Year: 1864

SPEECH OF JUDGE WALKER.


GENTLEMEN l do not feel able to talk
to YOU only for a little while. It was
not my intention to speak to you on this
occasion; expected some distinguished
gentlemen from abroad would address
you. l feel that the questions which
are involved, are of vital interest to the
people of Giles county. Are the people
of Giles county willing to come under
civil law and order? Are you willing
to lay aside your prejudices and take
upon yourselves the form of law. Law
is a rule Of conduct prescribed by the
Supreme Power in the State, command
ing what is right, and prohibiting what
is wrong Are there any of you who
would object to rule of this sort2 We
see, fellow-citizens, that you are in a
condition to appreciate the blessings
and benefits of civil law For the past
two or three years you have been de
priyed of law, and your rights Of person
and property wholly unprotected 1t
has been said that man cannot appre-
ciate health until he loses it. When he
has languished on a bed of sickness, and
his constitution has become shattered
by disease and exposure, he is then in
condition to appreciate health. Neither
can a man appreciate the blessing of
sight until he has become blind


The people Of Tennessee are now ex-
periencing some of the sad and bitter
fruits of tearing themselves loose from
a well and old established Government
and launching out upon the broad
ocean of uncertainty, confusion and
chaos. When Civil Law is once moro
established and the Machinery of Gov
eminent put in motion you win cling
to it with more tenacity than ever No
country is of any value without a Gov
ernment; here in Middle Tennessee we
have one Of the most delightful countries
on the globe, a asoil rich and productive;
that yields abundant harvest to the
laboring mar, a climate pleasant de
lightful and salubrious, and all the ele-
ments calculated to make the people
rich, and the country prosperous and
happy. Without Government to Sc
cure and protect our rights, these ad-
Vantages are of but little value
you had at one time a good Govern
ment, one that never deprived you of
a single right, that never oppressed you
and that sat so light upon the people
that they hardly knew that they had
Government over them at all This
Government say you once had. Your
courts Of law were open, and justice
administered, without sale, denial, or dc
laH; your schools, colleges and seats of
learning were filled with students; your
farms titled, and You could lay down at
night and sleep soundly, with unbarred
doors and unbolted windows, sit under
your own wine and fig tree, and there
was none to molest and make you
afraid" But how is il now2 A great
change has come over the country, and
your condition is indeed a deplorable
one. Your courts of justice are closed,
your schools and colleges converted into
military hospitals for the sick and
wounded, your farms desolated, your
towns and cities depopulated, your
young men andmiddle aged men IN the
army. Many of them have been slain
on the battlefield, and many of them
have died afar from home in loath-
some hospitals and camps. We
see the weeds of mourning in every
church we 90 into, we hear the
wall of the widow and the plaintive
cry of the orphan waited upon almost
every breeze All these misfortunes
and calamities, my fellow-citizens, have
been brought around by seeding and
attempting to tear down the best gov
ernment devised BY the wisdom Of
man. Fellow-citizens, il is impossible to
break up and destroy the Union, L must
be preserved upon the principle Of self
preservation - (the first law OF our
nature) If nothing else.


The Federal Union, may be compared
to q ship which Is built of planl1s from
the different States. She is launched
upon the ocean under the guidance
and control of a skillftd captain and
pilot, and when thousands of miles
from land some Of the crew become
dissatisfied with the management of the
vessel and they nutiny, and threaten
to take out their planlzs and thereby
cause a leak and the ship, and its cargo
with all on board to be engulphed in
one common ruin This could not be per
noitted by the officers in command.
And upon the same principle the
peouls of South Carolina. Georgia
and other States mutinied and
attempted % take cut their plauks
from the old ship Of State and
and thereby cause ; leak and all on
board to perish This ahip is laden
with the richest cargo in the world. and