Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-09-30

: this, that the leading Abolitionists a,
Is knowledged no law which might stan
e in the way of their interests or the
# passions. Against anybody else tn
! Constitution of the country woul
. have been a protection. But they dis
|. regarded its limitations, and had q
d scruples about swearing to support
: with a predetermination to violate i
:, We had been we'll warned by all tn
0 best men best entitled to our conf
: deDce particularly and eloquentl
r warned by Mr.. Clay and Mr.. Webste
t that if ever the Abolitionists got
e hold upon the organized physical fore
t of the country they would govern with
{ out law, scoff at the authority of tn,
? courts and throw down all the defencei
of civil liberty.
But if the South had not seeded W,
! might have made successful defens,
of our Constitution though the powers
J of the Government were in the hand.
{ of its enemies. With the aid of the
Southern people, if they had been true
to their duty, we could have organized
an opposition so formidable in its
moral and political power that you
/
US. No wonder that we were Union
savers !" for to us the Union meant
personal liberty, free thought, an in
dependent press, habeas corpus, trial
by jury, the impartial administration
of justice-all those great legal insti-
tutions which our forefathers had shed
so much of blood to build up.
The South deserted US at the crisis
of our fate, and left us in our weak
ness to the mercy of the most unprin-
cipled tyrants that ever betrayed a
public trust. Secession was not mere
folly and madness; it was something
much worse. We could not but feel
that we were deeply wronged. There
was no remedy for the dire calamities
with which we were threatened except
in bringing the seeded States back to
their places in the Union. Our con-
victions of legal duty, our exasperated
sense of injury and proper care for
our best interests, all impelled us to
join the new administration in the use
essary to execute the laws in every
part ofthe country.
THE WAR OF THE PHARIsEE.
But the Abolitionists wanted war
for the destruction of the Union, for
the overthrow of the Constitution, for
the subversion of free government, and
for the subjugation of the whole coun-
try to that higher law" which impo-
ses no restraint upon the rapacity and
malice of the ruling power. TO such
war the national conscience was OPP
posed. The soul of every respectable
officer in the army and navy revolted
at it, and every virtuous man in pri-
vate life felt it to be an unspeakable
outrage. To those who doubted be-
fore, the disaster of Bull Run made it
plain that the war could not lie suc-
cessfully carried on unless it was rut
upon principles consistent with the
usages of Christendom and the safety
of our own institutions. Therefore, it
was that on the 22d of July, 1861,
Congress, with almost perfect unanim-
ity. passed resolution through both
houses, declaring in the most explicit
words that the war should be con-
Quoted to preserve the Constitution,
and not to revolutionize it, | give
you here the words of the resolution
itself from the Congressional Globe, p.
223:
Resolved, That the present deplora-
BILE civil war has been forced upon the
country by the disunionists of the
Southern States, now In arms against
the constitutional Government, and in
arms around the capital that in this
national emergency, Congress, banish-
ing all feeling of mere passion or re-
sentiment, will recollect only its duty
to the whole country that this war is
not waged ON their part In any spirit
of oppression, or for any purpose of
conquest or subjugatiOn or purpose of
overthrowing or interfering with the
rights or established institutions of
tain the sapreasdcy ;it 81 Of tfePdb ard main
and to preserve the Union with all the
dignity, equality and rights of the sew
eral States unimpaired (; aud that as
soon as these objects are accomplished
the war ought to cease"
Confiding in this assurance Demo
Gratis from every Northern State rushed
to the front by the hundred thousand;
the border States of the South gave in
their formal adhesion to the govern
ment and our great military leaders
drew their swords with alacrity in sup
port of the free institutions to which
they had shown their fidelity so often
before.
With what base perfidy this solemn
pledge was broken | need not tell you,
for this speech shows that you know it
we'll. You expressly declare that so
far from sustaining the government
you revolutionized it. Instead of a
war for the Union, you claim that it |
put the States out of the Union, and |
you had right to keep them out as
long as you pleased or admit them to |
their places on any terms, however de-
grading, which you mightchoose to die |
tate. Instead ofrestoring the supremacy |
of the Constitution all your politicians
held, and so far as | know from their
public declarations still hold, that the |
victory of the Federal forces abolished |
the Constitution not only in the South |
but in the North, and therefore they |
were not bound to observe its limita-
tions, either in their legislative, judi
cial or executive measure. Instead of !
bringing back the States with their |
rights unimpaired, according TO your
promise, you crippled, enslaved, sub
jugated and disfranchised them. In
stead of using the war power for the
just aud lawful purposes to which you
were pledged, you converted it into a
black Republican job to put the rights
of all the people permanently under
the feet of an unprincipled party.
| submit this part Of the case to your
consideration. ask you to say wheth-
er you can find in the whole history of |
the human race another instance of
similar perfdy on a scale so large. The
baseness of the Massachusetts author
ties in selling the surrendered Pequods
into slavery after a solemn promise to
the contrary was but the germ of an
idea, on which you acted in the full
ness of its growth. Their act was in |
its nature and character nearly as bad |
as it could be but only eight score of |
helpless people suffered by it, the
victims of your treachery are counted
by millions.
Food for Morton.
Last Friday, at point in South |
10 aroliua on tho Port R0val rood