Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-05-29
FRIDAY, MAY 90. 1857.
The seIf-StuIIIEIcatIOn of our opPo-
nents.

The Standardization of our opPo.
nents.
We cannot readily conceive Of a position
more humiliating than that of party
leader, who is compelled either by the
weakness of his cause or his own weakness,
to change his position and tactics as often
as expediency may seem to require. If he
has any frmness of character consistency
of purpose, or devotion to principle as,
and for the sake of principle, but is yet
compelled by the force of party discipline,
to become a part of mere machine, a
crank in the hands of another, and in some
cases which we know of, turned by the
hands of foreign organ grinders, the con-
dtion becomes shameful in the extreme.
The Union and American of this city is
becoming pretty much such a crank as this,
and every morning or two, comes out with
q new time. We will briefly specify few
instances.
When We held up the ignominiouS alien
suffrage feature Of the Minnesota bill to
the people of Tennessee, and showed how
ruinous it was to the South and her inter
ests, our neighbor came in direct conflict,
by stating in substance, that that feature
was sound principle and had been uni
formly acted upon by the government.
He voluntarily promised to prove these
facts Gin a few days" Since then he has
been as silent as a church yard at mid
night, until yesterday morning. He now
says that alien suffrage never was a doc
trine Of the democracy to which the Union
and American belongs, and with apparent
zeal scorns the imputation. We should
like to know which side our neighbor will
decide to settle down upon. Which?
When, soon after the nomination of
BOB HATToN for Governor, we gave run
ming account of his career, and incidentally
noticed the fact that his father was an
able and faithful servant of the Lord, be-
lug an active and jealous Methodist min
ster, our heighbor was Mortified, and
charged us with attempting to manufacture
political capital, by insidions appeals to
the religious prejudices of the people.
With a noble contempt for so unworthy
recourse, he diSclaimed all interest in the
ancestry and family connections of his
candidate, Gen. HARRIS, especially in re-
ference to their religious views. But when
it suits the purpose of that paper, it utters
a biography Of GEN. HARRIS, and dwells
with marked satisfaction upon the fact
that be was brought up by pious Metho-
dist parents, and emphatically states that
a brother of the General is a presiding
elder of that church, and that the candi-
date himself was reared in the dicipline
and ordinances Of the same denomination.
1t is very wrong then for HATToN to be
mentioned as the son of Methodist; but
most fortunate circumstance that HARRIS
is one. Will our neighbor tell us which is
wrong? ~
The Union and american, a few days
ago, charged, in effect, that JOHN BELL
held the constitutionality of the power to
exclude slavery in the territories by Con-
gress. We showed that to be false, by
quoting the express aud unequivocal de-
clarations of Col. BELL, made in his place
in the Senate and in the hearing of the
whole country. And yet our neighbor still
insists, that his vote in opposition to the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, was
broad assertion of that power, and of Col.
Bells belief in that doctrine; and his ar
gument implies that this was the principal
ground on which Col BELL based his oppo-
sition. Will our neighbor tell his readers
in plain terms whether Col BELL did not
deny the power Of Congress to prohibit
slavery in the territories
The Union and American quotes the re-
solution of the late State Convention in re-
alton to the unequal disposal Of the public
! ands, and holds that to be opposition to
the system Of granting lands for internal
improvement purposes. Now the Union
and American knows that the resolution
neitherexpresses nor impliesany such thing,
and that we have never either assumed or
advocated such position VIII our neigh
Dor have the kindness and fairness to give its
readers, the substance of Col BELL's bill
upon this subject, without comment, and to
state that the complaint Of the American
(he may substitute KaotO Nothing for Amer
ie4n if he prefers) party, is Of the iuequat-
ty of the disposition. and not Of the priRa-
pie of granting lands TO the States to aid
them in their works of internal improve