The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1859-07-08
tFrom the Nashville ilanper, ,Ils \ Al 4
Gov. Harris's Rocn..

y nt NNrnfllit ~ OHlOl NII|
saws il is very remarkable tha. n. Ri. II 4
whole canvass for Goyernof no 0|II...
are brought against Gov. lIdIN. NJ.
have heard of men who woIA Ih ro.4
small in all their ways, actinU and .I1
ings, that if committee If in4fsii4.Iih0'
were raised and put to worl<. It +. ItsI|t.
fll whether they wonld be ablo to I.n.l .
single.transaction in their who|o i.>1. ,>f
sufficient Importance TO make frboIt.
Gov Harris public life reminds us of S,,c,.
an one very strilSingly. lie haA i,dtu IS.
public life long time, and We ba1ftl
nothing in saying that there j. No man 'n
Tennessee, nor out of IL, of h,4 ah|Iift.
blank q record.
In l847 Gov. Harris was elected to the
State Senate from the counties of Henry.
Weakley and Obion. Let us examine
his Legislative record, aQd see what sort
of a Senator he made.z y
1tmight have been supposed that man
of the Governors ability would have
made his mark in the councils of his
State, and left something on record as an
evidence of his learning and genius, to
which his numerous friends and admirers
could have pointed in after davs with
DAlut Dut ltt NN
the record and see what we can fnd.-
The Governor took his seat in the Senate
on,the first Monday in October, ls47,.
and voted generally, in all the elections
made by the Legislature through the
months of October and November. He
introduced one bill entitled "a Bill TO
authorize Appointment of Special Judges
in Certain Cases" This very important,
Il ..1 f..fn I. Al
first time and passed unanimously, and
referred to the Judiciary Committee,
where it has taken one Of Rip Van
Wrinkles maps. 1t sleeps its last Sleep"
He introduced a certsnn set of Federal
resolutions on the Wilmot Proviso, &C.,
known as the "hre-eaters resolutions" ="
which had been passed by several of the
Southern State Legislatures When these
resolutions came up for consideration i'm
the Senate, Gov. Harris himself had got
so sick of the third one in the series that
he moved to strike it out and adopt
another in lieu of it. These resolutions
of Gov. Harris, on their introduction, had
been referred to the Committee on Fed
eral Relations. The Committee report
ed and offered set of resolutions in lieu
of those offered by the Governor. The
ulob VI tnt 10 III ilt
following words, viz:
Resolred,, That II is inexpedent for this Legis-
lature to define the duties of the general govern
ment, because those duties are already defined by
the Constitution of the United States. Passed IA
ayes, ii nays.
AYRs-Messrs. Bradbury, Brateher, Heskel.
Henry, Kyle, McKoin. Meigs. Muirhead, Richard
son, Roach, Shor, Thornburg, Tyler, and Mr..
Speaker Anderson.
- L.. H.. h..
Jones, McGuirc, Minis, Rowles, Venabe and
Williamson.
The second resolution of the Committee
reads as follows:
Resoired, That this Legislature is opposed to
the Wilmot Proviso in every shape and FORM
They bclovc tbat iis adontics nv the Congress Of
the United States would produce a--sEsSat discord
in our Union, and that no possible good would
ever grow out of it. Passed unanimously-ayes
2j.
Thus ended the Governors brilliant
dcJh in federal politics. The curious may
read the history in the Senate journal
1918, p. Sc, SO, sos, jjS,
The next splendid achievement of the
Governor in his Senatorial career was a
resolution directory TO the Judiciary Com
mittee.
The next great work of the Governor
was on the 29th of December, 1877 when
he introduced the famous Buncombe
resolution, ''That the present General AS
sembly adjourn sine die on Monday, the
3lst of January Worn out and tired al
most 10 dc1th blythe arduous labors of the
session, in which, during the month Of
December, he had only been absent ON one
hundred and three calls of the ayes and
NAYS, sirf,y-fre dD,es-he now wished to fix
an adjournment and see tine end of his
labors! We think we are not mistaken
in the count. III so we can be easily cor
rected. The month of December is the
great month of the session-the month
in which most of the important business
of the session is discussed and arranged
and yet I'VE find that this faithful public
servant was absent nearly two-thirds of
his time on the call for the ayes and nays,
and this, too, during the pendency OF inn
portant matters, and when he was recelv-
ing S4 day out of the peoples pockets
for his services.
The index to the Senate journal furn-
ishes but one more decided act of the Gov
ernor during his legislative career, and
| that is "resolution to ascertain the sum
necessary to support Deaf, Dumb and
Blind Institute" The Speaker appoint
ed Mr.. Harris as Chairman, to ascertain
| the amount, with two other members Of
the Senate, and il he has ecer reported on
he subject, zoe hare failed 10 lind the report.
| Thus terminates the Legislative history
of the present Governor of Tennessee
The poorest, most unintefesting, useless
| and worthless, we venture TO assert, OF
any other Governor of any other State in
these United States!
The Governor complains greatly at Col
! Netherland because he voted against q
certain exemption law many years ago.
We hope the friends of Gov. Harris viii
show us whore he ever lent his assistance
| while in the Senate, to protect the pool
and unfortunate debtor, the widow ano
orphan, from the ''merciless Shylocks" o.
the landowners he ever voted TO exempt
any OF their "little means" from the
executions of the shaver" orwhere hs
ever said or did anything TO recommend
him 10 the good people Of Tennessee as .
man worthy of their confidence and sup
port for the office Of Governor.
Col Netherland voted to exempt ths
homestead of the poor widow and orphan
! from execution, and where the bnfortu
nate debtor had no land, he voted TO ex
ompt personal property 70 the value Of 9
Homestead, Did Gov Harris ever do Al
much for this poor and unfortnnate clasi
lof our peopleg
Let his legislative record answer
AcorprSraI.--A dentist in Bradford
! Penohscot county. Ma. was recently s'iee
by a lady for $40, being the estimated val
ue of a sound tooth. pulled by mistake
-l-s..... k...ftf...l 4l,.t a.. NJ,