Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-03-03
BLACK ARD WHITE RADICALS
THE iRREPRRSSTBLE CONFLICT.

Inc DlHCk hdulCdl5 are uU6 al ali SdtlS-
fed with the legerdemain by which the
white Radicals have worked themselves
into the candidacy for nearly all the i'm
portant Offices to be filed in this county
at the election on the 18th inst At the
Radical Convention held on the 22nd
ult, candidates were to be nominated for
FIVE county offices, and it appears the
white Radicals had the cards 20 COM
pletely stocked, as to give themselves
every one of these positions, and it was
only through on unaccountable mistake
that Abe Smith, black Radical, was nOmi-
mated for iailer A few of the white
Radicals looked decidedly black when the
result was announced, and something
was limited about an unfair count hut
the thing was done, and there was no
way to undo it without producing q STAN
pede Of the black Radicals which would
utterly annihilate the prospective pick
ings Of the pale faces. So that
nomination, not intended to be
made, had to stand But the black
Radicals have got to understand the
hocus pocus by which they were
showed to one side by which they were
condescendingly granted the privilege of
electing white Radicals to fat Offices
They number about ten TO one of the
Radical voters in this county, and they
begin to think they should have more
than one of the fat Offices of the county
We hear that Alfred Menefee, black
Radical, has declared himself an inde-
nendent candidate for Sheriff, and is
calling upon his black Radical friends to
rally to his support And now Rev
Daniel Watkins, black Radical, has
kicked the convention to the dogs; de-
clares that he never submitted his
claims 30 that body, but submits them to
the voters of the county. He says in
his circular
III is useless for me 10 tell YOU that col
ored men have, and are still Suffering
much, on account Of what they have done
for the party. You know il all | ask
simply for justice and right"
Menefee and Watkins seriously doubt
the sincerity of those who prOfessed so
much anxiety for the Legislature to re-
move the disability from the negro for
holding Office They are learning what
value to set upon the professions of white
Radicals Watkins recently gave "a piece
of his mind to New York paper in re
gard TO the Radical State Convention as
follows:
"The proceedings were not what the
true friends of the c0lorsd citizens desired.
The giving way in your State, Pennsylva-
MIA and Ohio, of 30 many that called them
selves Radical Republicans, has had quite
an Injurious effect upon many Of the same
kind here. 1t is truly lameutable that so
many colored citizens risked and suffered
so much last year, and are still suffering
for the party, and then on such an occa-
sion, with col0re9 delegates there on the
floor from several ooHRties of the State, and
twenty delegates appointed 10 Chicago,
two from each Congressional district and
four from the State at large. and not a
single colored man out of the.twenty. In
the face Of this Injustice il was said that
we had enough privileges, and that such
oolored citizens as aspired TO office
and 10 sit on juries were not TT TO black
i-Rife rq>a'g boots, and that We had more
rights now than we could we'll carry"
which expression filled with ecstacies the
C,pperRead element, both in the convention
and Legislature; but the most discouraging
feature il. that only second and third rate
colored men are called upon on such occa-
sions, in order, as it appears to me, to e1-
cuse the withholdingo Of our rights on the
score Of our ignorance-when the truth Is
that unprincipled demagogues use such
colored men TO the injury OF rs alt that
they may aggrsndiEe themselves. lhe
conseQ is that men who possess intel
ligence and selfrespect will not enter the
list with such deluded men, aud therefore
political matters are not good, with no
visible signs Of improvement"
This isa quarrel Of the happy iaml-
IL, and wsafust they win have lively |
time in the scramble for Office Watkins |
states very clearly who and what the /
white Radicals are Other black Radi- |
Gals have learned to estimate their white
Radical brethren according TO their true
worth. Conservative white men, be Of
good cheer; light Is breaking. The /
negro viii yet discover who are his best
friends