| From the Memphis Appeal |
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| January 24, 1861 |
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| Letter From Sam Tate, Esq.
{President, Memphis & Charleston RR} |
| Memphis, January 22, 1861 |
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| To the Editors of the Appeal: |
| The numerous calls made
through the press as well as the personal application of friends, to
allow my name to be placed before the people of Shelby county to
represent them in the State convention to assemble on the 25th of
February, induces me to state my views on the present issues, and define
my position. |
| I have never been a
politician. I have never been a candidate for office of any kind. I
depreciate anything like politics in the approaching canvas, and do not
believe that any man should be selected to the high and responsible
position to represent the people of Tennessee in her convention, who
seeks, or is a candidate for the position. The people should select
their best men without regard to party or personal influence. When they
have acted, I think it the duty of the persons selected to serve their
country in this, her hour of trouble, and that no true patriot will
refuse his services. |
| It will be recollected that as
far back as the 30th of November last, a public meeting was called at
Exchange building, in which I participated, and acted as one of the
committee on resolutions. In that meeting, among other things, we passed
the following resolutions, to which I gave my hearty approval: |
| "Resolved, That the
hostile attitude of the Northern States toward the southern portion of
the Confederacy, as evidenced by a long series of outrages, and finally
terminating in the elevation to the Presidency of the bitter and
uncompromising enemy to our institutions, is utterly inconsistent with
the further continuance of the Union, unless we can be guaranteed all
our rights under the Constitution; and the South owes it to the plain
dictates of honor and self-preservation, promptly to withdraw from
the Confederacy without a full and complete redress of grievances be
tendered by the people of the North. |
| "Resolved, That we
cordially recommend union and concert of action among our southern
brethren; and we pledge ourselves, in the event that justice from the
people of the North is not promptly rendered, and guarantees for future
protection insured, that we will seek that protection and justice out of
the Union, which has been pertinaciously denied us within it. |
| "Resolved, That we
would not submit to the coercion by the General Government of any State
that may feel itself so aggrieved by its action as to induce it to
secede from it. |
| ***** |
| Sam. Tate |
| At the time these resolutions
were passed no propositions for a settlement of our difficulties with
the North had been presented to Congress, and the position of the
Republican party in that body had not been fully defined; and having
always stood by and advocated the preservation of the Union as long as
it could be done with honor and safety to the institutions of the South,
I still desired to give the northern people a chance to redress our
grievances. |
| Southern representatives have
vied with each other in offering concessions and measures for peace.
They have plead for the Union and for justice under the Constitution. To
all their peace offerings and appeals for justice and equal rights under
the Constitution, the Republicans have turned a deaf ear, and through
their chosen representatives, Seward, Wade and others, have said, we
have no compromises to offer you, until driven into exasperation by the
demands and threats of the dominant Republican party. Five of the
southern States have resolved to absolve all allegiance to the Federal
Government and assert their right to govern themselves. Three others
have also called conventions pledged to act likewise, and before our
convention will meet seven of the sovereign States, once composing a
part of the Federal Union, to-wit: Georgia, Florida, Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, will have declared their independence
of the Federal Government, and set up for themselves; and the pertinent
question may then be asked, "Have we any Union?" If we have not,
then we, as men, would look that fact in the face and act accordingly. |
| The Federal Government and the
dominant party north, take the positive and bold ground that these
States have acted without authority, and that the power of the
Government and the Republican party will be used to coerce them in the
Union against their will. Was the object of the framers of our
Government to have it a Government based upon the consent of the
governed, or by coercion? If the latter be the construction placed upon
that sacred instrument, the Constitution, then those States who have
seen proper to assert their rights, must be coerced, and a standing army
maintained in their midst, and they held as conquered provinces, under
the yoke of a military despotism. To this position I am utterly opposed,
believing as I do that the first gun fired by Federal authority to
coerce a Southern State, sounds the death knell of this Government, and
the hopes of those who expect or desire a reconstruction of it, upon the
principles of the present Constitution, with proper constitutional
guarantees for the rights and safety of the South and southern
institutions. |
| Having tried in vain through
our Representatives in Congress, to get such amendments to the
Constitution, or such construction of the present instrument as we deem
positively necessary for the protection of our rights under it, and all
offers of concession on our part having been indignantly rejected, in
the spirit of the resolutions passed November 30th, before quoted, I
think the time has arrived when the South should act and speak out, in
language not to be misunderstood, and should Congress fail to pass, or
give positive and undoubted assurance that the Crittenden propositions,
at least, will be added as an amendment to the Constitution before the
meeting of our convention, I see no position left to Tennessee but to
take side with the Black-Republicans, or join them and the Government in
waging a ruthless and bloody war upon the seceding States, or join those
States repelling such invasions. And I shall not hesitate, nor do I
believe this people of Tennessee will, to choose the latter alternative,
and go out of the Union and join their southern brethren, and present an
undivided front, in opposition to the doctrine of coercion, and
establish a government for themselves, based upon the present
Constitution, with such full and undoubted guarantees as will forever
settle the slavery question and take it out of politics, and invite such
of the Northern States as are willing to grant us these rights to join
us in establishing such government. If they refuse, we will then be in a
condition to act for ourselves, as a united southern people, and
concentrate all our strength for any emergency that may arise. This is,
I think, the only practicable peace measure, and the only hope of a
reconstruction of the Government under its present form. |
| Practically, the question will
be presented to the people of Tennessee before the convention meets, in
my opinion, whether Tennessee will take position with the Republican
party, and submit to the rule of the dominant party without
any guarantees for the protection of their constitutional rights,
and give up all the questions at issue between the two sections, or
demand her constitutional rights under a fair construction of that
instrument, and guarantees for future protection and peace. When this
issue comes, as come it will, unless the Republican party recede from
their present position, which I have no hope of, I shall not hesitate to
go with the South, and stand by her in any and all emergencies, and let
the consequences take care of themselves. |
| Yours, truly, |
| Sam. Tate |
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