Nashville union. [volume] ([Nashville, Tenn.]) 1851-1853, 1853-05-16
MONDAY MORNING. MAY 1s. 1853.
COL JOHNSON AND INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS


We have been waiting patiently for our adverse
e ries 10 commence their characteristic wholesal
charges against the democratic candidate for Gov
ernor. We knew what to expect for ANDRE,
JonNsos has 'weeded his row. through opposition
every character and has been the subject of charg
es of every hue and color. He has met such op
position with Roman fortitude. He has met sucl
charges with the most overwhelming proof of thei
utter falsty The effect has ever been reaction
upon his enemies, and his own signal and complet,
triumph
Such will be the case in the present contest On
opponents so eager in the work of detracton, vii
over-reach themselves. The recklessness Of then
charges-the vindictive and relentless manner in
which they will be prornulgated-and the full and
complete proof they are destined to meet at every
point viii operate upon the public mind in man.
ner that will bring confusion and dismay into
the ranks of our enemies and vindcate the truth OF
the maxim that "TRUTH is omnipotent and PUBLIC
JUSTICE certain"
The Banner and True Wig Of yesterday both
contain articles, the express object Of which is to
prove Col Johnson hostile to all works of internal
improvements. The journals of the Legislature for
1856 are cited as proof Col Johnson voted on
several occasions against propositions to appropri-
ate large sums of money to the various railroad
enterprises which were agitated at that early day.
| Few men at this day will doubt the propriety of
these votes, given nearly twenty years ago. Rail
road enterprises, which now give promise of speedy
and prosperous results, would have then only in
volved the State in ruin, and brought upon it all
the horrors Of bankruptcy or reputation. Col.
Johnson took safe and farsighted view Of these
schemes. He did not oppose them because he was
hostile to State internal improvements. He believed
them to be ill-timed and defective. He was
willing to involve the State in large Indebtedness,
without providing adequate means for its hquda-
tion which he conceived was not done in the inter
nal improvement measures of 1866. In this view
of these measures he sustained by some of the
most distinguished men belonging to both parties
in the State. When our opponents see who agreed
with Col Johnson in the votes to which they now
object they will probably open their eyes. 1t may
be probable that they have taken "a leap in the
dark " in this matter-have went off halfcocked
and missed the buck and killed the doe. Let
us see.
From a publication before made by Col
johnson in 1851, we copy the following para
graphs They furnish complete answer to the
charge of hostility to internal Improvements upon
which the changes are to be rung in the present
canvass
In 1885 when he (Mr j. was first in the Legis-
latlre, there wa. a scheme of Internal Improve
ments brought forward during that session, which
proposed to create State debt OF about S4 0O00 0O
without providing adequate means for the payment
of the interest and principle, which would have re-
suited in large increase of taxes upon the people
He said with the lights then before him. and in the
absence of knowing what was the will of MAORI
ty of his constituents in regard to the creation OF
large State debt he felt it his duty to vote against
the proposition believing then, as he now does, that
before the creation of large State Indebtedness such
proposition should be submitted to the people Of
the whole State for their consideration and decs-
ion He said, he had apology to offer for voting
against the scheme as brought forward in 1885, for
when ne turned to the records of the country he |
found that be sustained by the ablest, safest /
and most distinguished men belonging to both par
ties, as well as by verdict rendered by his own
constituents in the State elections Of 1882 Mr. j.
said in the House of Representatives, where the /
scheme originated, HE FOUND HIMSELF SUSTAINED BY
SUCH MEN AS WILLIAM B. CAMPBELL, then /
Representative and William Trousdale, then Sen
ator in the Legislature of Tennessee, now the wing
and democratic candidates for Governor.
Mr. J. said so far as he was concerned, lie had al
scays fauored judiious system Of Internal hproUe
nents calculated to develope the resources of the
State, and adapted to the wants of the people at
large-that in 1899 he then favored propositions
to aid in works of Internal Improvements. In the
Senate of 1912, he proposed to set apart $780,
600, to aid in works of Internal Improvements in
the Eastern division of the State, might be pre-
scrbed by the Legslature-that during the same
session. he contributed his full aid in procuring
100000, for the improvement ofthe rivers in East
Tennessee. Since that period of time, he had SUBJ
scrbed $780, to aid in the construction of the East
Tennessee and Virginia Railroad While he was a
member of Congress, he had proposed various prop
ositions to aid in works of Internal Improvements
in East Tennessee and especially So during the last
session of Congress- for he had then introduced
Bill setting apart So, 900 900 Of acres of the public
lands to aid in the improvement OF the navigation
of Hoston river and its principal tributaries; and
Also to aid in the construction of the East Tonnes
see and Virginia Railroad. He said he had pointed
in this brief manner, to his own course the sub
lect of Internal Improvements for the purpose of
to the public, what it had heretofore
been.
CLARA MoRELAND.-The Publisher, T. B. PETER
SON, Philadelphia, has furnished US with copy of
this late emanation from the pen Of EMERSON BEN
NET. 1t is regarded by the press as Mr.. BENNEr's
best production. The scenes lie in Texas immedi-
ately before and during the late war with Mexico
The incidents are highly tragic, and the entire plot
partakes Of the wild and exciting character of the
country where it is laid. Few will open this story
without completing it. and being carried along ir-
resistably by the graphic manner in which its scenes
are depicted
NoRwALK, May 1.-THE coroners jury on the
Norwalk accident rendered verdict last night
censuring the engineer as the immediate cause of
the accident, through carelessness They also GEN.
snre the comnanv for not exercising more vigilance