Clarksville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1865-1867, 1867-05-17
ERROR CORRECTED.

One Of the Radical colored speak
crs, on Saturday, made, as he sup
posed, strong point against Mr..
Etheridge by quoting his declaration,
made long ago, that slavery had not
been misunderstanding it to be in
ferred that Mr.. Etheridge does not
now recognize the fact that abolition
has been accomplished, and that, if
elected, he may disturb the settle
ment. A few words of explanation
will expose the speakers ignorance,
or disposition to misrepresent. At
the time when Mr.. Etheridge said
that slavery had not been abolished
by virtue of Lincoln's proclamation,
he told the simple truth; and had
the question been submitted to the
Supreme Court, it would have been
bound to declare that proclamation
q gross usurpation and ridiculous
nullity. Subsequently, however, the
constitutional amendment was adopt
ed, and the abolition of slavery be-
came, thereby, a fixed fact, and Mr..
Etheridge has not, since that time,
uttered any such opinion as he gave
prior to the adoption Of said amend
ment. is as foolish to claim that
Lincoln's proclamation abolished
slavery as it would be to claim that
one man looses his land because an.
other declares the title defective.
In farther vindication of Mr.. Ethe-
ridge, it may be proper to state that
Congress knew the worthlessness of
Lincoln's proclamation and therefore
submitted the amendment, knowing
that nothing short of its adoption
could, legally and constitutionally,
perfect the work Of abolition. BY
this proceeding, Congress endorsed,
to the fullest extent, the opinion that
emancipation had not been accom-
plished by the proclamation, nor by
the wholesale abduction of slaves
from their homes. Lincoln, then,
did not set the negroes free; neither
did Congress neither did the Radi-
calls, and all combined could not have
done it without the consent of the
South, whether freely given, or OBJ.
tanned by force.
Tho Constitution confers upon nc
Department, nor upon all together
the power to emancipate slaves with.
out the consent Of tho owners, or by
an amendment adopted by three,
fourths Of all the States. 1t is clear
that such amendment could not be
adopted without the concurrence Of
some of the Southern States, or un
ill ten new northern States were ere
atcd to give the required majority
From these facts, it is clear that tn,
negroes do not owe their freedom t.
the yankees, but to the people of thu
South and when struggling adven
turers claim the gratitude and sup
port Of freedmen, upon the grounc
that the North set them free, they Sc
up false claim and practice a gros
fraud upon the victims of their ava
rice aud hypocricy. So far as tn
mere fact is concerned, it is a matte
Of little consequence to the negroe
how. they obtained their freedom
hut il is due to justice aud the trutl
Of history to inform them that if tn
Southern States had not, througI
their Legislatures, voted them free
they would, under the Constitution
and laws of the United States, hav
been slaves up to this moment. !
is true, they might have been fugi
tives from labor, and beyond the i'm
mediate control of their owners, Blu
their right to hold them as slaves
would have remained unimpaired
and could have been enforced when
ever circumstances might favor it
enforcement
Let the freedmen investigate thi
subject, and they will find that W
are right, and that they are mistaken
in giving the yankees all The credi
for their liberation, and are doinl
wrong when they suffer themselve
TO be persuaded that the people o
the South are their enemies. They
are their best Gic4lS