Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-04-07

THE COLORED MEETING YEsTER-
DAY-RADICAL ATTEMPT To SUP.
PRESS NEGRO FREEDOM.
The Radical programme was partially
developed in this city yesterday A bold
attempt was made to break mp and dis
perse the meeting Of the conservative
colored people, assembled to appoint del
egates 10 the State convention on the 10th
inst Inspired by whit; Radicals, til
tools Of the Radical oligarchy which sits
upon the State as a crushing nightmare,
ariotous mob ofnegroes assembled at the
courthouse, and by all sorts Of disorder,
endeayored to defeat the meeting When
a question was put, they would vote, and
yell, and using every other noisy meaEs
to stop the proceedings We are glad to
say that there was not we'll known col
ored person of respectability engaged in
this vile business. All who were thus
employed, we learn, were of the very
lowest aud most degraded class, inAamed
with mean whisky, aud rehearsed in the
the parts to be played, by lower and baser
Radical whites The proceeding was so
outrageous and shocking to every right
and propriety, that Judge Lawrence, late
Of the Freedmen's Bureau in this city,
a Radical Of the straighteSt sect, felt
called upon to state that this was free
country, and appeal to the disturbers to
permit the meeting to go on.
These facts teach great and impor-
tant lesson to both whites and blacks
1t is the index and key to Radical in
tolerance and despotism 1t is a virtual
assertion that the colored man who is not
a slqUe to Radicalism, is nobody at all,
and has no rights whatever in this coun-
try. 1t is the beginning Of the Radical
reinstatement of the negro, and means
that while they have contributed sOme-
thing towards his domestic freedom, they
mean to exact as a recompense his seryi-
ces as political sid0e to aid them in
building a despotism far more grinding
than any on the face of the earth They
virtually say that he shall not exercise
the faculties Of mind that God has given
him, and that the freedmen of intellect,
thought and Judgment was not included
in his emancipation. That is Tennessee
Radicalism Conservatism, on the con-
trary, saws, when he was freed he was
freed in all respects If he had the right
to vote, he shall be guaranteed in the
free exercise of that right and shall cast
his suffrage for whomsoever be pleases-
Radical or Conservative, white or black
This is the difference, and it is 80 plain
that none can fail, after the scene of yes
terday, to see it.
The Radicals have disfranchised a
large portion of the whites because they
were not Radicals They now propose
to silence all the blacks who do not vote
the Radical ticket We hear announce
oar conviction that this last act of tyranny
cannot be carried out. The rights of the
negro are as dear to him as those Of the |
white man to him. The Conservatives
have declared that they are for protect
ing him in them 1t is now their duty |
70 put down these lawless inyasions of
hose rights. When the voting privilege
S thus made to hinge on the inAamed
PASSIONS Of a mob, excited by whisky, led
~ the meanest and basest of white men,
{ is time to appeal to the law and to
Justice. The Conservative colored vo.
ers Of the State are invested by the laws
# the land with the right of the ballot,
nd they shall be, and will be protected
.et them not be discouraged. The events
+ yesterday only 60 to show who are
heir real enemies, and who their real
.iends They will be sustained at any
nd all hazards. Let them 90 on, and
ely the lawless attempts of Radicalism
} rob them of the sweets and uses of
'eedom, at the very moment they come
lto its possession