Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-03-12

sots. praters, cheats, slanderers, knayes
empires, insolent politicians, spies, in
formers, and adventurers, to keep watch
and guard over them and to devour then
substance. Villainy has been classified
and reduced to science. 1t is SO regular
and certain that it might be rendered more
desirable if it were not for its grossness,
which even long and constant custom can
not degrade the people to accept.
The people to be restored to their for
mer relations, for elevation of character,
love of Independence, softened and refined
by the sacred endearments of home, the
cultivation of manners, preferring the
modest and quiet power of grace and beauty
Of expression, of thought, and form to the
rl.ter elements of material force, impatient
aa.l lesentful of all restraints not imposed
| by respect and reverence for worth, per-
halS were cyer surpassed. On the other
he d, tue instrumentalities to rule were
..ii,,.eiisi on.e'i TO the nature and character
lie TeorIe; they were called to govern
in al respect the opposite in character, as
tnaY were different in race and condition.
It Is true that rude instruments have arisen
/ fro 7. unt the very earth to the rule Of a
gr3a. and elevated people. They were
such as GUt himself had ordained for the
purpose. they communicated to the coun-
try theJ cnaS rised new and greater power
and diffused over it a brighter and more
glorious light Their virtues mitigated
and excused their ruder vices. They were
not only tolerated, but in some degree res
pected and obeyed. And in some cases,
although they became the admiration even
of their country, they could not elevate or
defy the instrumentalities through which
they rose. Such were the cases of Crom-
well and Napoleon. In our case no great
virtues, u even startling and manly vices,
have be, used; naught but that meanness
which crGwls .,pon the ground and eats the
dust of The e nth. All the illusions and Sc
ducing virtues necessary to soften and
modify authority and render it aceepta-
bic to the pro porous and happy, to say
nothing u the saddened, conquered, and
irritated people for whom it was intended,
have been set at defiance. Dignity, that
sublime !Nlnlty without which there. can
be nogT 10. nIaent but that of the mob and
the bully, has had no place in the system.
1t is a power that commands without harsh
ness, and enforces its DEGREES without bay
tary reverence for worth and for salutary
and elevated authority. 1t softens the as
perity of law, by substituting reason and
intelligent assent for its stern sanctions. 1t
commands duty, from veneration for its
sacred presence. 1t needs not the aid Of
the insolence of Office, nor the terror that
even a high civilization affords, for the
protection of good men and the restraint of
bad ones. 1t needs none Of the circum-
stance of pomp of courts to seduce from
the love of reverential obedience to the
glitter of little brief authority. 1t is
natural and instructive going forth of the
soul ON its highest mission. 1t is a power
that needs no argument to support it, and
whose influence neither space nor time
nor condition of life can effaee or diminish.
No law can be either executed with ad-
vantage to the State or with satisfaction to
the citizen whose justice does not meet the
approval of the majority of the people.
In our form of government the judg-
ment of the people is regarded as the un-
erring rule of political action. 1t is that
power that can do no wrong. By it do
not mean the result of an election on any
subject; the choice of measure of policy,
the whip or spur of parties and party dis
cipline. l mean that sense of right and
wrong, of justice and injustice, of duty
and privilege, which each man feels due to
him as freeman. mean that rule of ex-
cellence before which he summons every
law and act of Government, and by which
he determines its rectitude and adequacy.
1t is by this agency that statutes cease to
be operative when their injustice or i'm
policy has been determined. By it new
measures are provided TO supply new wants
and to provide remedies for those that
have become effete. 1t is in vain that you
attempt peacefully TO execute law con-
| demned before such tribunal. 1t may be
executed by the power of the bsyonet; it
is not the less violence because it has the
sanction of legislative enactment and the
machinery of a powerful Government to
execute it. 1t is even a greater and more
dangerous invasion of social order and
personal right than is the act Of the high
wayman.
Some of our own laws and our action
under them are too fresh in our memories
to be forgotten. | need only mention the
fugitive slave law, which became practi-
Cdlly ueAu leiJeT as bOOn as pdsoeu. II
served no better purpose than to exasper-
ate and ALLEVIATE the different sections. It
could not be executed in the States where
it was designed to operate, because it con-
! ficted with the moral sense of the people.
1t also caused those for whose benefit it
was passed to lose all confidence in the
good faith of those who violated it. Now,
no statute was ever more severely con-
demned than the constitutional provision
which bears so heavily upon the South.
| They deny its justice in principle and re-
iect it on account of the manner of its en-
| actment. That part of this amendment
which accords with their sense of justice
they accept notwithstanding the irregular
ity Of lis introduction. The first section
viii be accepted because of its natural JUS
tice. Those sections only are rejected
which contravene their sense of honor and
| good faith, as well as violate the princi-
! pes on which their liberties are based. Il
| has subjected them to trial for pretended
| offenses in distant parts of the country be-
! fore new and hitherto unknown tribunals.
! II has multiplied offenses, and increased
! greatly the number of officers. Ii works
! inconvenience, and loads them with costs
and vexatious and unpleasant litigation.
1t is not because of the dissatisfaction
that we would remove these impediments
! alone, but for the sake of peace and recon
! Citation which a noble and generous pol
! icy would command. 1t is not a PROPOSE