Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-03-23
n-.unIoM,s Address.

but TO apologize ior hh'ihb BNe" Pos
s;hle offense to some Radical friends
not TO guard himself against any
threatened impeachment, but to affirm
his resolute determination to do as he
pleases; not to say that be will no longer
play the tyrant, but to furnish reason
why his tyranny is not more severe and
MEMORABLE; not to propose amnesty and
to initiate the means of harmony and
good will, but to FIRE the Radical heart
still more; not to suggest any measures
| looking to the public prosperity, but to
furnish additional fuel to the partisan
fame which is consuming the vitals OF
the State. What wonderful and novel
gubernatorial patriotism
He is not candidate, and does not
propose to be. The measure of his am
bition is full, having climbed to the top
of the ladder on the shoulders of the ne
groes and by foul practices in registra-
ton, by which thousands were made
voters without right and thousands pre-
vented from voting whose right was per-
feet. What remarkable subject for con-
graduation
He has not been able to find authority
for discharging quite all the registration
commissioners whom a portion OF his
radical friends thought should be dis
charged for doing their duty under the
registration law, but he has found ample
authority for doing so as to some of them,
when he had as much right to discharge
all as one. Being without right (by set
ting aside the registration and requiring
new one), to disfranchise any one regis
tered voter, he dared not 60 to the extreme
of discharging all the commissioners of
all the counties for the qualification of his
friends, and SO he only confined himself
to so many as were most obnoxious to
him, and as was most necessary to con-
troll the State. Oh, wise and prudent
Governor who denies that he is luke
warm in the cause" or that others should
be So only because be has refused, as he
has "been urged, to set aside certain
elections and dismiss certain officers
whom / Chez had previously commits
stoned" and by whose acts the right to
vote had been vested in many voters.
Unfortunate Governor He has been
urged to suppress the Kuklux with his
militia, and has no militia. The Legis-
lature has passed bill to raise a mill
tary force, which he thinks " designed to
defeat the purposes for which, on its
face, it shows it was intended" And so
he will not execute it, and alas he is
powerless, and the responsibility must
lie upon Others" because the law is not
precisely such as he would have dictated.
Mr.. johnson is impeached on pretense OF
Just such an offense But the Tennessee
executive is independent of the legisla'
tive power, when in both governments the
exercise of powers have the same basis
and principles. Thus Radical usurpation
has two faces, and crime in Washington
is virtue in Nashville. Oh, most excellent
and sapient Governor
There have been wicked assaults made
on his infallible excellency by "few pre-
tended Republicans of small calibre."
But he bravely cares not for these, but for
"the more cowardly, yet prominent indi-
viduals who have ,instigated these vile
assaults" Such as they shave skulked
all danger" and alternately claimed to
be Confederates and Union men, and
run 10 and fro, in and out Of the State
Just as he did during the war. And these
inscriptions traducers he leaves to
merited scorn and infamy." Poor,
unhappy and prosecuted mani Hal hal
Some Of his former friends it seems
are now inclined to white mans gov
eminent, are beginning to take alarm at
the utter ruin Radical policy is bringing
on the State, aud are inclining to the
Chase and Fsssenden against the Phil
lips and Stevens policy, But oar solo-
mon thinks the latter only is founded
ION the great principles Of right and
Justice" NEGRO testimony, negro suf-
frage, and negro elevation generally he
says were " brought en- by the slavehold-
ers themselves" calling biz eolored
friends negroes, and confessing that they
do not owe their liberties to the Radical
party as is the truth which he deserves
credit for. He thinks cspability sud
honesty should be the sole criterion for
the selection Of officers, AID thus
breaches good doctrine, while by bad
appointments he illustrates the differ
ence between preaching and practice, as
he always did when it was bis business
to preach charity aud bis practice to ae'
out the utmost bitterness Of = seetsriar
heart What a model governor, teaches
and actori
He predicts Grants election, and say
that the election Of johnson. or that o
any Democrat, would result in driving
Union men out Of Tennessee. But b
knows the Importance Of being =" al
things to all men" in this particular
instance, and don't say exactly what h
q thinks-which is only that the result