Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1860-06-19
The City Press.

| tAaL II 0ioO PS~oSoN tHO A'NAiN VI ONNA
cilmen. with amendments, and was returned
to the former Board for their concurrence.
One of the amendments, we need not inform
the enlightened portion of this community,
being the substitution of paid fre-1epart-
ment for the volunteer companies which now
constitute that department. This state OF
things calls out an article in the Gazette on
Steam Fire-Engines." Our neighbOr ex-
presses the belief that nothing he can now
say can alter the fate of the measure" but
thinks he scan but express his opinion as to
the policy of its adoption at this time" AT
ter saying some handsome things about the
Firemen of Nashville, all of which We hearth
Iy endorse, he goes on to state But the
voice of the people is not to be heard direct
ly in the important change 10 be made. 1t
was not an issue in the canvass resulting in
the election of the gentlemen constituting
the present City Government. The citizens
of Nashville have not yet had an oppOrtuni-
ty OF saying that the change was desirable
and necessary one. They are not at present
to be consulted upon that point. They have
representatives to order changes and vote
money, and if these representatives, from
faucied conviction of doing right, or an idle
disposition to initiate foolish examples, be-
cause they are fashionable, appropriate large
| sums of money in experiments of very ques
| tiOnabIe character, their dear constituency
can-but gracefully bow to the official decree,
| and shout loud peans (if they please to the
| costly innovations upon the well enough OF
the past and present, which follow the fiat of
| the powers that be-" If our neighbor is
not careful how he talks, he will write him
self down an old fogy- The Boards of COun-
eiImen and Aldermen are the representatives
of the people of Nashville. They were not
chosen with the expectation that they would
go before their constituency every time they
thought it expedient to pass an act for the
benefit of the city, and ask them to express
their approval or disapprOyal of that act
through the ballot-box. Having been chosen
TO represent the interests Of the city-to "take
the responsibility, when they have done
what hey conceive to be best calculated to
promote those interests, they have discharged
their whole duty, both to their constituency
and to themselves. Then, when they have
done this, if the people think they have acted
from misguided sense of duty, and have
done that which had better been left undone,
the people possess, in the right of franchise,
the power and the time 10 express their dis
| approval by the substitution of another set
| of representatives a majority of the two
| Boards believe that it is to the interest of the
city to substitute fire engines for those now
in use; they believe too that majority of
their constituents are of the same Opin-
ion and believing this, they had been
remiss in their duty, and had VIOLATED the
trust that has been reposed in them, had they
not acted in accordance with that belief. We
have never questioned the readiness, daring,
and intrepidity of the Firemen of Nashville,
and we don't mean to do it. In this respect,
and in every other respect, our Firemen are
equal to any in the Union. We say this not
? | to win their favor, but because we believe it
; is true The property we own in this city is
not sufficiently extensive to demand steam
engine to protect it from the devouring ele-
ment. With schoolboy's squirt and a pint
/, | of water, we can afford it all the protection
it is worth. Under these circumstances, in
| dependent but not luxurious, it is none OF
our business to interfere with the Fire De
partment, and as it is none of our business,
we don't intend to embark in it. We merely
: wished to say one word for the City Govern
ment, which is engaged, we are sure, IN a
4 conscientious discharge of what it regards as
its duty. We have said that one word-an
extremely feeble one, we admit-and now we
| are dumb. Let them get new engines or keep
the old ones-it is all the same TO US. II
our neighbor of the Gazete do not want new
ones to be procured, he ought to have said so
= sooner. When we practiced law in the SUI
| preme Court of the United States, during the
| administration of the older HICKORY, it was
generally considered proper to file a bill OF
| Injunction before the act to be enjoined had
); been consummated. Our neighbor will pro-
baby find things the same way now. Once
upon a time, there lived among the bill of an
> | adjoining county an old gentleman, whose
entire personal and real estate consisted of d
| wife, well ventilated log-cabin, halt an
| acre of not very productive land, and yio-
. lent fondness for what the police reporter OF
: foot whisky" One spring morning the owner
| of all this property was struck with the con-
| yiction that his land must be plowed. But
: he had no horse, and found it impossible tO
borrow one. Nevertheless, the ground must
be s.broke up" horse or no horse, and it was
finally determined that the sold woman
should hitch up the old man, and hold the
handles and "driye" while he drew the pillow
This was accordingly done, and the work
went bravely on until the plowshare ran un-
der a root, and the team was brought up
standing al dead halt. But the "critter'i
had becom, warmed up by this time and as
4 the old lady gave him rap with the reins
and cried ''git up there !" he threw his weight
upon the harness with heavy jerk, which
snapped the traces short off, and he shot for
ward against the fence, his head striking the
end of rail with the force of ABE LINcoLN's
maui. .sD--nation, old woman ~ heck
claimed, as he wiped the blood and dirt from
his eyes, "Iohy heh-H did nj you sag seur-r-r p
!. The BanRer.-It is q sensible and GRACEFUL,
written article the Banner gives us on the sub
ject of "No Chance for the Democracy i
the Democratic party were to get Messrs.
F. SHIELDS Il Co. to advertise in every news
u paper in the Union, under the head of "Dis
tress Sale - that thew would on q certain n ~