Loudon free press. (Loudon, Tenn.) 1852-1855, 1853-07-22
From the ClarksriHe Chronicle.

Democracy is driven to strange shifts to fend
its positions. To bolster up Mr.. Johnson's
white basis position, Maj. Henry is charged
with a leaning to ariStocrocy, and with favor
ing the present mode of apportiOnment because
it gives power to the slave holder at the expense
Of the poor man. The position itself is absurd
enough,in all conscience, but the arguments are
laughable. To prove that the Shareholder is
vested with unequal power over the poor man,
we have heard it gravely asserted that man
owning 10000 slaves, in any one district could
send member to Congress, by his single vote,
Well let US admit this to be true, provided he
be the only white man in the District except
the man voted for, does it prove the position
contended for that the ownership of slaves
gives more power at the polls, than the eXtrem-
est poverty? Not at all; for if there be another
voter in the district, as poor as 'job's turkey"
and there be two candidates for Congress, the
poor man by his single vote, can tie and defeat
the election. If there be two such poor men,
with not a shirt between them, they can send
member to Congress, in spite of the rich man
and his slaves. But suppose the large slave
owner resides in another State, and has over
seer, who is worth nothing but his wages, this
poor man, as the only voter can elect mem
ber vet it will not be contended that the owner
ship of slaves gives him this power. Suppose
an old maid owns this number Of slaves, and
IL. n-l,;f in, tba GiStr hat
then? Why, the district is entitled to mem
ber upon the three-ifths basis, but as there is
neither candidate nor voter it goes unrepresen-
ted. If however, this "old maid happen to
have two oyerseerS, both as pooras Lazarus, one
can be candidate and the other can elect
him. Where is the evidence, then, that
the slave holder has more power than the non
Shareholder? The position is a false one, and
no sophistry can make it plausible. The rich
man has but single vote-the poor man has
but the same, and the power pertaining to the
threeffths basis, does not grow out of the
ownership Of slaves, as property, but belongs
to the state, i'll the aggregate, upon a conces-
sion of the Constitution. The slave States,
demanded a stronger electoral College than their
white basis would give them, as condition
precedant to the formation of the Union; and
this demand was conceded, without reference
to slaves, as property, but as means of equal
Iizing representation and Of ensuring the for,
nation of the Confederacy. Had the basis of
representation been the assumption that one
white man at the South, is equal to one and
three-ffths at the Norch, the operation would
have been the same-the advantage in either
case, being numerical, and having no reference
to the ownership Of any species of property.
What does Mr.. Johnson propose to effect by
his white basis? He can have no other object
than to discard the district System, and substi-
tute the General Ticket, by which every voter
will vote for ten candidates for Congress instead
Of one, and in this way, make the larger white
population of East Tennessee, control the other
two divisions. The present direct system can
not be kept up without counting the three-ffths
black population, for if the State were dis.ric-
ted upon the white basis, there would be loss
of three or four members, and since we are
entitled to ten, this basis can not be dispensed
with, except by the adoption of the General
Ticket Are Middle and West Tennessee pre-
pared for this change? If so, let them vote for
Johnson-If not rally to the Standard of Henry
and give the quietus to this radical movement.