn
dawn Of day as one condition that inspire
our effort, while with its close we NATURAL,
relinquish in another. Thus we have L
look about us and see that all has its place
every development having its specific pro
perties. IT'S thus in nature we have
spring. time and harvest and there is no
thing more true, Mr.. President, than hO
extremes meet. Planting or spring is on
thing; harvesting OF fall is another Tn
one is the cause; the other the effect or WELD
We have, therefore, beginnings and consum
nations And il is thus we should look a
extremes.
Radicalism in the North, secessionism il
the South are antipodes, so TO speak, and 0
course they cannot be one; for they are tn,
balance wheels Of creation, at least 50 far a
our Republic is concerned. These element
are immense, for they have devastated on
country; laid waste the house Of the HAPPY
and the free; exhausted our Treasury; i'm
poverished our people; and burdened u
with tax that is onelUus in the extreme.
In fact, sir, this recalls me in boyish mem
ory 10 the trials of our Fathers of the Re
public, who rebelled from taxation anC
stamp duties, imposed where there was M
= L.,
to-day? Is there rebellion? Nonel But a law
full acquiescence in the authority Of the Gov
eminent And, sir, with this fact patent before
the whole country, attested by every
honest and careful observer, and by the very
men who have led our armies to the final
successful close of our unnatural war, tax
collectors are all over country denied rep
resentation, as thick as mile-posts on the
road, 10 the ruin of those whom they seek.
/ regret 10 say equally with yourself that
representation is an anomaly in this, the
Capital Of the Republic-with no voice to
hold in check the rapacious desire Of accu-
INFLATED hatred or misconception that has
arisen from circumstances so diverse in their
effects and so lamentable in the soluble evil
dence Of their exhibition.
With this sad realization before as,
sir, permit me TO say, in the spirit of SINGER
ity and truth in which it has been my honor
and pleasure always TO address you, that it
seems TO me UNREASONABLE, that if we would
live the life Of freedom, cherishing the voice
Of liberty, we must, as a people, pause and
well remember the tried events Of years past,
when individual consciousness had TO throw
forth on the trackless waste of uncertainty
It's virtues TO Withstand anarchy, monarchy,
and power. For we, sir, are but breath to
the breeze, 10 the centuries that consecrate
government as the edict Of the viziers whose
liie-throes are passed away. Time and ex-
perience call TO me at least one reflection
that | cannot disregard. Its index finger
points ever onward, and ever truthfully dis
closes some new emotion that brings us with
in the the arena of capability, condition,
circumstance, and event. And that is the
ordering of nature, in her complex unfold
ing, to develop a new reality. What l
mean is, or may beexpressed somewhat thus:
Would we dissolve passions we must indeed
study contrasts. The North is not in nature
a contradiction 10 the South, bat they are
natural contrasts TO each other. They are
antipodes, but not, necessarily, antagonistic.
SO they must be in law, in policy, and social
intercourse-a beautiful and mutually beneti-
cial contrast, but not an antagonism to each
other. Cold is not heat, day is not night,
summer is not winter, and yet the one
could not be without the other, while each
reveals an omniiic purpose that bestows It's
good 30 all and succumbs not 10 the preten-
sions of any. These contracts of nature
make its infinite variety and beauty, its in
exhaustible utility, and at the same time
reveal a sublime and perfect harmony. 1t
is therefore, a plain dictate of common
sense, confirmed by all experience and OBJ
seryation, that no array of the contrasted
conditions of people, marked and distin-
guished by the effects Of contrasted climate,
soil and culture, in antagonistic strife but
what must prove fatal 10 the prosperity and
hope Of each.
We, sir, have passed through a terrific
and most desolating war, and to-day we
have all our characteristic differences left,
20 be re-arrayed in ceaseless strife, unless
we can do justice As a people, as a national
ity, 10 the just and unavoidable claims Of
each section.
We can, sir, perpetuate a unity, but we
can only do it by recognizing our actual di-
versities. | rejoice, therefore, that the poll
cy of the administrative function of this
American nation, in your hands, proposes
no alienation, no unjust demands upon a
people denied voice in the councils of the
nation; the only course whereby that acri-
mony which has laid waste the fairest pros
poets of our labor and hope may itself be-
comea skeleton beneath the power of thought
and the divine administering of our contra
riety of climate and culture.
/ papnnf halr eli hisf rppal III in my ipfpn-
cy and boyhood, when memory is not poig-
nant in its effect, the fact that stump orators
used 10 tell Of extrayagant expenditures of
the Government or the fallacy of undertake
ings, not 20 say culpable dishonesty. II
strikes me, If my memory serves me right,
that the marginal figures were from forty to
siXty-five millions of dollars. Within this was
exemplited much to bring down applause in
regard 10 sincerity, trust, obligation and
fidelity involved. This sum was annual,
Mr.. President. What do now see? That
the returns from income are more than suf-
hcient, monthly, TO pay what was deemed
the most extrayagant and injudicious in
vestiture of the then working Of the gov
ernmental form of our nation. Now, sir,
what does this prove? do not array it as
an unqualified exhibition of expenditure or
dcriliction; or multiplied Icy twelve we can
soon see its total and its balance against for
mer procedure. We must admit, however,
that il is vast Bust j must say that it inn
presses us with a solemn recognition of one
or two conclusions: an Unwholesome de
parture from the past, or the induttable re-
cognition Of our already inaugurated future,
which believe will be the recognition of
right and the Precipitation of the age. For
the flag has trailed in the dust Our friends,
our brothers, and our fathers have bled and
died in the land and in the series of events
we have arisen TO new consciousness of our
strength and power TO redeem the withered
and lost, and rs such, sir, let us be true 10
the emblematic semblance placed in our
hands for the good and the cherished and
vet to be developed hopes of humanity.
That semblance Of united nations power
should be equal from the frozen isles of
Maine 20 the melting suns OF Mexico. All
beneath it should feel shielded from mus
tice and disparaging wrong.
With these assurances, never having
known a North or a South, an Fast or
West, no good or i'll for humanity, | have
measured my hope, dispensed my benefits in
accordance with the recognized desires Of
the conscious evidence Of one God and one
humanity, however diversified their minis
trations and callings 10 the best of my feeble
ability.
| come sir, to congratulate YOU for my
self, and | think may say for a vast major
ity, IL not all, the people ef your and my
adopted State. We remember YOU, sir, as
the child of the people, and always the re
preventative Of their dearest interest and