Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-07-24
THE CAUSE OF OUR TROUBLES
RADICAL TESTIMONY.

THE CAUSE OF OUR TROUBLES
RADICAL TESTIMONY.
The late report of the Commissioner Of
the Freedmen's Bureau in this State to
the Secretary of War, contains the fol-
lowing statement
"There is much in the political condition
Of Tennessee to account for a state Of dis-
order. Il Is lny opinion that there WM be no
peace for Tennessee and no safety f0r the negro
Ol,iie h6 majority Of property. holders and tar
payers and of he tOhite men are distranchised.
This, however, is not within my province
either TO condemn or cure. But to account
for the great number of Outrages against the
freedmen, which seems TO be increasing, i
have felt il to be my duty TO give my Opin-
ion as to the cause. There Is still another
cause, but only secondary one, viz: The
sO-called reconstruction Of the STATE has pre-
vented the United States military COM
manders from giving the protection they
only can give where the civil law is not
supreme. Now they can only interfere
when called on by the civil officers for aid.
But as nearly all the county officers are ex-
Rebels, they will never call on the United
States military for aid. EUen the Union
men IN the State and county governments are
uRrilting 10 call on the military for aid, StRtess
on The eee Of an eloctioa.
"As a season of labor is now at hand,
and no election is TO take place till next
November, ! may safely predict quiet
state of affairs till the excitement of the
coming Presidential campaign shall have
reached a considerable height. Then be-
tween the Loyal League, the Grand Army
of the Republic, the Ku-Klux Khan, the
white dlslranchised and the black enfran-
chised, | think there will most probably be
very disorderly, and probably very
bloody contest"
The italicised portions of the extract
we have made from the Commissioner
report shows where the responsibility for
our troubles lies. Ii is in the wholesale
Acknowledgement Of the white men of the
State, not for crimes, but to continue the
control of the State government in the
hands of men who had been placed in
authority by adyentitious circumstances
alone Nearly one-half of the white men
Of the State have thus been deprived Of
the highest attribute of citizenship, while
they have been required to pay taxes,
work on the public roads, serve in the
militia and on juries, and, in Short, per-
form every other duty required Of a
citizen. This exclusion from the ball
lot,box and the right to hold Office
is working out its legitimate results.
No great body ofwhite people, as in this
case, will long submit quietly to being
deprived Of the exercise of the highest at
tributes Of citizenship, while they are
burthoned with taxes and required to per
form all the other duties required Of
every citizen. The Governor and the
Legislature are now appealed to to strike
these Odious and unjust disabilities from
the statute books, and place sixty thou
sand white men in the position to which
they are Justly entitled 1t is a question
whether they will concede this much to
the cause Of right and to the preservation
of the peace of the State whether they
will not 90 on and order cut largo force
of militia in the vain hope of intimidating
a body Of as intelligent and brave men as
has ever been known to history The
patriot cannot but look to the future with
serious misgivings The legislation Of
the party in power has been teadily TO,
degrade the intelligent white men who
are not Radicals and to elevate tho negro,
with all bis ignorance, to the dignity and
responsibility of citizenship. Have these
men yet satiated their desire for revenge
and for power, or have they the mag
namity to undo the hard aud unjust
legislation which excludes SO many
of the best men in the State from
participation 10 shaping the laws by
which they alike with other citizens are
to be governed There can be no ques-
ton as to where rests the responsibility
for the troubles which tire aten the peace
and quietude of the State The laws Of
Great Britain against which our fathers
rebelled, wer0 not moro oppressive and
unjust than those Of which the grest
body OF the white men of Tennessee
complain. Ills no wonder then that the
Commissioner Of the Rreedmen's Bureau
traces our troubles directly TO these
odious laws The appeal has been made
10 the Governor and Legislature 70 lay
aside partisanship for once and repeal
these laws, aud TINS give as peace The
question has been presented to them in
all its important bearin gs. They have
been pointed 70 the fact that the recon
structed' States Of the South have shown
a much greater hberait.f than has char
aeterized Tennessee undDr Radical rule,
and the result is they are moving of
with much more of harmony than has
characterized cur State since the advent
TO power Of the men who now have the
control Of affairs. II will be strange in
deed If our rulers learn nothing from ex-