Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1861-07-12
CT A r. X Sv TILE
Friday, July 18th, 1851.
.sH5 FOR GOVERNOR. o. ..
ISHA NJ G.. HARRIS.

BSA. In our last two issues we have Ia
ken occasion to express our disapprobation
Of the manifestations of party spirit but
too nppalent in the administration of pub
lie afdirs, and oar honest conviction chat
the publiciuterests must suffer from pol
icy 80 umwsc and unjust Having done
this, it becomes our duty to look at things
as they are and, IL we can not redress the
wrongs complained of 80 to shape our
course as to make the best of the alterna
tives presented, We are in the midst of
revolution which may be bloody and pro-
tracted, and the next thing in importance
to the right men in the right place, is such
degree of ananinity as will call out our
utmost strength and leave the enemy moth
ing to hope fron divided councils. TO at
tain this unanimity, there must be mutual
concession Of preferences and prejudices,
and encouragement Of that competition
for office which divides and distracts pub
lie opinion and ,weakens the moral and
physicaepower of State, when common
danger calls fOr common effort to meet it,
The inischievous doctrine OF rotation in Of
fee, at all times curse to the country, is
especially detrimental in the hour of dan
ger, when experience, in the discharge of
important functi"ns commends itself to
the people as an essential element of fit
ness for Office, A change for the better is
always desirable, but change merely for
the sake Of change-an idle experiment
Wien great interests are at stake lis as dan
gefous as it is inconsiderate.
N. b. Dudley Esq, made good repre-
sensitive, and his familiarity with the state
of affairs at this trying crisis, admirably
fitted him for the position from which he
had just refined, aud the people of this
county would have consulted their interest
by returning him to the Legislature had
he desired recollection. Gen. Quarles
faithfully and ably served his District in
the Federal Congress, and now that his ex-
perence in the business of legislation, and
his acquaintance with the majority of the
members of the Confederate Congress, and
with mostof the Cabinet has prepared him
to represent the District better, perhaps,
than any man in it, a systematic effort is
making to supplant him with an untried
man. Gov, Harris has been the chief ac-
tor in all that has been done from the be-
ginning of the revolution up to this mo-
ment, and possesses a knowledge of all the
machinery OF the complex movement that
another can not acquire without close ap-
pie .tion and long experience, aad yet the
up an untried man whose history has de
veloped no qualities of such marked supe-
riority as to authorize the belief that the
change can be fer the better, or that the
experiment can be safely tried in the face
Of the dangers that threaten us from with
out, and the difficulties that meet us at ev-
cry stage Of our progress towards an eff
oient preparation for defence.
Influenced by these conservative views,
and anxious for the greatest possible una
nimity we are for the ye-electiou of Gov.
Harris; and whilst we csndidly acknowl-
edge that he is not our first choice, had we
the power to choose, our preference--pre-
judice, If you will-shall not stand in the
way Of such action as we deem best forthe
advancement Of the common good, under
the circumstances that surround us. We
would do much to coneiliate East Tonnes
see, but we must know that the means pro.
posed will have the desired effect, and be
satisfied that the movement in favor of Col
Polk does not cover some scheme of party
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT az obnoxious to our sense
Of justice and true wisdom as any to which
we have heretofore adyorted Our con
t3mptto mere party amounts to loathing
and when We remember that it has over
thrown one government and inaugurateC
civil war, we can not but view every at
tomptto perpotuate It's corrupting ipfuenc,
as decidedly inimical to the best Interest,"
of the country. But, powerless to abat
the enormous evil all we can do is to tr,
60 make the most Of the material offered
aud to demonstrate against division whicl
smacks more of a contest between the IN
aud the Out than a generous and patriots
rivalry for the maintainapce of Southern
Rights and the purity of the government
based thereon, We are for Harris for tn,
sake of unanimity and for unapimity TO
the sake of the Confederate States