Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1860-11-02
Oh "A RK s WILLIE.
Friday, November 2, 1880.

Re- This Is the last number of the Chronicle we
issue before the Presidential election, and mos
earnestly do we wish that the next may carry to our
readers the glad tidings that sectonalsm has been
rebuked, and the Union put beyond immediate per-
II. The time was when the people would have
marched, in solid column to the polls to rebuke the
avowed enemies of the Confederacy, in the South
and its covert foes, in the North; but ambition has
corrupted the aspirants to office party spirit has
warped the Judgements of the more honest and
party drill has cnslaved the weak until the maiori-
ty, thus constituted, is untitled for sefgovernment
This aspect of the political character of the great
mass of'American citizens may well prepare the
most sanguine lover of the Union for any catastro-
pho which combined corruption, ignorance, and pre-
JUDGE may peecpitaie upon the country. II is a
melancholy spectacle that now presents itself to
the eye of the patriot and statesman, OF people
rushing blindly to their own ruin, under the
guidance Of their own unworthy passions and pre-
JUDGES. Entrusted with the preservation of the
most perfect government on earth they are needless
alike of the blessings it confers and of the incacu-
liable ills thatmust follow its overthrow; and stran-
ger still, with the of safety papably before
them, they dogedly adhere to the policy that prom
ises the speediest ruin. Prepared by a long expe-
rience of the most corrupt practices, and patient
endurance of party bondage the masses seem to
have become callous to the promptngs Of enlight-
ened patriotism and of generous devotion to the
cause of freedom. Spurning the wisdom which the
experience of ages should have taught them--ds.
regarding the example daily set them by our sister
Republic Of Mexico, the people of these United
States with madness that the orerunner of self
destruction, are treading the very verge of ruin
following in the footsteps of every free people whom
RIGHTEOUSNESS has degraded and then enslaved.
1t behooves every man. not yet lost to a sense OF
the duty he owes his country, to pause and ponder
well, at this fearful juncture the consequences that
may follow his voteon Tuesday next. If q free and
proud spirited American citizen, be will look alone
to the good of his whole country, and go to the
polls resolved so to vote that his conscience shall
not hereafter rehuke him as party to any designs
against the integrity of the Union; but, if slave
TO party-the bondsman of inscriptions dema-
gagucs, he has sunk beyond the reach of any appeal
to the nobler instincts of man. and, slave MS he is.
he will obey the orders of his masters and slave
as he is under this government of majorities, and
assumed equality of the citizen he is the peer at
the polls, Of the noblest patriot and statesman, and
the wise and the good may be involved in ruin by
the votes of such as he. This is the point of dan
ger The Union is safe so long as virtue and intel
ligence rule its councils; but when these are ban
ished, and corrupt ambition seizes the helm and
mans the Ship If State with piratical crew, all is
lost unless the breakers ahead arouse the instinct of
sefpreservaton and fear shapes its course Cor safe
anchorage under the shelter of the Constitution and
the laws. Then every honest and intelligent ci-
zen should stand sentinel at this point of danger,
and, by his example and his precept by every avail
able means within his reach, point out the way of
safety to the misguided thousands who know not or
care not what they DO Enghten the benghted ;
strengthen the weak; confirm the wavering, and
rebuke the corrupt In the few days that yet re-
main for work, let no Union man be idle, and
the election day arrives let no Union man fail to
vote. In four days, much good may be done, and
let no conservative intelligent patriot consider him
self discharged from service until the polls are clos
ed There is work to do as long as there is vote
TO win