Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-08-10
LETTER FROM MEMPHIS.

.
LETTER FROM MEMPHIS.
should the Negro be blamed ?-Their
Conduct NatuFaI-APprOVes sOnfh-
ern Theorfes-An Admiral ON a New
Taek-EHe Goes into Port COngraSu-
lated ny Observation-Disclosures
Letter from GOV. BrOwnI0w.'
Special Correspondence Nashville Union and
Dispatch.
MEMPHIS, TENN, August z, 1867 am
not sure that the policy adopted by very
many Conservatives, which involves the
discharge Of colored qnpIOyes, is wise. That
the negroes acted unwisely ] do not deny ;;
but If we condemn, we must admit that We
anticipated wisdom in the exercise Of rights
Of citizenship. Since | never approved
universal suffrage and its operation is bad,
Icannot stultify myself by furnishing blacks
for that folly which we may regret but can
hardly cure. 1t was not, as am led to
believe, the purpose of the negroes TO per-
petuate our disfranehisement, but to eyinee
gratitude for their Liberation. They never
looked beyond the fact that Lincoln issued
a proclsl4ation. They do not know that
ihe murdseed President never did more
than propose gradual emancipation.
cannot blame them for the simple, honest
recognition OF supposed benefactioIrand
surely, when accustomed to deny African
fitness for citizenship, / cannot complain
when African acts have approved my rea-
soniug and assertions.
j never believed that negro freemen
could compete successfully with whites in
the market overt of human industry,
and am not therefore prepared to deny
Sambo fair field and open fight. fSam-
bo be a fit subject for the operation of pure
Republicanism, we were wrong in holding
him enslayed if Sambo can compete sue
cessfully with white men, he should be
given the largest liberty and the more, be-
cause he has heretofore been grievously
wronged. By supporting Brownlow, ad
herring to those who have least interest in
his welfare, and separating himself from
those whose adhesion he requires, he has
approved my theories and ] am well
pleased. My former conduct, 10 holding
slaves, is certainly justified. No man fit for
participation in matters of government has
ever supported Brownlow. In justice to
our colored fellow citizens it becomes me to
say that | do not believe that they thought
once of franchise acts. They owed debt
for freedom, and as they understood the
facts, went about the business of paying.
The sentiment deserves all eommendation
the wisdom betrayed is undiscernable, and
no one has ever imputed to Africans any
purpose of patriotism.
Let natures laws do their work. We
need not interpose. The negro race dies.
Let us have nosbare in its murder, When
the sympathies of whites no longer invest
blacks with preference and protection, the
white man who cannot outstrip negroes in
all industrial and intellectual pursuits,
does not deserve success. A fair race is
all that any white man asks If he de-
mand more, be confesses inferiority to
race that is inferior to our own. If this is
not true, the history of the South for two
hundred years has been the history of OPP
preston and wrong.
This is not the last election to occur in
Tennessee. In two years our colored fell
low-eitizens will have learned much. 1t
hardly becomes us to perpetuate enmities
now excited, and when We reflect how rap
idly the race becomes extinct, our sympa
thies, instead of contempt and detestation,
should shield the friendless deluded and
innocent negro.
The Bulletin has gone off at a tangent
from that endless circle of fury and de-
nunciation which, of late, has characterized
and made delightful the columns of fra
grant, kindly, cooling, tender, generous
newspaper press. 1t woke up, after the
election, with headache, rubbed its eyes,
| till "the black was out" and demanded a
truce. 1t would have no more quarrels,
no more ribald denunciation, no more
faetitiousfu fury, no more disgusting personali-
ties. l expected every moment to run atoul
of a sentence suggesting the suppression OF
Brownloys Wing and Of all its counter
parts in Tennessee. Half the newspapers
in the State would have been silenced, and
half the sport Of professional politicians
destroyed. In any event the Bulletin makes
wise suggestions There was never an
article in Memphis paper more universal
| ly approved than that in which Admiral
Semmes proposes peace and the restoration
of decency in epithets among gentlemen"
Of the press. Let Brownlow and the Radi-
Gals monopolize this dirty branch Of the
| politicians business.
The Post publishes a list of those who
discharge colored laborers because of their
| political conduct. Gen. Smith will intro
duce a bill declaring such acts penitentiary
ofenses. This law viii have an er post
| tdcto operation like the franchise acts.
Brownlow's pet courts will enforce the
law, and each fellow named in the Post
viii be "plenipotentiaried for life. Such
was the exposition of the Posts conduct
given me this afternoon, by a learned
Ethiopian forgot to add that the props
erty of these tyrsnnical Rebels will be
parcelled out among the darkies.
I am told that Governor Brownlow has
written a privste letter to friend in this
city, in which ne declares his purpose to
restore peace, quietude, order and good
government in Tennessee. He says that
he loves Tennessee; that he grows old and
would win the plaudits of posterity that
if he can achieve the task of reproducing
concord and harmony he will be content
If Brownlow does this, he will deserve q
monument of marble taller than the match
less capitol which rises above yonr beauti
ful city | would toll for one year Of my
life to add an inch to the height of such Z
monumental pile, if deserved by the Chic
Magistrate of Tennessee. What victory
over self would such memorial attest
God grant that Governor Brownlow ma.
deserve it. NARRo.
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