New-York tribune., 1867-08-03
THE LESSON or TENNESSEE.


all discussion in regard to the cOlOred vote of
the South. Nor promises nor threats could
win the freedmen to the support of the party
which had opposed their Liberation, and given
all its sympathy to the Rebellion. Yet Ten
nessee is the only State in which general
concessions have been made to the col
Ored men by the Democracy; they were
invited to send delegates to Democratic
Conventions, and at time when timid
Republicans in the Legislature were afraid to
allow black men to sit on juries, there were
Democrats shrewd enough to offer them a
share of the Offices in the gift of the people.
On the other hand, the planters of Western
Tennessee used stronger means to secure the
cOlored vote for Etheridge; dismissal from
employment was the penalty of a vote for
Br0wnlOw, and 80 universal were these threats
that Gen. Thomas was compelled to interfere
for the protection of the cOlOred men. But
terrorism could not drive, fiattery could not
betray the freedmen of Tennessee knew that
the Republican party was the only party they
dared trust, and cast their votes sOlidly for
the Republican candidates. This unanimlty Is
prophetic If the blacks are Radical in
Tennessee, there can be no fear that they will
he Conservative in Louisiana or South
Carolina.
The result of this election, therefore, means
the triumph of the Republican party i'll the
South. Nothing can prevent it but the faith
lessness or indifference of Republicans in the
North it is yet i'll our power to make or mar
success. The full and perfect confidence OF
the colored voters of the Rebel States Is given
TO us, and to keep il we have only to deserve
it, But if the Republican party in New ork'
Ncw-Jersey, and Pennsylvania denies the right
of suffrage To the colorcd citizens OF those
States, the faith of the South in its sincerity
must be inevitably lost. Two opposing prncl-
pies cannot cO-eXist; there cannot be one
rule of Justice for the South, and one for the
North but that policy which iii the name OF
freedom we impose upon Others we must our
selves accept. Conviction of hypocrisy, before
the bar of the nation, is the alternative and
nothing could do more TO check Republican
enthusiasm in Alabama or North Carolina than
the announcement that NewYorll had refused
the ballot to her own citizens. If we want TO
build up Black mans party that is the surest
and speediest way, nor could we have the
efirontery TO complain OF political organl-.
zation based on distinctions of color, which
we ourselves recognized and proclaimed
Yet we have no fear now that justice will be
long denied To the colored; men of the North,
let them vote as they may, 1t Is not with their
politics that we are concerned, but with Their
rights Even were it certain that every colored
vote in New-York would be cast for the Demo
cratic ticket our voice would be FOR impartial
suffrage And upon lower grounds surely, the
devotion of the freedmen of Tennessee To the
Republican cause should be an argument with
those politicians who never fully accept priD-
ciple till time has proved that It is also
expcdency.
Tennessee has taught that lesson. This is
the first State election at which the blacks
have taken full part, and though the canvass
was fierce and personal. aud every prOyocation
to riot was given, order WAS maintained
throughout the State. The precautions taken
by the civil authorities, and by Gen. Thomas,
il is true, were excellent. yet they were motor
iously insufficient had there been any truth in
the Democratic dogma that the equal rights
of black and white necesstate a war OF races.
The freedmen were not only orderly, but 1t Is
plain that they preserved order. The
vote WAS unusually large, the polls
were crowded the passions of linen were
excited, and had the negroes desired riot, Gen.
Thomas had no force in Tennessee that could
have prevented it. That the almost unanimous
vote they cast for the Republican ticket il a
proof of their fitness for the ballot may be
called a partisan argument; but we can do
without it, We take the grand spectacle of a
race of slaves, just from the whipping-post aud
the market, dcspsed, ignorant, poor, suddenly
clothed with freedom and intrusted with pOliti-
cal power, who yet go side by side with their
mastersand prosecutors to the polls. "A peacefully
as if for generations they had been the chill
dren OF the State, and not the beasts who bore
its burdens. Is not this appreciation of the
meaning OF the ballOt9 There are men in Ten
nessee to day who never felt that they were
men till they cast their votes for Brownlow
last Thursday, and if we dared believe that
the Democrats Of this city had half the sense
of their responsibility as voters, and half the
respect for the sacrcdness OF the ballot
that the negroes of Tennessee possess,
we should not despair of seeing thieves ban
ished from our Government, from the City
Councils up or down, TO the Courts held in
the interest of Rum.
Tennessee, Andrew Johnson's own State, has
utterly repudiated his policy, and declared that
not upon his plan is reconciliation possible.
The new Legislature will choose the successor
of Senator Patterson, and every one of the
eight Congressman chosen is Radical.
This victory is one for Amnesty for that
must be the certain result of the unity of
the Republican party, North and South-the
acceptance by the Rebel States of the nat
ural results of the war SO long as
men like Monroe, and Perry, and Hill, and
Herschel V. Johnson refuse to acknowledge the
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