Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1868-07-31
HORATIO SEYMOUR,
OF VIEW FORM.
THE NATIONAL ISSUES :

EFFORTS are being made, In various
parts of the State, to obtain sigma
lures to memorials TO Brownlow and
the Legislature urging the repeal OF
the franchise law and the call of q
Convention to amend the Constitu-
ton. We think this effort ought to
be made in every county and every
man ought to sign the memorial who
is in favor of peace and Constitutional
liberty. ..
But, say some, what Is the Use of an
effort that is bound to fail? They say
that Brownlow and his tools will turn
n deaf ear to every such appeal, and
denouncc those who make it, as rebels
and revolutionists. This is, no doubt,
true but does not lessen the wisdom
and Importance of the movement
Few are so blind rs not to see that the
day is at hand when this great qties-
ton of freedom to the whites must be
settled by some means or other
In view of this fact, and in vindica-
ton of the character of those who
may be driven to the most efiectual
means of obtaining redress, it is i'm
portant ii shall appear upon record
that every peaceful remedy was dill
gently tried before rcsorting to the ar
gumentof force. Inevery revolution,
it is desirable that the party strug-
Cling for the right shall secure the
sympathy of mankind and the sup
port of public opinion by a clear ex-
pose of the wrongs to be redressed and
the manifestation of desire to re-
dress those wrongs, by every means
thatpromised apeaceablc adjustment.
The man who can not save life or
property by appeals to the humanity
or integrity of the assailant, Is justi-
fled, by divine and human laws, in
taking the life of the would be assas-
sin or robber. And how much more
fully is he justified, by an intelligent
public, when it is known that he did
strive, by peaceful means, to avert the
necessity for shedding the blood of n
fellow-being.
States are but aggregated individ-
uals, and the same principles of justice
that apply to individual actions, APP
ply equally to communities driven to
the like necessity for sclfprotection,
and the same law-abiding spirit and
love of peace that win Justification,
sympathy and respect for the isolated
defender of life and property are no
less beneficial and no less readily eX-
tended to communities struggling for
the preservation of the most valued
political rights.
In order to gain the vantage ground
here indicated, memorials should go
up from all parts of the State to the
Legislature, and since ii Is the last
peaceful remedy within our reach, the
appeal will throw upon that body the
entire responsibility for whatever re-
suits may follow. Peace andprospcr-
ity, constitutional liberty and polit-
zeal justice are dependent upon the
will Of the Legislature. If that body
in II spirit of malignity, or base lust
for power, denies these blessings to
the state, does it expect the great
body of the Conservatives TO continue
the passive victims of its tyranny, OF
rcplenshcrs of treasury from which
thicVish fingers aro never withdrawn?
Such expectation is growing daily
more absurd. Every day we are be-
ing driven nearer to that point of des-
peration from which there will be Il
terrible rccoll-that point beyond
which human endurance cannot be
pressed.
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