Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

ple of Tennessee, at Knoxville, and again on the 16th of the same month, at which latter time the citizens of the State, in mass meeting assembled, declared in favor of emancipation, and for a convention to alter the Constitution so as to make Tennessee a free State.

On the 6th of June Governor Johnson was unanimously nominated by the National Union Convention, assembled at Baltimore, as the candidate for the Vice-Presidency of the United States, Abraham Lincoln having been renominated for the Presidency. When this intelligence reached Nashville, a mass meeting was held, and Governor Johnson invited to address them. He was greeted with the greatest enthusiasm. In the course of his remarks he spoke upon the topics of slavery and emancipation. Alluding to the nation as being "in the throes of a mighty revolution," he said :—

"While society is in this disordered state, and we are seeking security, let us fix the foundations of the Government on principles of eternal justice, which will endure for all time. There are those in our midst who are for perpetuating the institution of slavery. Let me say to you, Tennesseans, and men from the Northern States, that slavery is dead. It was not murdered by me. I told you long ago what the result would be, if you endeavored to go out of the Union to save slavery, and that the result would be bloodshed, rapine, devastated fields, plundered villages and cities; and therefore I urged you to remain in the Union. In trying to save slavery you killed it, and lost your own freedom. Your slavery is dead, but I did not murder it. As Macbeth said to Banquo's bloody ghost,

'Never shake thy gory locks at me,

Thou canst not say I did it.'

"Slavery is dead, and you must pardon me if I do not mourn over its dead body; you can bury it out of sight. In restoring the State, leave out that disturbing and dangerous element, and use only those parts of the machinery which will move in harmony.

"Now, in regard to emancipation, I want to say to the blacks that liberty means liberty to work and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Idleness is not freedom. I desire that all men shall have a fair start and an equal chance in the race of life, and let him succeed who has the most merit. This, I think, is a principle of Heaven. I am for emancipation for two reasons: first, because it is right in itself; and, second, because in the emancipation of the slaves we break down an odious and dangerous aristocracy. I think that we are freeing more whites than blacks in Tennessee. I want to see slavery bro- ken up, and when its barriers are thrown down, I want to see industrious, thrifty emigrants pouring in from all parts of the country."

In formally accepting the nomination of the Convention, Governor Johnson wrote as follows:

"NASHVILLE, Tenn., July 2, 1864. "HON. WILLIAM DENNISON, Chairman, and others, Committee of the National Union Convention:

"GENTLEMEN, Your communication of the 9th ult., informing me of my nomination for the Vice-Presidency of the United States by the National Convention held at Baltimore, and enclosing a copy of the resolutions adopted by that body, was not received until the 25th ult.

"A reply on my part had been previously made to the action of the Convention in presenting my name, in a speech delivered in this city on the evening succeeding the day of the adjournment of the Convention, in which I indicated my ac

ceptance of the distinguished honor conferred by that body, and defined the grounds upon which that acceptance was based, substantially saying what I now have to say. From the comments made upon that speech by the various presses of the country to which my attention has been directed, I considered it to be regarded as a full acceptance.

"In view, however, of the desire expressed in your communication, I will more fully allude to a few points that have been heretofore presented.

"My opinions on the leading questions at present agitating and distracting the public mind, and especially in reference to the rebellion now being waged against the Government and authority of the United States, I presume are generally understood. Before the Southern people assumed a belligerent attitude, (and repeatedly since,) I took occasion most frankly to declare the views I then entertained in relation to the wicked purposes of the Southern politicians. They have since undergone but little, if any, change. Time and subsequent events have rather confirmed than diminished my confidence in their correctness.

"At the beginning of this great struggle I entertained the same opinion of it I do now, and in my place in the Senate I denounced it as treason, worthy the punishment of death, and warned the Government and people of the impending danger. But my voice was not heard or counsel heeded until it was too late to avert the storm. It still continued to gather over us without molestation from the authorities at Washington, until at length it broke with all its fury upon the country. And now, if we would save the Government from being overwhelmed by it, we must meet it in the true spirit of patriotism, and bring traitors to the punishment due their crime, and, by force of arms, crush out and subdue the last vestige of rebel authority in every State. I felt then, as now, that the destruction of the Government was deliberately determined upon by wicked and designing conspirators, whose lives and fortunes were pledged to carry it out; and that no compro

mise, short of an unconditional recognition of the independence of the Southern States could have been, or could now be proposed, which they would accept. The clamor for "Southern Rights," as the rebel journals were pleased to designate their rallying cry, was not to secure their assumed rights in the Union and under the Constitution, but to disrupt the Government, and establish an independent organization, based upon Slavery, which they could at all times control.

"The separation of the Government has for years past been the cherished purpose of the Southern leaders. Baffled in 1832 by the stern, patriotic heroism of Andrew Jackson, they sullenly acquiesced, only to mature their diabolical schemes, and await the recurrence of a more favorable opportunity to execute them. Then the pretext was the tariff, and Jackson, after foiling their schemes of nullification and disunion, with prophetic perspicacity warned the country against the renewal of their efforts to dismember the Government.

"In a letter, dated May 1, 1833, to the Rev. A. J. Crawford, after demonstrating the heartless insincerity of the Southern nullifiers, he said: Therefore the tariff was only a pretext, and disunion and a Southern Confederacy the real object. The next pretext will be the negro, or Slavery question.'

"Time has fully verified this prediction, and we have now not only the negro, or Slavery question,' as the pretext, but the real cause of the rebellion, and both must go down together. It is vain to attempt to reconstruct the Union with the distracting element of Slavery in it. Experience has demonstrated its incompatibility with free and republican governments, and it would be unwise and unjust longer to continue it as one of the institutions of the country. While it remained subordinate to the Constitution and laws of the United States, I yielded to it my support; but when it became rebellious, and attempted to rise above the Government, and control its action, I threw my humble influence against it.

"The authority of the Government is supreme, and will admit of no rivalry. No institution can rise above it, whether

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

it be Slavery or any other organized power. In our happy form of government all must be subordinate to the will of the people, when reflected through the Constitution and laws made pursuant thereto State or Federal. This great principle lies at the foundation of every government, and cannot be disregarded without the destruction of the government itself. In the support and practice of correct principles we can never reach wrong results; and by rigorously adhering to this great fundamental truth, the end will be the preservation of the Union, and the overthrow of an institution which has made war upon, and attempted the destruction of the Government itself.

[ocr errors]

"The mode by which this great change the emancipation of the slave - can be effected, is properly found in the power to amend the Constitution of the United States. This plan is effectual and of no doubtful authority; and while it does not contravene the timely exercise of the war power by the President in his Emancipation Proclamation, it comes stamped with the authority of the people themselves, acting in accordance with the written rule of the supreme law of the land, and must therefore give more general satisfaction and quietude to the distracted public mind.

"By recurring to the principles contained in the resolutions so unanimously adopted by the Convention, I find that they substantially accord with my public acts and opinions heretofore made known and expressed, and are therefore most cordially indorsed and approved, and the nomination, having been conferred without any solicitation on my part, is with the greater pleasure accepted.

"In accepting the nomination I might here close, but I cannot forego the opportunity of saying to my old friends of the Democratic party proper, with whom I have so long and pleasantly been associated, that the hour has now come when that great party can justly vindicate its devotion to true Democratic policy and measures of expediency. The war is a war of great principles. It involves the supremacy and life of the

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »