The arbitrament of war is to be resorted to. This is not the choice of Tennessee. Shall we assist in a war of subjugation against our Southern brethren? Or shall we, by an act of revolution, dissolve our relations with that government and join the “Confederate States?”
Original passage & context
"But the indications from the North and the South are that the arbitrament of war is to be resorted to for a solution and decision of our troubles. This is not the choice of Tennessee. Let that be understood at the outset. [...] Shall we assist in a war of subjugation against our Southern brethren? Shall we aid in the permanent overthrow of a government to which we are so devotedly attached [...] Or, shall we, by an act of revolution dissolve our relations with that government, and join the “Confederate States?”"
Tennessee had voted down a secession convention on February 9 by a wide margin. Here, on the day the guns open, a Unionist paper states the question the upper South will actually be asked — not whether secession was right, but which side to join once the shooting starts. Tennessee seceded on June 8. Three passages joined with [...].
Read it in the original — Nashville Daily Patriot, Apr 12, 1861 ↗
Southern press · conditional Unionist Condensed — not verbatim Verified against the source — see the record