The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-05-09
To the People of Tennessee.

notoriety IN the State, you ma
well ask what claims l have upon YOU
attention, that l should presume t.
offer my advice or give my opinion
have only to answer that | have witt
you q common interest in the peace
and welfare and prosperity of the coun
try, and that feel that possibly | may
be able to give some word of warning
or point out some mode of action tha
might have tendency to promote
these desirable objects.
The subject that desire to speak o
at this time of heated party strife, i
the recent enactment which has lately
been forced upon the country by the
present majority in the Legislature
known as the franchise law" / am one
of this body, and during the pendency
of that bill before the Senate, ,exerted al
my influence to prevent its passage, be
lieVing as | did that it was not proper
ly rejecting the viii of the majority oi
the true and loyal men of the State
and that it was in direct violation o.
! the Constitution and subversive of ouI
republican form of government. II
has, however, in despite of all remon
STRANGE, passed our body according
to all the prescribed rules laid
down ia the Constitution, and
is now the law of the land
and must so remain until it is pro
nounced otherwise by the Supreme
Court of the State, or is repealed by
the people. There is, however, deep
and settled hostility to the execution
of this measure throughout the State.
not only by that class its provisions ex,
clude from the ballotbox, but amongst,
perhaps, a large majority of those ii
will admit to that privilege. This OPP
position should not degenerate into dis
obedience and violent resistance to its
requirements. This will only give a
pretext to its advocates to enforce its
restrictions with greater severity and
afford them an argument in favor of
more radical measures.
The law in all its provisions and as
poets is so much at variance with all
precedent and so great a departure from
the principles of republicanism, and so
repulsive to all the more generous i'm
pulses of the human heart, that it can
not long remain upon our statute books.
It's own present and most strenuous adj
vocates will become ashamed of it and
will submit to its repeal, or will abandon
it as useless in few years, if its oppo-
nents everywhere will only remain
quiet and will not attempt to resist it
by violent means
Ours is q Government of constitu-
tional law, and although under the ex-
citement of passion or prejudice, and
party drill, legislative bodies may be at
times driven TO enact unwise and iuju-
rious ordinances. Yet the sober sense
and calmer judgment of the real peo-
pie will in time, when the heated con-
test is passed, correct the wrong and
restore the right So it will be in this
instance, if the ardent and imprudent
opposers of this measure do not stir up
the people to violent resistance There
fore, l hope no opposition will be made
to the execution of the law that is not
in strict conformity to la1O. In Gov
ernment like ours there is only two
modes by which we can lawfully get rid
Of obnoxious or unconstitutional enact
ments. The one is through the ballot
box, and the other is by an appeal to
the Supreme court of the State. Both
these modes are within your reach,
and are peaceful and lawful But some
will say this law is framed purposely to
defeat a resort to the ballot-box; that
it may be SO administered that none
but the friends of the measure will be
permitted to vote; and therefore, it
should be disregarded and resisted
But l think this is taking an exagge-
ted view of its provisions. The law
with all its restrictions will perhaps let
in not less than sixty or seventy thou
sand voters, and with this number of
freemen we may confidently rely, if the
proper efforts are made, to enforce all
its deformities before the people, that it
will be repealed by an overwhelming
majority. This law cannot, in any
sensible construction of the Constitu-
ton, be considered a part of that in
strument (as some of It's friends con-
tend) 1t is only at emporary provision
authorized by the schedule to meet
temporary emergency, and can in no
sense be deemed irrevokable by the
same power that made it. We there
fore have this mode of redress, and if we
do our whole duty, and avoid extreme
and hasty resistance, there is no fear
that this law will long disgrace our
statute books.
am aware that some of its provis-
ions are exceedingly repulsive to the
sensibilities of the masses of the Union
people, particularly of my own portion
of the State; and none more so than
the 7th section, which, it is believed,
was intended to provide for the vote of
the negro soldier. would say to those
who are so much averse to this provis-
ion, that whether the friends of ne
gro suffrage intended that this provIs-
ion should be so construed or not it
still remains to be seen whether, in the
execution of the law, it will be so in
sisted upon and carried out and that
lift is so construed, that we will be
compelled to submit to it, as resistance
to its requirements can affect no good,
and might be the means of inflicting
upon Ut the calamity of standing ar
my of colored troops. Therefore, l
hope that the people OF East Tennes-
see, whatever their opposition may be,
will see the great necessity OF quietly
obeying the law, while it remains upon
the statute books, and give no room for
our opponents and enemies abroad to
charge Us with disloyalty or dlsobedl-
ence.
Every public demonstration that we
make in opposition to the fsnaticism
of the radical party, both in our own
State and in Congress, should be strict
lv iL..obedience to law, and in a peace
ful and orderly way, so as to convince
them that we are determined to main
tain the dignity of the laws, let them
be ever so repuguant to our wish and
will and if II is the determination of
that party TO force upon US negro suf-
frage with all its evils, with them be
the wrong and folly, and not with US.
A SrEcIMEx OF RADICAL REPUBLICAN
LEGIsLATIox.-The New York Times
(Rep in speaking of the incapacity OF
persons sent to the Legislature, and OF
their partisan legislation, speaks of the
Board Of Fire commissioners forced
upon that city as " a Board whose inca
pacitp and inexperience, TO say nothing
of its political misconduct, has cost our
citizens nncounted millions, and impoy-
erished or ruined our insurance compa-
nies.
That's fair specimen OF the attempt