Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1864-10-20
Weekly National InteIhgencer
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1864.
THE DIsFRANcHrsEMENr OF TENNESSEE.


Our readers Will remember that when Messrs.
WADE and Davis, in. their manifesto addressed
O. To the Supporters Of the Government" charged
President Lincoln with deliberate purpose to
hold the rebel States at the dictation of his per-
sonal ambition" we ascribed to an error Of judg-
ment what these political friends Of the President
did not scruple to denounce as premeditated
wrong, inspired by selfish motives Of political ag
grandizement. We could not bring ourselves to
believe any thing SO derogatory to the personal
honor and official integrity Of Mr.. Lincoln these
s gentlemen were not slow to impute to him; and
hence, while wo concurred with them in the ex-
ceptions they took to the policy Of the Executive
in regard to the States which he was undertaking
to reconstruct according to his own notions of right
and wrong, we regretted the aoerbity Of the tone
which they held towards the Chief Magistrate Of
the country, and the injurious imputations they
cast on his motives. Unless we greatly mistake
the effect of the evidence we lay before readers
to-day, the whole people Of the United States will
now be able to perceive that Messrs. Wade and
Davis did not exceed the severity which was re-
quired by the occasion, and did no injustice to the
President in the arraignment by which they
brought him before the tribunal Of public opinion
on the charge Of grave Executive usurpatons
By reference to the papers and correspondence
which will be found in another column the reader
will see that on Saturday last citizen Of Tennes
see, well known to us for his consistent loyalty,
acting on behalf Of that large portion Of the
people of that State whom Mr.. Andrew johnson,
the Military Governor Of Tennessee, and the Re-
publican candidate for the Vice Presidency, has
ought to disfranchise, presented to the President
respectful protest against the great wrong COM
mitted by his military subordinate and political
associate, that the wrong, being thus brought to
his notice, might receive that prompt correction
at his hands which reason and justice and law and
public decency combine to make imperative.
And what was tho Presidents reply to this re-
speotful representation Simply this: May
inquire how long it took you and the New York
politicians to conooct that paperS" Itwould seem
that the President is unable to see in the appeal of
free and loyal people demanding their inherited
and constitutional rights any thing more noble
than an electioneering trick, "concocted by 4 ew
York politicians" Tothe injury attempted against
the great majority Of the loyal citizens Of Tennes
see by his military agent and political companion
on the Republican ticket, the President adds the
sting Of insult by constituting their plea into
device on the part Of the friends of Gen. McClel-
Ian for "managing their side Of the contest"
And when informed that no New York politician
had had any thing to do with "concocting'' this
protest of loyal Tennesseans, (who know their
rights, without being under the necessity Of asking
any New Yoik politicians what they are,) the Pre-
sidsnt still persisted in seeing nothing in this paper
that could not BE- sufficiently answered by snecr.
GI will answer" said Mr. Lincoln, emphatically,
"thst expect to let the friends of Geo. B. Mo-
Clelan manage their side Of this contest in their
own way, and wiU manage my side of IL an
my Udy"s,a
We beg to submit to the President that the
friends Of Geo. B. Mcclellan, in "managing their
side Of this contest" have nothing which to rely
(and they want no more) than the power Of truth
and tho weight Of his honorable and patriotic
name But when the President, with all his ply
steal agencies and appliances for controlling public
opinion, if he is disposed to use them unfairly, in
forms us that he will manage his side Of the con-
test in his way" we beg to suggest that it would
be more reputable and proper for him to leave all
management Of this kind in the hands of his
.sfricnds," II, however, the President proposes to
undertake the management Of this canvass Gin his
own way" and if the proceeding of Mr.. Andrew
johnson, his military subordinate and political
associate on the Republican ticket, is one of his
"ways," the people Of the United States cannot
know II moment too soon, that they may take
counsel for the preservation Of their liberties, at
tackled in the very sanctuary of the nation, when
the elective franchise of free and loyal citizens is
put under the dictation Of President who is :
candidats for the popular suffragcs. Justly may
the Springfield Republican say, as it does, that
neither the President nor his military subordinate
in Tennessee g has any more right to require an
" oath against the Chicago platform than one
"sgainst the Assembly's catschism, as condition
" Of voting in Tennessee II is to disfranchise
every Democratic voter in the State" And well
may the New York Advertiser add, If any thing
of the free American spirit be left in the land that
"No party can thrive upon such misdeeds, and the
sooner they are repudiated the better for it and
for the country They are feeble but significant
q limitations Of the established despotisms Of Eu-
rope, and offer ss little prospect Of free election
0 n that bv which the present French Emperor