Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-12-12

neefi0ns of a Tennessee Unfonfst on
the Causes Of His Exile, and the Con
dillon of Affairs ON His Reiarn-A
Striking Retrospect.
Prom the Nashville Correspondent of Iths st.
. Louis Republican. s.a.Bs
In former letter mentioned the return
Of Gov. Isham g. Harris to the State Of
Tennessee; in this, a retrospective glance
at his character as politician, with con-
lecture as to the position he may occupy
upon the page of impartial history, may
not be ont of place, or without interest TO
the readers of The Republican,. What /
have TO say on this isnbject is founded on
facts kR0,ea to your correspondent, not
relafsd-facts which no candid man win
deny, be he ever so prejudieed. Careless
observers who look upon events happening
in Tennessee and in the South from a
standpoint far over the borders of recon-
struction, may fancy that the day on which
Isham G.. Harris entered this State as a
returned exile, and gave himself up" to
VIM. q. Brownlow, in the State capitol,
was great day of humiliation to seces.
sionists, and of proud satisfaction to Union
lists. Careful observers from a home stand
point, in the light of facts which cannot be
denied, see just the reverse. They see
pyramids of shame casting their shadows
over honest Union men. They see the
blush of confusion upon the faces of such
men-not because they have done any
thing themselves of which they are
ashamed, or because their theories, at the
inception of the rebellion, of the effect it
would have upon the South, have not been
thoroughly verified by facts; but because
the sins of pretended Unionists, against
Heaven and in their sight, are such as
would cause felons TO blush, if they were
committed in the name of felons.
While the mischiefs of sectional politics
were threatening the country with war,
Gov. Harris, as a politician, was an object
ofspecial dislike among Unionists. Though
his course might have been the result of
honest conviction, they thought it extremely
violent and injudicious. Many of the most
influential men of the State, who afterwards
were constrained TO become Rebels, OPP
posed him with bitterness in the earlier
days of tie struggle. Gov. H. was consid-
cred fre-eater-was even characterized
as an incendiary. And yet, what do we
now find? We find that the most violent
speeches of Isham G. Harris, delivered TO
the people of Tennessee, and the most ex-
citing passages contained in his messages
on the eve of Southern instruction. read
now in the sunlight of subsequent history,
become fearful prophecies. Nay, they have
been more than fnlilled-and the end is
not yet.
Gov. Harris told the people that the Re-
publican party sought to liberate their
slaves-to deprive them of property for
which they had paid1nillions, without al
lowing them one cent of compensation.
The Unionists hurled back the charge as a
calumny upon that party. They disap4
proved its designs, but this was not among
them. And even the New York Tribune
Endorsed the disclaimer Gov. Harris
went farther, and proclaimed that the ten
deney of the Republican party Che per-
sisted in calling it Black Republican
party; did he not well in so persist
ing?) was to bring the negro into po-
litical equality with the white people.
especially in the Southern States. By many
amiable Tennessee Unionists-and by some
not so amiable, your correspondent among
them - this teaching of Gov. H. was
thought to be outrageous misrepresenta-
ton, whether willing or unwilling. And
when they so proclaimed it Northern, Re-
| publicans of the highest standing in that
| party Endorsed their denial Gov. Harris
was still more "atrocious;; he charged
that the teachings of Black Republicanism
tended to bring the negro into social equal
ity with the white people. remember
we'll how angry Union men would grow
| when Gov. Harris made this charge.
Some gentlemen of mild temperament,
who considered well their language-some
even as gentle in their demeanor as my
| Uncle Toby-would denounce the declara-
ton as that of a reckless demagogue. But,
Oh what do we see now, on the day which
places Gov. Harris at the feet of Brown
lows statue2
| cannot remember that Gov. Harris, in
his worst moods, ever told these white
| people the negroes would be set over them
as political and even social masters. Yet
the white people Of Tennessee, on the day
of Gov. Harris return from exile, are
under the heel Of the negro, and are ground
down and tantalized by men viler than the
negroes themselves, employed and paid by
the negro. They are under men who steal
for the negro and in the negroes interest,
and are in return supported by the negro,
out of the joint fund raised by his theft
and theirs.