Clarksville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1865-1867, 1866-01-05
1--WE oan'ti see it in those Lamps

signed Tennessee ana invite, TO II, the attention
of our readers. 1t is written in the style prac-
tced writer and its tone is that of one honestly
DESTROYS to accomplish good purpose; aud we
shall be pleased to learn that our readers have de-
rived from its pcrusal that hopefulness which we
confess our inability to impart amid the gloom that
hangs, like pail, over the present and the future
Of the copatry. Could we believe that there is
enough Of patriotism in the people Of the North to
rescue the form Of our government from the grasp
Of those who seek to rend it in pieces, VIC might
indulge the hope that the oppression of the South
win prove mere temporary infliction, TO be fol-
lowed by an early future of peace and property.
But when we see the boosted conservatism Of the
Northern people bringing forth better fruit than
that of radical domination; when we see, day
after day, Hause after clause Of the Constitution
assailed with view TO an entire change of system,
and that the South may be left at the mercy of an
Infatuated and relentless faction; when we see the
arm Of the Executive powerless to beat back the
waves of fanaticism which are undermining the
base of our republican edihce and flooding the
country with the vices and passions that are the
forerunners of barbarsm hope may fling a ray of
light athwnrt the gloom, but it is the light of the
llow-worm at midnight, or the spark upon burnt
rag ...-
But If our tone be Respondent it is not SO much
because the South is suffering now, or may suffer
more in the immediate future, but because we ap-
prehend the overthrow of our system of govern
mesl and the erection, upon its ruins, of cen.
'ralizsd power destructive not only of the rights
OF the States, but of the liberties of the people,
And our humble efforts have been directed not so
much to a hurried restoration of the Union, as to
the preservation of those fundamental principles
which, alone, can make restoration desirable
Could We, for instance, have seen the necessity for
tue second clause of the lately adopted amendment
of the Constitution. rs a means Of perfecting the
abolition OF ST. v y, we would not have written
Gue against it, But looking upon it as wholly un-
necessary, and rs first step towards a deliberate
and systematized effort at a radieal change in the
government, it was eur duty to warn the country
as far as our warning might be heartI--of the
threatened danger. The warning was UNDECIDED
The first step has been successful anG is followed
by others, in rapid succession-all looking to the
same end the permanent subjugaton of the South,
secured by means of consolidation
Our correspondent will, of course, dissent from
CUR premises; but it would tax his ingenuity to
hasd y different version of the acts of the radical
wing OF the republican party; especially since two
OF Its most prominent leaders have enunciated the
doc rnes and proclaimed the purposes TO which we
have been offering feeble resistance And the
cnrncstness--the honesty with which we have COM
battcd such doctrines and measures, may have in
duce'l, in the minds of some men, the suspicion that
object is to create disaection and to give utter
ance to disoyal sentiments. But this is not true
All that we have written is in support of the gov
ernment it was, aud this is the only true test of
loyalty. In proportion to ones devotion to his
government must be his hostility to those who would
scrvert its principles, abuse its powers. We are
not one Of those who endorse the doctrine that the
administration is the government and that conse-
gucntly, opposition TO party in power is opposi.
tion to the government itself. Regulating this
doctrine so popular during the war, We acknowl-
edge allegiance to the Constitution, the source
of all political power and Of every political right
and confess our inability to find in such allegiance
evidences OF treason. 1t is in strict accordance
with this view, that we have protested against
some Of the acts Of the President, and the entire
programme Of the radicals, and claim that, in do
ing so, we have hut discharged one of the highest
duties incumbent upon the citizen. That our mo-
ti'es Observation-Disclosures " our correspondent
but by those men born Gn,l reared in the South
and wills glory in their extra Unonism, is not at
all surprising Whilst we stand up boldly for the
Constitutions, they rample il under foot for the sake
ofpowcr and pelf whilst we advocate restoration
Of the Union and return to the principles of free,
constitutional government, they advocate disfran-
chisement OF people and States that their
reign of lawess tyranny may be prolonged
knowing, full well, that free halotbox viii pre-
cipitate them from position to which they were
elevated not by the will of the majority but by
TIE peculiar circumstances Of the couatry and a
mil try innovation upon the government of the
States.
la making these remarks, wish to be under
stood as not intending them reply to our cor
respondent. The texts he furnishes would lead us
far away from reflections of this sort, aud into
fields of thought and argument not now free to
every seeker after political truth. Those fields are
posted and moe than once we have been admon-
ishsd that our gun will be taken from us if arc
found trespassng thereon. Under these restric-
tons, we mast be centent TO beat the thickets of
waste lands, and dare not pull trigger upon pre-
scrred game even though, MS in the instances just
given, it he not worth the powder In the mean
time, We fully appreciate the views and feelings of
our cor. espondcnt--his honesty and patriotism !;
and II we differ upon some points, ii is a difference
free from vindlctiyeness and dictated by no mcrcc-
uTy motives.
TiH polcy of the radicals is giving a powerful
impulse to the emigration of Southerners TO Mex
leo, and the more the South is insulted and OPP
Pressed the more general and rapid will be this
movement 1t will be singular fact in the his