The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-04-14
FRIDAY, APRIL II, 1866.


PERSONA cAAfactels We are Always reiuc-
tant 10 engage in, because Affairs are thrust
before tie public il which they oftsa ts
but little interest, Much as We dislike If
however, we must defend ourselves r. m
suspicion and the attacks Of malice. II il
an unfortunate fact that the lowest and
mesnest have still left the miserable pre-
rogatiVe Of buIley spirils-the power 70 -
mischief, unless they are properly checked
and exposed. The Union Is a candidate
for the public printing. Having bsttl.d
earnestly for the loyal cause, friends whose
position made their suggestions powerful.
urged the ProprietOrs to apply for that DO
sitiOn. The Tines is also candidate for
the same Office, and it had perfect tight
10 be 50, if its proprietors 50 choose, but il
had no right to seek the accomplishment
Of its desires BY malicious statements
against its opponent. On Monday last that
paper made an unproyoked attack upon
US, and has followed it up with other
cious artia.es. This was done-not-in a..
performance Of public duty, az a iour-
ualist, but with the petty trickery with
which an uhserupulOus tradesmsn vaunts
hissuPeriOrity over the store on the other
side OF the street.
That the Times was in sinking position
wss we'll known TO many Of our citizens.
who were appealed to for aid to keen it
shOst. Il was also known 10 those who
resd it, from its slOvenly appearance and
the.spareity Of reading matter in its col .
umus. To stave of the period Of final
wreck, she effort is made to gain the city
printing DO as 10 protrsct a sickly existence
by sdventitious aid. There was one diff.
Guilty in the way Of this seheme-tbe
Times Office had not the presses and mate
rial with which 70 do the work il sought.
In this dilemma, strange, monprel kind
Of partnership was entered into, under
which arrangement its ostensible proprie
tor approaches the members Of the Iegis-
lsture, and others having nHuence, in the
character Of a martyr. His wrongs are
Plaintively stated--his offerings are re-
lated-his privstions are exposed-his bigb
claims, self-extolled, aze showily paradea-
and all this mountain Of merits is Wanted
as being piled up in consequence of in
tense self-sacrifce 70 the Union cause.
The whole story looks plausible, and the
chief actor IN the performance, with hi,
small cap and great humility, his plaintiye
tone, and bis melancholy eye, feuers on
the stage 20 effectualIy, that the lookerson
are efected-so accurate is the perforrn-
anee, the spectators are indeed TO accent
the mimic scene fot. real life. But open The
trap dOor-draw back the scenes-let day-
light take the place Of glazing gass. and
how does the tinsel lose its glare, and the
paint show itself on the daubed features of
the shrinking Retoil Where Is the day-
light to come from that shall display the
getting up" Of the modern piece Of atbe
Martyr Times, or distress in the sanctumy"
Il comes from place few would expect
from the office Of another city paper;
paper the Times has, before now, literally
denounced as ooPperhead! The Times is
to get the printing, but the Press is to do
the work. That our cotemporary should &c.
csptan offer Of the kind, is on its side but
Ilegitimate business arrangements. Lut
that one who has such a hatred Of rebels, !
and such a horror Of those he siigmatizes |
as "coPperheads" should make the offer is /
smother affair, and one that may suggest
useful reflections among the Legislators, for |
whom the play was especially rehearsed in
private, and performed in public.
Here is the faot-the martyr Times must /
get the contract under cover Of loyalty in |
distress, that the work may be done BY |
those TO whom the Legislators would not
give it directly. There is a wonderful sim
ilarity in this, 10 the proceeding Of semmes
when playing the character Of First Pirate
in the gloomy tragedy Of "Jsf. Davis, or
the Southern Confederacy Ahost." Hoist
ing the stripes and stars, semmes would
iuyeigle loyal American CaptIius 10 sail
uususpicIously within gunshot. then down
vent the Union banner, and up floated the
rsg-when the object is accomplished, down
drops martyr and up starts copper The
martyr performance has already accom-
plished mueh-the other day the House
ordered two thousand copies Of the Cover
nor's message, and in one short hour the
two thousand were in their chamber. The
work was done fret, aud the resolution to
have it done got through afterward Prae-
tics in quinine makes perfect in prefs
work
But the quinine is a tender subjsct-the |
Times earnestly protests that no aid, :
rectly or indirectly, was ever given by its |
Editor to the rebellion. Does this mean
that the charge Of being in the quinine bu-
siness is uutrue2 or simply that the pro-
jsct miscarried II the former is the case,
Why did the letter published by the Lou
isyillo Journal, on which the charge is
founded, escape denial, and the brand Of
ialsehood, till now ? II the latter is the |
fact, the case is plainly one Of involuntary |
innocence, which gives a clear title TO le- !
gal acquitial, as we eheerfully aeknowl-
edge, for We should not like to inhict
wrong on 4 suffering adversary.
We are accused Of having, some time age,
an employ ee who hoisted q Confederate flag
on his type case. The flag" was a paper
picture, cut from some old bin by mische-
yious apprentices, who stuck ! to tease an
old man that stood next him. As the pro-
piistors Of the USIoS knew nothing Of the
trick when il was performed, and one Of
them reproved the boy when the fact came
to his knowledge, We must decline to
shoulder any blame en- this score. II tho
crime was in having a boy in our employ
that would do 90 foolish a trick, what - the
Times editor guilt, who has him IN ~
once al mas YreseHt moNe1t.