Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1858-10-29
GAINESVILLE.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1853.
WHAT CAN THE MATTER Be I've

WHAT GAN The MATTER DE we
used to be RECALLED, almost every day, with
n column or so of very earnest denuncia-
tions Of banks, by the Union & American,
and wondered if the people could resist
such oogent reasoning-such logical de-
auctions. Not only was the theory of
banking demolished, and its evils demon
stratcd, but most lucid and unoxception-
able plan suggested for keeping out the
circulation of other States. But, not very
long ago. locofoco know nothing caucus,
authorised by no primary assemblies Of
the people, met in Nashville and pro-
mulgated bull upon the currency ques-
ton, and since that time, dumb Jackcouldn't
be more silent on the subject Of banks, than
the Union & American has been. What
does it mean2 Does that paper claim to
be free and independent? Free to express
its honest opinions, and independent
enough to stand by the right and the
country in the face of dictation from any
quarter? If so, there is a mystery about
this sudden change of opinion, or policy
that needs calculation; and we desire to
know whether or not democrat is allowed
to think and speak for himself, or has his
opinions shaped for him by a power he
dare not resist The whole country is in
tcrosted in the solution Of this question,
and if man, in becoming a democrat,
ceases to be freeman, what is the diff
fcronce-so far as freedom Of conscience
is concerned--between the tyranny of the
democratic party, and that exercised by
the Pope2
The Union & American, with an earnest
ness indicative of honest conviction,
argued that banks are On insufferable evil,
and that hard money alone can meet the
wants of commerce without entailing upon
the country those disasters that attend a
paper currency. In accordance with these
views, il demanded the demolition of every
bank in the State and the exclusion of
foreign paper, even at the hazard Of i'm
pairing private contracts. So fierce was
its attacks, and so bright its prospects of
succeeding in the accomplishment Of its
aims, that the sschems became alarmed for
their two-faced policy,-the crushing of
all banks until none are left save the State
bank, and then to save that for party pur-
pose--and convened in know nothing
caucus, to lay down the law. They re-
solved that it is inexpedient to recharter
any Of the existing banks,-so far playing
into the hands of the Union & American
and that they would do their best,
during the existence of the banks, to get
up currency convertible, at all times,
into specie--a resolution simply ridiculous
and that they would put the State
Bank into liquidation ms soon as the
public interest would authorize it. This is
what they did, and we are at loss to
discover in either of these positions the
point that so effectually spiked the Union
&American's gun, unless it be the intima-
ton in the last resolution, that the public
interest, alias the democratic party, may
need the State bank, hereafter. We should
be sorry to believe that such an intima-
ton could have such an effect but in the
absence of proof to the contrary, we can
imagine no other solution of the mysteri-
Gus silence Of the Union & American upon
a subject it delighted in expatiating upon
in all its phases. Something happened
about the time of the locofoco know moth
ing caucus. A screw got loose in the
machinery of the Union & American. and,
as far it ia concerned, the people have no
reason to believe that banks are not the
best institution in the State-hard money
not excepted,
BE- If tho friends of the Union, of