Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-04-04

| Vi the COulfaly, ble POLITICAL ldlll upon
| which Mr.. Lincoln and his Cabinet pro-
| ceeded upon which the Americas Con-
| gress with marked uuanimity in July, 1861,
/ voted and upon which the war was prose-
cuted 10 a successful termination, was that
| the ordinances Of secession adopted by the
| Rebel States were void, d5 iaitio, and, there
/ fore, would not injnriously affect the politi-
cal rights and personal privileges Of its
| loyal Inhabitants and whenever the armed
invasion was Overthrown, they were en-
titled TO the full enjoyment Of all their
privileges as American citizens.
Mr.. Lincoln 50 held when be appointed
Andrew johnson Military Governor of
Tennessee.
Ny colleague from the second district, Mr..
Maynard, on the 23d day Of May, 1862,
held the same views, and in his speech
delivered on that day in the Congress of
the United States, so forcibly and beauti-
fully expresses the doctrine, that | ask
your indulgence TO read an extract:
''fhe death Of States and the crushing
out Of institutions was not the purpose for
which the American people entered on this
war They intended the life of States and
the preservation Of institutions. Such has
been, is, and, l venture to affirm, will be
the policy of the President and his admin
istration. II was this high conserving
policy that led him to unclothe Of his
Senatorial robes the great tribune of the
people, and intrust in his hands the labor of
reiustaiiHg this great commonwealth, ia
whose councils he had long been SO con-
spieuous. Hewa sent not TO destroy but
10 save; not to create new relations but to
restore and preserve the old. He found
the machinery all perfect, complete, but
motionless. The engineer and workmen
had fed the fires had gone out the water
had cooled in the boilers. Another engi-
neer is put on duty other workmen are
summoned to his aid. The fires are re-
kindled; the valves open one by one, the
piston-rod begins 70 play, and as by de-
grees the bolts are reftted to the shafting.
the whole resume their motion and hum
their accustomed song Of industry. The
State was not dead; its government was
not destroyed merely its functions for a
time usurped, and its action perverted
its relations to the Federal system suspen-
ded by violence. When the violence is
overcome and the usurpation Is subdued,
the former relations become active and
the functions Of Government legitimate
the State exists as before 1t has not been
conquered it has been restored. 1t has not
been subiugated, it has been disentralled."
Compare this declaration Of principles
with the new and progressive ideas born of
the present political necessities, and then
ask yourselves who has apostatized from
the faith-Whose " faces should be covered
with shameT
But again, on this particular point of
political faith, what were the views ofGoy.
William G. Brownlow? Listen to his an
nOuncement Of them in his message to the
Legislature on the 9th day OF April, 1865:
| at is with profound regret that | have
observed several Republican journals, and
some leading politicians of ability and in
fnence, are opposed to the admission of
Senators and Representatives from Tennes-
see. They take the ground that the state
! shoJld be treated as a territory, aud con-
tinued under military government, and
subject to the arbitrary orders of military
rule. If this dangerous and revolutionary
doctrine is adhered to by any considerable
portion of Senators and Representatives in
Congress, shall, for one, dread the conse-
quences. My confidence in the wisdom
and patriotism Of Senators and Representa-
tives, leads me 70 believe they will discard
Indignantly every such proposition.
take the ground that the State has never
been out of the Union, and boldly deny
that the unconstitutional and reasonable
acts of those in rebellion ever carried them
out"
And yet the President for adhering to
the same doctrines, and regulating his
political conduct by them, is villifed and
abused by a convention in the State, which,
at the same time, nOminates for reelection
the very man who thus boldly" utters
and approves of them.
This proposition Of dead States was al
ways repudiated by Andrew johnson. As
early as 1862, in his address to the people
of the State on assuming the duties of mill
| itary Governor, he distinctly denounced it.
In 1868, he repeated it, by telegraph, tc
| Hon. Montgomery Blair, then member of
! Mr.. Lincoln's Cabinet. 1t was known to
| be his political sentiments at the time Of
his nomination for Vice President. II was
| fully disclosed and elaborated in an article
which appeared in the Nashville Times
and Union on the 2Sth of December, 1854,
and cordially approved by the Republican
party-including John w. Forney, who,
by letter dated January z, 1865, address
ing the President, says:
"The fact is, my dear Governor we
| cannot resist peace should the Southern
| people Law down their arms and demand
to come back into the Unicn under the
terms of the amnesty proclamation
| ing TO the abolition Of slavery by the
amendment of the constitution, and con-
senting to the restoration Of the old Union.
Any party that opposes such an appeal
would come 10 confusion; nor can We EN-
barrass such question by legislation on the
subject Of negro suffrage, because that
| question belongs 10 the States, and it viii!
look very odd if the Legislatures Of even
the free States should endeayor 10 confer
the right of suffrage upon the as yet illite-
rate negroes, Just delivered from slavery
in the South, when in nearly all the free
States, the negroes are wholly disfran-
4 chised"
Thus it is, standing firmly on the same
platform now which he occupied then, he
is the subject Of calumny and abuse, be-
cause he cannot yield his convictions Of
constitutional law into the keeping Of a
party which has rapidly advanced towards
the centralizing Of all power in the Con-
gress, and the territorializing Of the States.
The thirty-ninth Congress rendered itself
notorious by the passage of many bills
having for their object the curtailment of
the power Of the Executive and the judi
cial power Of the Supreme Court. Against
all these voted, because / believed
that the legislation did not originate from
the conviction that il was right or proper
for the welfare of the Government, but
from feelings of snimosity towards the
| Executive.
il deprived the President Of the power
Of removal Of incompetent or unfaithful
officers, and yet holds the Executive De
pariment responsible for the faithful en-
forcement Of the laws and thereby over
turning the established policy Of the Co
vernment since its organization.
Il deprived the President Of the power
which belonged to him as COMMANDMENTS
chief Of the army and navy Of the United
States-by which, heretofore, he was en-
abled 10 execute law, maintain peaoe-and
conferred il upon the General.
Il closed It's labors by the passage Of =
reconstruction bill, which subjects the
Southern States TO military rule, and with
the openly ayowed purpose, that the
effect Of its tyranny and oppression would
he to induce the people of the South
eru States 10 remodeltheir governments
upon tie terms dictated 20 them. By
this measure the terms are offered to
lhem-colored suffrage or military des-
potism That is the harvest gath