Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-10-03


neither State In the sense Of New forl
or Ohio nor exactly the subdivision OF
military satrapy in the sense of Missis'
sippi or South Carolina, but rather hold
Ling third condition, quite distinct II
very many essential particulars boil
from those communities where the Law
, aud the voice OF the people rule anc
from those other communities where
military commander and general orders
govern; from a standpoint in TENNESSEE
the very best opportunity is afforded ioi
casting an eye around us and viewing
the situation on this hand aud then on
that. The fact Of our own fate being
settled and our own condition unaltera'
BILE. enables us but the better to make
unselishy and dispassonately the OBJ
starvation of events in which our imme'
date interests are in no great measure
involved.
North and South, and all around us,
the political waters are in agitation.
Elections and conventions are daily
occurrences on every hand, though cleo
tons and conventions may have very
different definitions in different localities.
North we have Conservatism struggling
to detbrone party which has imposed
on the people south of us, governments
n little worse than those of New York
and Ohio, and a little better than that of
Tennessee. Action and zeal on the one
hand, and inaction and forbearance on
the other, are manifestly the distinctive
courses pursued and the means adopted
by one and the same party for the accom-
plishmebt of single erd and object
By the dethronement of Radicalism
North, the Conservatives will be
simply removing from power those
who have imposed upon the seeded
States of the South such conditions Of
return to the Union as render such
return obnoxious in the extreme, and
the very thing to be most avoided. BY
the reaction Of Northern sentiment,
which has already commenced, and the
elevation to power of legislators more
liberal and magnanimous in their views,
it is to be hoped that a more friendly
hand will be held forth TO the South, and
reconstruction rendered thing to be
desired rather than despised. it is en-
tirely with the North to DO away with the
existing unharmOnious and Improbable
condition of things It is for the South,
meanwhile, to calmly and patiently await
the change. A single step forward at
this time could no less jeopardize
the destinies of the South than
would the same step backward by the
North portend the same calamity.
Again we say, and would have it i'm
pressed on the mind of every citizen in
the districts, all depends on the Jealous
action of the North, and upon caution
and inactivity in the South. Appreci.
ating this, we believe Louisiana has ig-
nored the proposition of Congress by
failure to vote a convention. In Ala |
bama all is yet problematiosl The |
three days election ends in the |
latter State to-day. The negro vote, if
we may Judge from the meager returns
already received, will be very large
probably very closely approximatng |
the registration figures while the whites
nowhere seem 10 manifest any interest |
whatever id the matter, aud have stu
diously avoided the polls. A majority |
of all the natives in the State being |
reouisite for the call of a convention,
this holding aloof from the ballot. box is
quite equivalent to depositing negative
vote therein. The total registered vote
of Alabama being 100, 995, 1t wall be seen
that so, 499 will be necessary to carry
the dsy. Should full negro vote be
cast, this can be easily secured, since
the registered colored vote of the State
stands 1920 against 72,737 white.
That very ANAL number of
whites will vote for the ooRyen-
ton will be conceded, and our
only fear is that they may more than out
balance the blacks, who may be induced
to act with the anti conyentonists. The
telegraph yesterday furnished US the
returns of the first days balloting in a
single county. Should these figures be
taken as a test, or hold good in other To-
calities, there can be no doubt as to how
the State must 90. We still have hope of
better things elsewhere, however, and
have by no means reSonciled ourselves
to so unpleasant thing as another Ten
nsssee being begotten on our Southern
border. While Conservatism is looking
up and pushing onward to the North of
us, we trust no State South will, by any
inadverteucc, place herself in a condI-
ton where she cannot reap the rich fruits
Of q Conservative victory, and the
triumph of magnanimity aud batter feel
ing which are promised. Let the South
stay out until she can enter a Union
rescued from Radical rule.
sS- Since, at this end of the line, we
have been surfeited with the hue and cry
about the lease of the Memphis and Ohio
IN the Louisville and Nashville railroad,