Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1867-02-27

But more congenial element is seem when you
behold the other side of the picturei. more pleas
ant and agreeable combination bursts upon your
mental vision, presenting men as angels compared
with the opposing party. There stands the brave
commander under whom you, or perhaps your son,
brother or neghbor, fought. In this party you find
those who stood side by side with you, and shared
the dangers of the hour when the storm of battle
most ercely ragged. In it is the father whose noble
boy fell by you you tore the flag of oppression
from the fortifcatiOns of treason.
And now where do the instincts of patriotism and
the promptings of reason incline you to go2 With
those who will, at the first opportunity grind you
to powder or with those who have proved their love
for you in the past, and whom you have reason to
trust in the future
But you are told, and in seeming simplicity, too,
that the great Republican Union party have enfran-
chised the negro in some Localities and are laborne
to establish it everywhere and that therefore that
party are in favor of negro equality" This, as
their most able and candid leaders privately ac-
knowledge, is intended to mislead and deceive the
people, whom they assert TO be ignorant as q mass
1t is well known as g matter of the past that the
slsve-breeding, slave-driving and many of the
slave-holding classes of the South, and indeed of
East Tennessee, regarded the non-slaveholdng peo
pie as of less Importance and less to be respected
by society, than their slaves The feelings, opin-
ions and interests Of what they termed the "poor
aohte trash were never consulted. In a word, the
poor whites had no rights which the slave aristoc-
racy ever did respect If there were any offices to
I'll, the shareholders filed them If there was any
tyoffrn 10
rich negro lords, who made gold their god, and bar
tered away the souls of men. And now slavery is
gone, the same raise the cry of "negro equali-
ty," in order to induce those they call ignorant
whites-in other words the poor men, for they call
all poor men ignorant-to become alarmed for fear
the negro will aborb some Of their rights and be-
come their equals intending this merely the chain
by which to bind down the poorer classes and raise
themselves to rank of superiority. 1t is the pur-
pose of these aristocrats to establish grades IN society
And all history shows, and they well understand
the philosophy of society," that wherever and when
ever one class can be outlswed and degraded on &C
count of color, the next step is easily TAKEN and
another class can be made odious because of their
not being wealthy, and kno,0n as rich nuenI Then
may not the Union men, the large proportion of |
enquire the purposes for which the men who involv-
ed the nation in war, and jeopardized the political
equality of the poor white people, are now bowling
negro equality" into the ears of the populace-
Yes the political equality of the white race was so
far involved that the slave lord who owned twenty
negroes was exempt under the late so-called Con-
federacy from fighting the battles of slavery. 1t |
was, far as the South was concerned, "the rich |
mans war and the poor mans fght" He who did |
not own twenty negroes, and thus belong to the
slave arstocracy compelled to go into the ranks
and now the spirit is at work to have the poor
men msled and deceived upon the question of the
rights of man, and while attention is diverted to the
of the negro because he ia black it is ex
pected to Cypress another class because they are poor
What Union man can hope to be even respected if
this spirit triumphsH What poor man commanded |
the respect of the negro lord in the days of slavery
As it was then so it will be again, should the Con-
servatives succeed. Before the Union men of Ten
nessee are deluded from the support of the Repub-
lican party which put down the rebellion, and de-
ceived into the ranks of the party composed of the
worst elements of the late insurrecton they should
examine for themselves in order to see whether or
not the Republicans of to-day not attempting to
restore the Government upon the practical ba-
sis our fathers founded it in theory. The conven-
ton that framed the first Constitution of Tennessee
established slavery by majority of one vote, but
never dreamed of denying the right of suffrage to
the free colored men of the State And slavery was
only tolerated because of its hereditary curse 1t
expected to die of its own weakness butas crime
nclines the scale until its victim is ruined SO sla
obad Il, IT.
nessee were excluded from the polls and its fell
spirit seeking further prey attacked the liberty of
the poor whites, who resisted its destroying grasp
and buried the institution forever The free colored
men voted in Tennessee up to 1885. They cast their
ballot with and for such men as Felix Grundy, An
drew Jackson, John Williams Judge White John
SEWER Gov BloTrt General Cooke Cave johnson
David Crockett, and John Bell yet no one ever
thought Of accusing these men of favoring social
equality with the negro. Judge Robert J. McKin-
hey of this city, was member of the Convention
n 1884 that amended the State Constitution. and
voted against DISTINGUISHING the free colored men of
Tennessee, and yet it was never suspected that he
favored NEGRO equality"
But it is said the Republican party is all wrong,
because the negro is incapable of approaching free
dom-that the African race was designed bv the
Almighty for slaves, and not freemen
If this be true, the Declaration of American In
dependence must have been the work of a very stu
pid set of men. That instrument revered by every
patriot and held sacred in the hearts of every lover
of liberty, presents creed so broad and universal
in its sentiments that can mistake its applica-
tion 1t says We hold these truths to be self
evident: THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL;
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
rights; that among these are life, liber-
ty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure
these rights governments are instituted among men,
deriving their just potoer from tie consent of tie gop-
'rea" This asserts two propositions in direct con-
iict with the Conservative theory. "All men are
treated equal" is quite comprehensive, Itincludes
he colOred man and yet the heroes Of the Revo-
ution, nor any succeeding generation, until modern
Conservatism conceived the idea, ever thought of
mpeaching the great truth because of negro equal
ty Governments are instituted among men, de- i,
living their just powers from the consent of the gov
'rned" lays the foundation plants the cornerstone
If negro suffrage still the matter is discussed BY the
opponents Of freedom as though it was of modern ,
Mr.. Bancroft says The heart of Jefferson in :
writing the Declaration, and Of Congress in adopt
ng it. beat for sll humanity the assertion of right
vas made FOR all mankind and all coming genera 4,
ions, without any exceptions whatever; for the !,
which admits of exceptions can never
V self-evident.' Then why not insult the ashes of
he statesman who now sleeps in his tomb beneath !,
he shades of Monticello, by the preposterous alb
urdity of negro equality The sentiments he pro-
laimed to the world, through the Declaration of
Independence, have become leading article in the
Official faith of the great Republican Radical !,
'hurcb