Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-09-24
TIIE OUTGIvINGs OF A SENATE
RIAL ASPEWANT #
SecretarY FIetcher, Who has SenateI.

| Affects no sIaaH measure OF contempt.
In his speech at the Scoyel meeting Sat-
urday night he characterized them as
"adventurerso and gbummers." Here is
the opinion he expressed Of them:
But there IS a class Of men, mostly from
the North, admit, that ! do not respect
| they are composed for the most part OF
army followers, who lowered after the Fed
eral forces like vultures, seeking the offal Of
the camps. If soldier was paid of, they
had a gaming house or 4 shoddy shop into
which to inveigle him. Ii he was intern
| perate, saloon was at hand. If he was
about to die, claim agent was at his bed
side TO get his papers. They were sharp on
contracts with qnartermasters 10 running
blockades in cotton transactions, and sure
TO be on hand when a camp or city was
captured, and in their glory when the inn
| pressment of property was ordered. Others
were sharp enough to get clerkships at re-
cruiting stations or in Provost Marshals
offices, always keeping out of danger ex-
cept when the temptation for plumber was
very great.
- If man comes here in good
| faith, intending to follow some honest
| avocation, he becomes a citizen at once :;
but ten years or lifetime, as a hummer, will
not make him a citizen. These fellows
have formed themselves into a fraternity,
or a ring, for the object Of getting Office,
and long experience in trick and chicca-
merry has made them extremely sharp.
They have managed to get on the State
Central Committee of the Republican par
ty in sufficient numbers to control it, and
in this way they control most of the district
committees. These committees assume to
nominate candidates for Office without con-
sulting the party. In this way they forced
upon the party candidate for Public In
struction, a most important Office. 1 cast
no reflection on the candidate, except that
he was forced upon the people by these
tricksters. And in this way they expect
TO nominate all public officers hereafter,
combining all their faEors to the ring" of
course.
This is sweeping denunciation of
very large portion Of our Northern citi-
zens, and we are not surprised to learn
that it has produced no little talk and ex
element But he is not content with
this characterization, and returns to the
attack after this style:
A word more as to this fraternity, or
ring" which proposes to control the State.
While they denounce all the old citizens of
the State as unworthy TO be trusted, they
complain incessantIy that Northern men
are prescribed in TENNESSEE" Let US see
how this is. / have seen it stated that out
Of some seventy officers in and about Nash
vile, sixty of them are of the new impor-
taticn. presume the same is the case at
Memphis and elsewhere. Six of the seven
newly appointed Registers in Bankruptcy |
in the State Thought to be princely Office |
are of the same class. We have put them |
on the bench and made them Attorneys |
General. Some of them are very shrewd |
ia the pursuit of Office. One of them, some |
time since, from about Columbia, obtained |
a commission as Chancellor before there
was any vacancy, long before he was eli
gible and a life time before he had any
fitness for the office; another is the chief
of the Governors staff. Yes, the person
who occupies the Governors chair in his
absence, and presides ever the Executive
Department, is not a citizen of the State
and does not expect to become a citizen
month-$39l2 year-is the only interest
he has in the good State Of Tennessee.
Every time the Legislature proposes to
abolish "the staff" it is the signal for him
to commence packing his traps for Chicago.
Poor fellow, how he is prescribed But he
has good thing of it. The boys on the
staff get larger salaries by hundreds than
your Governor or your Supreme Judges
Here we have from the Secretary of
State, a confederation of the charges we
made during the canvass for Governor, of
reckless extravaganza on the part of the
Brownlow administration, and these un-
expenses are still going on,
and the tax payers have the bills to foot
Then see how Fletcher charges the Gov
ernor with appointments that are not fit
to be made, and that he passes by worthy
and capable Tennesseans to select
Northern bummers to FIJI important
lfhces The men whom Fletcher charac
erizes as Adventures and BUM
ners " from the North, are the men he
ays Brownlow has put upon the bench,
md appointed Attorneys General and
taft officers This is pretty strong bill
# Indictment drawn by the Secretary of
State against the Governor
Fletcher has a word of advice for the
negroes He says:
While speaking to the colored men let
ne warn you of the greatest danger before s
-ou. 1t is that of forming parties upon |
'olor or race alone. The colored men if {
eft TO themselves would never do this, but {
4 they stfier themselves to be duped by
Designing and unprincipled white men, z
who become their candidates and look to
hem alone for support, white mans par
y will certainly be formed in self defense {
md it will in the end include all white
men. Such division Of parties is to be
ieplored, but / already hear it spoken CT.
Last spring, when an attempt was made to
-un candidate of the colored men for
Congress-, this subject was discussed by }
many of your best friends. | now hear
The same subject spoken Of As your
friend, ! advise you to avoid this danger.
Thus early Fletcher sees the tendency
Di Radlcalism as developed in Tennes-
See that if persisted in it will bring
about war OF races, and he makes haste
10 warn the negroes that they are bring
ne ruin upon themselves by running
lfter p" strange gods This is a very inn
,1rtant admission, and if intelligent
negroes do not profit by the warning they !
viii be entitled to little sympathy when
,alamity comes upon them.
But the most notable portion of the '
'ccretary's speech is contained in the fol-
owing paragraph
/ have been asked repeatedly to- I
Law, if Gov. Brownlow had espoused Z
he cause of a particular candidate (
or Mayor, and l am told the afore- ]
aid chief of staff so declares. / know s
nothing on this subject; feel sure, how |
,yer, that if the Governor was here on the '
yround he would do no such thing, as he i