Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1857-06-18
TnURsDAY MORNING, JUNE IS, 1887.
COL. HATTON AND THE ASSESSOR LAW


The Know Nothing press Of the State are endea-
vorng to relieve Col Hatton of the responsibility Of
having voted for this law, on the plea thst it was
voted for by the present editor Of the USIoN AND
AMERICAN, and other Democratic members Of the
Legislature. It is a lame and impotent su0ieriage
to avoid responsibility. If ss did wrong IN giving
tha. vote it was no excuse for Col. Hattou Wedeny
the right Of Col HattOn to rest his responsibility
upon our shoulders. We are responsible to the CON
stftusnts We represented for our voteslet Col Hat
ton be responsible for his. It may be an argument
against " to show that We, upon this question, we're
found in bad company, but it is certainly no defence
fer Hatton unless they willing to admit we al
Ways voted right With that admission We can con-
Wet Col Hatton Of having voted ninety-nine lines
out Of q hundred in the wrong for We are confident
it vas not oftener than this that we're found to-
gether. No two members of the legislature were
wider apart in their votes.
We are not a candidate for the SURFACES Of the
people. Col HattOn is. We have not been called
upon to make our defence for the vote We gave on
this question. Col Hatton has. Let Col HattOn
give his reasons and justify himself if he can When
We are candidate for public favor We will do the
same. We venture the remark that our defence will
be very different from his We can assure our
friends that We will not attempt to Paate the Of
fence BY showing that we were in company with
Hstton. We would consider that rather as an ag-
gravation Of the offence, and raising presump-
ton aRainst us.
II we should ever present ourselves before the
people as q candidate for Office, shall, as before
remarked, make a very different defence from Col.
HatOn's; and, instead Of relieving that gentleman
shall make the matter bear much stronger against
him. Fer the present let Col. Hatton take care of
himself If be had one-hslf the ability claimed for
him by his friends, ne ought to be able to do 20
without begging q defence from the editor of this
paper.
Il has been q standing rule, according to our con-
Btruction with all legislative bodies to vote upon
each bill as whole and pass it three successive
times. Under this construction, some of the Demo
cratic members las Speaker Neil S. Brown viii re-
menber) voted for the Assessor clause on division
Of the question, with the view Of lacking to the
preceding sections, expecting that the bill would
then be submitted as a whole and intending to vote
agaiastu. Speaker Brown cannot have forgotten
that Mr. Burch, Of Hamilton, clearly made this
point insisting that the bill as entirety had ac-
cording to parliamentary usage, to be submitted to
the House; which the Speaker according to an hon
est construction doubt overruled insisting that
the bill, as voted upon by division, was upon its
final passage and had been adopted It's known to
every member Of the House VINO has an honest mem
DRY, that this bill was not voted upon as a whole,
but on division of the question That we are cor.
rect in our statement win be seen by reference to
the House Journal, page 75l-2 Had the bill been
submitted to the House, as commended for by Mr..
Burch and others, we are one Of the members who
would have voted against it, having voted against
the first thirteen sections and believing the whole
Dill would have been defeated Such, evidently,
vas not Mr. Hatton's intention he voted for the
first thirteen sections and every other section as they
came up, as will be seen by the reference we have
already given to the House Journal
But suppose we divide the responsibility Of this
Assessor law between the parties just in proportion
10 their votes as found recorded, and how does IT
sssHd2 By reference to pages 246 and $50 of the
House Journal, it viii be seen that this measure
originated with the Committee on Ways and Means,
which, 1t will be further seen, by reference TO page
81, was composed of a majority Of Know NOthings,
with a Know Nothing Chairman who drafted and
rportsd it to the House, recommending it in lieu Of
other revenue bills. By reference to page 752 it
viii be seen that that part of the bill creating the
office Of Assessor was voted for by tcsHy-tres Know
Nothings and but twelve Democrats. While the vote
dgaiast it was sixteen Democrats and but sir Know
Nothings.
In the Senate the bin assumed still more party
character, there being IA Know NotbiDgs to Demo-
crat for it, whilst there were Democrats and only
2 Know Nothings against it. Such are the facts
Mr.. HattOn and his friends may make the best Of
them.