Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-04-27

he favored some extensive notifications
Of the DISTINGUISHING laws, but he had
also given public notice that he aequisced
in the act by which these same men, as
he now says, disfrsnehised themselves.
III the Radicals see it to nominate him it
is all right, bat let the organ spend its
fury wholly on his rival, for the Con
seFyatiyes don't care q copper toss.
BUFLER'S OPPOSITION TO NEGRO
VOTING AND TESTIFYING.
We showed the other day that in the
convention which proposed the amend
ment % the constitution abolishing
slavery, Mr. r. r. Butler, the Rebel
Radical candidate for Congress in the
first district, made an effort TO engraft an
amendment on the constitution forever
DISTINGUISHING negroes and rendering
them ineligible to hold Office, serve on
iuries, or appear as a witness against a
white man After this, Butler was elected
to the Senate, and here he maintained
the position he had assumed in the con-
vention In the Senate on the Sth OF
April 1865 a bill introduced by Mr..
Peart, to repeal the sections Of the Code
which declare negroes incapable Of be-
ing witness in any cause, civil or crimi-
nal, except for or against each other,
vas taken up on its second reading We
quote from report of the debate which
ensued .......
Senator Butler, Of johnson, opposed il
rs premature step towards regulating the
status OF the negro. Coming from dis
trict with fewer slaves than any in the
State--a district that has sent more soldiers
to the Union army than any other in the
State-a district which has never been
questioned for IFS loyalty and devotion 10
the United States government, he felt il his
duty, knowing as he did, the sentiments of
his constituency 10 oppose its passage. &c
This bill proposes to maks witnesses
of negroes against white men, and that il
not the most Objectionable feature; it
makes them qualified voters, and the re-
Htll Dl AuNst htIllOlih III Auf Asbslt Will bt
70 construed by the iurists and courts of
the State. We have done
enough for the negro at present. Let us
see whether il is a curse or a blessing we
have bestowed upon him. Tennessee is not
prepared for thisgreal stride in eeyating the
negro. She does not expect it of this Lee
gislature. The men Of the mountain dis
tricts who have left their families and
periled their lives for the Union will be
shocked by this hasty legislation, which
sets up the lives Of white men TO be sworn
away by negroes. They will not approve
il, and knowing their honest sentiments re-
garding this subject, feel it my duty, in
Justice 10 my constituency, TO record my
vote against the passage of the bill
In the Senate on the 18th of May,
1865, Mr. Trimble introduce a bill "to
render persons of African or Indian de-
scent competent as witnesses in the
courts Of this State. Ii is customary to
allow all new bills to pass their first
reading without objection or debate, but
Butler could not permit this movement
to do justice to the negro pass, and im>
mediately upon the introduction of the
BILL he is reported to have denounced it
as follows:
MIR. Butter protested against the intro
duction Of such infammatory bills at this
late hour. The negro question came be-
fore us at an early day, and we laid it over
during this session by a very decided vote.
Il 80, n Karat nd that
this subject should not agitate this body at
this session 1t is understood to be apend-
ing question, and We have already had a
fair expression of opinion on 1t. We desire
to adjoarn early, and the most important
bills are now perfected and will be passed
in few DAYS, when il is expected that We
shall adjourn. II We open hisquestion, Il
will involve long and angry debate, and
protract the session TO a very late day
Thus we see that whenever the subject
of comforting upon the negro the right to
testify in our courts was brought 10 the
attention Of the Legislature, this Rebel
Radical candidate lo5t no time in de-
nouncing the measure, and it will be seen
he declared the sentiments he entertained
were those Of the citizens of the counties
he represented He declared that his
constituents would be shocked by the
hasty legislation which sets mp the lives
Of white men to De sworn away by ne
yroes Here was direct charge that
negroes would swear falsely, and that if
they were permitted to testify, the lives
IF white men wnRld be in danger Only
a few weeks after Butler thus eharac-
lerized the negro as being unreliable and
vicious, and il was infammatory to intro
luce a bill 10 give them the right to tes-
Liiy against white man. Governor
br0wnlow appointed him Judge Of the
Inst Judicial circuit, thus showing a
strong sympathy for the opinions Butler
held and expressed in regard to the negro
Il cannot be pleaded in extenuation that
ne Governor did not know what Buffers
'entimeats in regard 10 negro testimony
we're They had been proclaimed in the
ana in the Legislature in so
positive "a manner as to leave no doubt that (
ne whsle soul entered into opposition to
NY m sasure looking to the civil as well
s the political equality Of the negro with
he white man. Not only did the Cover
Tor endorse this position by comforting
po@ him a responsible ofhce, bat the
Radical party make him chairman OF
heir Sante Central Committee And il is
he Con ernor and the party who thus
honor Il ,is man, who claim 10 lie the pc
nliar ir lends Of the nogro Asa dernier
esort to save themselves from political |
nnihilat ION, they have conferred upon
he negro the right to vote, but no appeal
oald indJ ice them to give him the addi~