Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-09-07
CHEATHAM AND JOHNSON.
Speech of #. C. Huntington, Esq, at
Columbia. on Monday last.

FELLOW CITIZENS.-The occasion mu.
be one of some moment to induce me t
overcome the natural aversion | have TO al
tempting a speech before the public.
feel, however, that the present attitude O
public affairs and public men in Tennessee
renders it incumbent upon me to say
word to my neighbors and friends. w
have common interest, and there is NJ
reason why we should not be one in heart
in sentiment and in action.
PARTIES.
As you are aware, have always been 8
~r Jealous partizan. 10 a government lik
ours, where it was intended that the peopl,
should be the source Of power and Of all pc
litical action, differences of sentiment will
naturally exist, and different lines of policl
be naturally suggested. This beget
parties. Parties, therefore were coeva
with our government. In the very
formation Of the Federal Constitution,
two Bntagonistic ideas sprang up
between the two most illustrious statesmen
of that eventful time-H amiton and JEFF
ferson-the one tendi ng to Capitalization
or strong governme Mt, and the other to q
more limited govern ment, restricted by a
written constitution, reserviDg to the States
respectively all powers not specially dele
gated. From these two antagonistic ideas
the two great parties that divided our peo-
pie before the war mainly sprang-modi-
fed at times by the peculiar circumstances
happening to exist. As most of you are
aware, | belonged to the Jeffsrsonia school,
and was Democrat of the strictest Sect
/ was singularly earnest in my political
faith. and never faltered in my party fsalty.
/ stand before you to-day glorying in the
recolections of that old party. Its long
and eyentful administration of the govern
ment constitutes the brightest chapter in
her history. Gradually, however, the
Federal sentiment assumed control
of the dominant North, and
ideas antagonistic 10 a strict observance of
a written Constitution, and the equality of
the States were inaugurated at Washing
ton, by the election OF a sectional Presi-
dent, who made no cOncealment of the
views which governed his party. Mr.. Lin
coin, as he advanced to Washington to
take upon himself the offics of President,
boldly announced his theory to be ''that the
States of the Union occupied the same re-
lation to the general government that the
counties occupied to the States" This
was making the creaure greater than the
creator, and subOrdinating the States to
The general government. This theory,
openly avOTed by sectional party that
had long sought to overthrow the domestic
institutions of the South, NOW having con-
troll of the government, met with such re-
sistanca-not by factions, but by States,
acting in their sovereign capacity-as re-
suited in war. That such would be the natu
ralresult fthese two conflicting ideas, when
ever reduced to a strictly sectional basis,
had long been apprehended by our wisest
and best men. Mr.. Jefferson himself, was
saddened in his declining years with the
initial step, which he clearly saw must
eventually lead to the arbitrament of the
sword. He has left on record the forebod-
ings which possessed him on the passage of
the Missouri Compromise ia 1920. He
said: "The coincidence of marked prin-
Ciple, moral and POLITICAL with geograph-
zeal line, once conceived, will nevermOre be
obliterated from the mind; it will be recur-
ring on every occasion and renewing irrita-
tations, until it will kind.e such a mutual
and mortal hatred as to render separation
preferable TO eternal discOrd." He farther
said: 81 have been among the most san
guine in believing that our Union would be
of long duration. l now doubt it much,
and see the event at no great distsn e, as
the direct consequence Of this question"
1t will be further rene nbered that Mr..
Jefferson, with the aid of Madison, had,
through the Virginia and Kentucky resolu-
tions of 1898 and 1899, indOctrinsted his
school of politics with the theory, "That the
several States composing the United States
of America were not united on the princi-
pie of unlimited submission to the general
government; but that by compact under
the style and title of a constitution for the
United States, they constituted a general
government for special purposes, delegated
10 that government certain definite powers,
reserving each State to itself the residuary
mass of rights, etc, aud shat this govern
ment Was not made the exclusive or final
judge Of the extent Of powers delegated to
itself" etc.
Pardon me, f2liow-citizens, for this some
what prosy prelude to the main point which
l have in view in addressing you to-day. |
desire, in part, to vindicate the truth If
history. To do so we must necessarily re-
cur II the past.
A POLITICIANS WAR.
Tgfre are inscriptions men in the couu-
try, Who not content with the calamities
that naturally befell the Southern people in
their failure to achieve independence, would
so peryert the facts Of history as to teach pos
terty, that, instead of having been engaged
in an honorable struggle between two great
sections and States, growing ont of antag-
onistic ideas that had their origin with the
very birth Of the government, We have
been engaged in anignOminious politicians
war, in which the great mass of our South
ern people were dupes; the few, designing
knaves, and all, the basest of rebels and
traitUrs-a position, which, if true, would
take from the Southern people their pride
Of manhood, their bOast5d intelligence as
freemen, aud any just claim to capacity
for self.g)vernment. A position, which, if
true, brings shame upon line of most illus
triOus statesman from our early fathers TO
the present; blurs what we esteem an un-
sullied page in our history, and takes from
the, living the only comfort left for the
T5S sacrifices of their heroic and venerated
d cad.
These ancient party creeds, say, were
involved in the war. BY reason of superior
numbers the North was victorious, and the
South has acquieSced in the result. After
years of great difficulty, we have gradually
adjusted ourselves TO the new political dis
pensation.. We still have a country, nomi-
nallv free, to hope for and to work for. We
and in the discharge of that duty, the great
mass of our people, having a common inter
est and a common sympathy, responding to
an organization still existing at the North,
have called themselves Demo Gratis, and Of
the political household Of conservatism and
reconciliation. Not the Democratic party
Of yore. That practically ceased to exist
with the triumph of Federal arms.
50 much, felloW-citizens by way of intro
dUctiOn.
CHEATHAM'S NOMINATION.
Under this new party organization the
Conservative masses have sought, by con-
cert aud harmony of action, TO protect
themselves against the more extreme party
and advance the general welfare. That in
Calcula5le good has been accomplish led
thereby uone can question. To the unself-
ish, no r-a ~ has presented itself why this
organ. 3 should not be continued. The
peopl continued it, and by the GUS
toma-. -.; Of ascsrtaining public senti-
ment, have nominated candidates for most