Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1861-11-08
NO. During the political contest which


reA- During the political contest which
was closed on Wednesday last there was
much said about revival Of old parties.
and not little ill-feeling was manifested
in come quarters. We took no part in the
fght--not that we felt no interest in an
election Of go much importance at this
early period Of our national existence, but
because the limited time which interviewed
between the election and the creation of
the District allowed us no opportunity to
canvass the merits of individuals, or to
discuss the policy that should be iaaugur-
ated by the first Congress of the perma-
nent Government. We accepted, in good
faith, the declaration of the long domin-
ant party in the South, that old parties
were defunct, and old party lines oblitera-
ted, and are still unwilling to believe that
men who could deliberately plunge the
South into bloody revolution for the Sc
eurity of our rights and the maintenance
OF justice, can stoop so low as to attempt
TO build up on that revolution, and fasten
npon the infant Republic the letters of a
party that is to have the exclusive privi-
lege of holding Office. The merits of that
party, we do not intend to discuss its
history, we hope, is written let that his
tory be its obituary, and the blood-stained
fields of the country, the lesson it has
taught. Il
If we have dissolved the Union to seek
refuge from sectional oppression, and to
FIRM new government free from the i'm
projections and corruptions of the old,
common sense teaches US not to begin
where we left of, but to inaugurate pol
icy that shall look steadily to merit as the
basis of promotion, and to the public good
as the end of every measure. Party drill
has, for many years, made the masses sub
seryient to the ambition of the few. and,
upon its rigid enforcement, the ignoran
and corrupt have risen to power. To say
that Office ought to be the reward of merit, |
is to assert truism within the comprehen-
sion of the most ordinary intellect, but
that II has been shamefully ignored by past
party organizations, none will deny, and
the fruits of that wilful error we are now
tasting in all their bitterness. At a time,
then, when devotion to Southern rights
and the maintenance of the fundamental |
principles Of free government, combined
with integrity and talents, should mark the
man to be entrusted with power, heis a trail
tor to his own and his country's interests
who will stop to enquire whether the man
was once Q Democrat or Wing. He that
can cast his vote upon that consideration,
already slave, and his emancipation
from sectional domination only serves as
transfer of title to power no less arbitra-
ry, and leaves him no less degraded me.
nial-whether he be the slave of his own
prejudics, or of an exacting and corrupt
party.
Our long and intimate association with
Yankees, makes the adage apply with too
much force-that evil communications cor.
rupt good manners, and we are entering
upon new existence, as a nation, with too
many of the Yankee traits adhering to our
character and habits. Conspicuous among
these, are love of money and Office with too
little regard for the honesty of the means
by which they are to be obtained. Party,
in its practical workings, is combination
for the monopoly of Office, and as the part
narship is based upon individual selfish
ness and ambition, dishonesty thrives at
the expense of the dignity, honor, and
prosperity of the country. After the ex
porience of the past, will the people of this
District, Of this State, of the Southern
Confederacy, tolerate such a combination?
If SO, the elements of self destruction are
already incorporated into our government,
and the theory of selfgovernment will ul-
timately be exploded But we hope for
better things, and shall expect the MAORI
ty--once made up of Democrats--to take
the iniative steps in the work of reform by
proving themselves patriots rather than
prtizans, statesmen rather than dema-
gogues, and heightened ffeemen rather
than the plant tools Of Office. seeking com
binations
. - 49,