Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-02-09
NEeRo voTINe AND NEeRo cITI-

NEGRO VOTING AND NEGRO CITI-
zENsIEIP.
In his message 10 the Legislature Of
Che 9th Of April, 1865, Cos. Brownlow
said
1t is certainly proper and right for the
Legislature Of Tennessee to determine to
what extent this State shall be overrun
with the emancipated slaves Of other States.
II their presence in any State IS blessing,
they should be distributed: II an evil, It is
but Just that we should be taxed only with
our own share Of them"
Again in his MESSAGE Of October,
S65 the Governor said
The time has net yet come when the
hailot-box should be turned over 20 the
emancipated slaves Of this State, and the
thousands who would rush into Tennessee
from the cotton States on this account.
Being satisfied thai the imme-
diate and indiscriminate extension Of the
franchise 10 the negroes viii not prove as
beneficial as many suppose, | cannot re-
commend the measure for your adoption. j
think it would be bad policy, as well as
wrong in principle, TO open the ballot-box
TO the uniformed and exceedingly stupid
slaves Of the Southern cotton, rice and
/ sugar fields"
It is this class which the Radicals in
the Legislature are inviting to make Ten
nessee their political asylum The other
Southern States viii enact no such law
as the bill which was passed by the House
Of Representatives the other day, and
which, there seems scarcely doubt will
] pass the Senate, and the inducement will
be held out ito the uninfermed and ex-
ceedingly stupid slaves Of the Southern
cotton, rice and sugar fields, to make
Tennessee their home, where they will be
entitled to the privileges Of the ballot-box
And they viii come to this State "on this
account, as the Governor declared in his
solicitude for the fate Of Tennessee, be
fore his instincts Of right and justice
yielded to the behests of the politica
gamesters who now rule the State.
But when the Legislature has made
citizens Of this class against whose bad
influence the Governor uttered the warn
ing notes We have quoted, what will the
prohibition against their holding Office
and serving on juries amount to? vii
it not be as wall of sand to be battered
down by Rsdical Judiciary The ne
groes, "uninformed and exceedingly stn
pid, as the Governor represented then
to be, know that this result must follow
and already they are agitating the
question of running men of theiI
own color Tor Office, az we learn from
the Knoxville Commercial But sup
pose the Senate should strike this
provision out Of the bill, in obedi
ence to the demands of those who esteem
place and power more essential than the
observance Of great principles, how long
will it be before we shall have civil officers
and members of the Legislature elected
by and from the uniformed and ex.
ceedingly stupid slave, whose presence
the Governor so earnestly deprecated
and whose influence upon the destinies
Of the State he feared, honestly, we are
bound to believe, when he declared that,
for the present, we have done enough
for the negro ? lie warned the Legs
lature that they were ignorant, docile,
easily LED by designing men, and not
safely trusted with political power, and
on this account, he was not willing to
see them at the ballot-box." Ifhis reasons
and fears had any point or weight then,
they have lost none of their force now
They ring out now Ike bugle blasts to
warn the same body to whom they were
addressed, how near we have drifted upon
the dangerous edge Of things