Nashville daily patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1855-1857, 1856-01-29
The Onion and American and The RauL
of Tennessee

= - 1870 n me- ANol ana the bank
of Tennessee.
In its article on the 10Th inst, in regard
to the Bank Of Tennessee, the Union ana
American said
We are happy to state UPON INFORMA.
IlON, that the PARENT BOARD of the BANK OF
TENNESSEE HERE UPON THURSDAY LAST IN THE
SELECTION OF THE BOARD FOR THE BRANoHEs
DETERMINED THAT THEY WOULD NOT APPOINT
ANY Know NoTHING TO TIE POSITION OF A
DIRECTOR.
The reader will mark the language here
employed. The determination of the
parent Board, is spoken Of as having been
made on a certain days an occurrence
of which the Union and american had " In
formation I; F" such information, " of course.
as placed its authority beyond question, and
justified the structures of that paper upon
the Board for departing from their self
prescribed rule. So we understood it. and
so the public understood it. In the Patriot
OF the 2lst, we commented upon the state
ment Of the Union and american, and gave
it an opportunity either to correct or sub
stantiate its averment. But it did neither.
1t imposed upon us the alternative of drop
ping the subject, or addressing ourselves
directly to the Board. We chose the lat
ter and then the Union and american,
learning, no doubt, the action of the Board
which followed our remarks on Thursday
last, concluded to give us hearing and
accordingly on Friday morning, in char
acteristic article on the subject, it stultified
itself as follows
"a few days since we repeated PUBLIC
RUMOR that the Directors of the State Bank
bad determined" not to appoint Know Moth
ings on the boards of the Branch Banks.
Whether this rumor was true or not, we do not
know"
"As the Patriot is not apt to credit all the
Tlra0TS which we repeat, and as, in this case,
1t bad the strongest sort of crcumstantial evil
dence that the rumOr which we had heard was
uVounded, &C., &c.
On the 10Th, the determination y of the
Board of Directors was fact of which the
Union and american had information :"
but six days subsequently it was a mere
"PaJlic rum0r, and whether this rumor
was true or not, +" the Union and american
" did not kn0a, F." but the Patriot had the
strongest sort of circumstantiaI evidence"
that it aoas unfOu1lded ;" because, Care we
to suppose?) it was mentioned in the Union
and american as a fact of which it had am
formation :" Our neighbours fright hand
forgot its cunning, certainly, when he pen
ned the editorial from which these quota
tons are made. If he really means to in
innate that the appearance of anything in
his paper furnishes the strongest sort of
evidence that it is unfound-
ed, " we shall not now doubt it but we
will say, that we have had better opinion
of him. We have never believed that he
or any other editor would make state
ment known by him at the time to be I'M
founded.
But, since it appears that the Union and
Amerloam's information" had no better
than that common liar, Madame
Rumor, and that our neighbor did not
" know whether it was true or not, it be-
comes important to enquire into the object
Of his making use Of it, as he did, especi- |
ally after he had, as Col. JOHNSON charges.
failed to call at the Bank, according to
promise, to get information on the subject. |
1t would seem, from this failure, that there
had been some conference between our |
neighbor and a Director, and that there
was reason to doubt the truth of his ain
even before he published it,
And this leads us to suspect that our neigh
Dor, in conjunction with others, had really
been exerting his influence upon Directors
to induce them to adopt the rule which
he was so happy to state, upon informa-
ton, they had adopted. This suspicion is
borne out by the remark of our neghbor.
last Saturday, that he SHOULD much rather
have undertaken to defend the Board for
such determination than for deter
to violate the very principle or
which they hold their own places" Find
ing, if our suspicious be correct, that he
could not, privately, prevail upon the Board
to make a general prescription of Ameri-
cans, he ventured to try the effect of pub
lie condemnation Of them for making an
exception to "rule which, "upon infor-
nation, he ascribed to them. " If this, "
he, should be passed over by
the American press, and public sentiment
not aroused on behalf Of the Board, it will
nstigate leading men Of our party, here
md all over the State, who desire the ejec-
ion of all Americans from Office, to CO.
operate with us. and, in the end, the Board
must, of necessity, succumb." But our plot
ling neighbor, aud the intriguants who hide
themselves behind him, have been defeated.
Their venture, instead Of compelling the |.
Board TO become mere instruments of ty-
ranny in the hands Of heated and intern
perate partisans. has brought shame upon
their own heads Vain is il for the Usi0m
aud Ansyioan to asseverate, 1--WE have
II