Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1866-11-22

D1sfranchlSement-ALe Les
son for Tennessee Rad
icals.
At the recent election in Lin
coin county for Representative in
the Legislature, there were only
$40 votes cast, and only l54 of
these were returned to the Sheriff
in time to be legally counted
Of the whole vote, 2l0 were cast
for Conservative candidates, and
ITO for the Radical candidate. In
the election for Governor in March,
1865, there were 100 votes cast
for the present incumbent. All
of these were qualified to vote and
entitled to certificates Of registra-
ton according to the franchise act.
1t was reported several months
ago that the poll books of Lincoln
county had been stolen, and this
may account in part for the small
number of votes cast in the recent
election, though it has been dem
onstrated of late that the people
do not take much interest in these
special elections. In the Presi-
Dental election of 1860 Lincoln
county cast 1852 votes. 1t
thus appears that in any event
fully two thousand of the voters
of that county are disfranchised
by the action of men who owe the
power they exercise solely to ad-
ventitious circumstances. 1t is
the knowledge of the fact that,
however stringent they may make
the franchise law, the majority of
those who will be entitled to vote
under it in Middle and West Ten
nessee will vote for Conservative
men, that has caused the Radicals
to favor negro suffrage. They
hope thus to perpetuate their lease
UPON the offices of the State. The
Tennessee Radicals may learn a
lesson from the result of the cleo
ton in Maryland. The Conserv-
alive victory in Baltimore aston
ishes every one in view of the
ability of the Radicals, by their
Police Commissioners, to exclude
all who did not agree with them.
The mystery is thus sensibly and
seasonably explained by the
Springfield Mass. Republican:
"The Republicans of Baltimore
had entire control of the machine
ry of the election ar d excluded all
the voters they chose, as Rebels
or rebel sympathizers. That they
should win under such circum-
stances was considered a matter
of course. Nor is their failure
accounted for by saying that
the Rebels peuured themselves
and so got their votes in. The
figures tell another story. Two
years ago the Republicans cast
nearly $4,000 votes in the city
and the opposition not quite 5000.
Now the Republican vote has fall
en- to 1900, and the Democratic
has gone up to $500. The Dem
ocrats have gained $500 and the
Republicans lost that number and
1000 more. The aggregate vote
is 1000 less than in 1864, and
5000 registered voters did not
vote at all. 1t cannot be said that
the Republicans were kept from
the polls by intimidation. The
truth is that many Baltimore Re-
pubiicans are Conservative, after
the manner of Gov. Swami; but |
the result is in part at least, pro-
test by Republicans themselves
against the policy of exclusion.
They saw that citizens quite as 10y
al and trustworthy as themselves
were disfranchised under pretense
that they had at some time in
dulged sympathy with the Rebels;
they saw this years registration
set aside by those who made it,
when they discovered that the
majority of those registered were
against them in politics, and they
began to understand that gross Vi
olations of the rights of suffrage
would lead to dangerous conse-
quences. They therefore either vo-
ted with the opposition or made 81
lent protest by refusing to vote
at all. Notwithstanding there
was a disposition on the part of
Governor Swami and his support
ers to make an unfair use of pow
er to carry their ends, and the de-
feat of their Vaccinations was
p A. G. |