Nashville Union and American, April 20, 1861

It can not too earnestly be urged upon the people of every neighborhood in Tennessee to organize, arm and prepare for the fight, without a moment's delay. The time for argument and mere declamation has passed. The people are now called on to act, and act promptly. It is deeply to be regretted that the Legislature did not, at its last session, take the proper steps to place the commonwealth in a complete and efficient state of military preparation. But regrets are now useless, and the people must prepare themselves at once, as best they can, without waiting for the Legislature. Let military companies be formed everywhere and drilled daily, using such arms as they can find. In the meantime, we can assure them that our State authorities will not be inactive. Every means will be used to secure improved arms in the shortest possible time that is practicable. Let the military organization go on in every county and district. An hour is not to be lost. We may be called on to defend our homes and our firesides sooner than many of us expect. The attitude of the people is revolutionary, and the vengeance of the LINCOLN Government may be directed against them. We should not be surprised at an attempt to take military possession of the State, to prevent volunteers from being organized to sustain the South. The usurpations at Washington demonstrate that the constitution is a dead letter with the Government. We repeat, let our people thoroughly prepare for the fight, so as to be ready to meet the invader at the border with Tennessee's "bravest and best," and throw themselves on the very "crest of the battle," to chastise the insolent and tyrannical foe, and if need be, to march and meet him beyond our borders, Tennesseans! arouse yourselves to action, arm and organize!

The great revolution in public sentiment in Tennessee which, has been inaugurated by the hostile attitude of the Lincoln Government and its dangerous usurpations of authority, has culminated in an almost universal sentiment of resistance, and a conviction that Tennessee must separate herself from a Union, thus perverted to the purposes of tyranny, and must unite herself at once with the Confederate States, whose Constitution and Government offer us a secure asylum against oppression.

This revolution is not the work of leaders or politicians, as all can see. It is the spontaneous uprising and upheaving of the people. It is as irresistible as the mighty tide of the ocean, and is sure to bear our beloved State into a speedy alliance with the Confederate States. This is our manifest destiny, and it will be accomplished without the intervention of leaders and despite their opposition. The attempt to place Tennessee in a position where her moral and physical energies will be broken and destroyed, by declaring that she will not take sides against the Union, will never be accepted by Tennesseans. They will never see their Southern brethren subjected to the horrors of war without the boldest and most efficient resistance; and to make this resistance effectual, they must at once join the Confederate States, and lock shields with them in this contest. The adoption of any other plan than this will prove most fatal, as we earnestly believe. It will be unworthy of a gallant and chivalrous people, it will alienate the sympathies and love of our Southern brethren and will not secure the rights, honor and interests of Tennessee. It will do more than this. It will greatly encourage the LINCOLN Government in their fiendish attempt to subjugate the Southern States. Such a measure is not a peace measure, and those who advocate it are not peace makers. Peace is only preferable to war, when it can be obtained without the sacrifice of manhood, honor and equality. And even then, it cannot be had by continually crying "peace, peace," when the enemy are already preparing the instruments of war and marshalling his armies in the field. Peace or war is no longer a question. War has been solemnly proclaimed by the President's proclamation and is being waged with all the energy and resources of the Government. The people of Tennessee have only a few days to prepare for it. Then, why harass the public mind by proclaiming what Tennessee ought to do, "should a purpose be developed by the Government of overrunning and subjugating our brethren of the Seceded States," when the President has formally proclaimed such a purpose and is hourly marshalling his forces and moving his fleets to destroy and subjugate.

Great God! Is not this enough to satisfy the most indifferent and passive mind of his designs upon the South? And must we wait, wait, wait, until his armies are marching across our fields, desolating our cities and insulting and destroying our people, contenting ourselves with declaring that we will do so and so, if they hurt anybody. Never, no never. We will throw ourselves upon the crest of battle, meet the insolent and mercenary invader, unite our strength with the gallant sons of Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and the other Confederate States, and will gallantly lead in repelling him from the land which he can never desecrate, without such a costly sacrifice as will teach him never again to set his unholy feet upon southern soil. In this war we must conquer a peace. Peace cannot now be had by words of warning and defiance. That time has long since passed. We only invite the invader by such a ruinous policy. We cannot believe there are any in our State who would wish to do this. But certainly their course would surely lead to it in the present perilous and imminent crisis.

We have thrown out these thoughts in consequence of a card which appeared in two of the city papers yesterday morning, signed by several highly respectable gentlemen, addressed to the people of Tennessee, and recommending them simply to arm themselves and stand ready for the emergency, but shaping out no positive policy for the future, except that they stand by the Union and the peace of the country and that they try another conference of the unseceded slaveholding States, and that the State resist at all hazards if LINCOLN attempt the subjugation of the Confederate States. If LINCOLN has any truth in his most solemn avowals and acts, he is now rapidly attempting to do that very thing. We apprehend that the people will give to this document the weight which it deserves and no more, discarding altogether, in so perilous a crisis, the antecedent position and influence that have been attached to the names of its signers. In predicting that LINCOLN would never attempt coercion, a large number of these gentlemen have entirely divested themselves of any claim to the name of prophets. Their advice will therefore be taken by the people for just what it is worth—which is nothing.