Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-02-02
WHAT MUST OUR PEOPLE DO 2
why the Militia ara Called Oat-ren.
nessee Radtealism W. National =
How an Oppressed People May Help
Themselves, IL They VIII.

Wy s"o MAAstta are Called Oot-rem.
nessee Radtealism w. Nafienar =
How AN Oppressed People May Help
Themselves. IL They VIII.
To the Editors of the Union and American.
Crime and outrage must abound; :" Re>
bells must be rebellious; Ku Klux must
stalk abroad the militia must be called
out because the exigeneies of Brown
lowism demand all this, imperatively.
The State must be secured next August
for two years longer. The State credit
may be wrecked, immigration may be de-
tered and every interested the commons
wealth may be Frustrated; but the Office
holding party must hold on. The con.
tinued disfranchisement Of Democrats
must therefore be justified. BrownIow-
ism must be justified in this last outrage
before the National Republican party. .
The Boutwell, amendment may go to tie
dogs 1t must not be applied to Tennes-
see: therefore, Tennessee must be placed
under martial law, that this rather
cip1 amendment may not be enforced.
Such, Messrs. Editors, is the situation.
Our sO-ealled civil government, Is. till
next August, machine organized for
the sec purpose of creating civil disorder.
Born of strife, by strife ONLY can it be
perpetuated Our officers of the law.
who should preserve the peace, are eager
only to see it disturbed When railroad
trains are Ku>kluxed and prison doors
unhinged, they chuckle in their sleeves.
Nothing suits them better. These things
make their election sure.
We, the people, the tax payers, who
must foot all accounts, had no voice in
the election Of these officers. And we
must still have no voice, else they might
60 ofhceless. And 50 they wink at out
rage, if they do not actually aid its com,
missiOn-that the militia may come upon
US Little it matters to them whether
the criminal be black or white, Rebel
or Radical, If only crime be CONT
ted that Brownlowism may be justified.
What should our people do2 What
can they do? 1t is a solemn farce to
call mass meetings and protest against
the wrong, or send respectable men here
to demonstrate with the fellows that pull
the wires against a course of policy that
Is with them political necessity. L. is
useless to waste inyective on the dere1
let officers of the law, sO-ealled. They
are Independent Of US We have Mt the
the ballot to Gust them; and to summon
them before judges of Brownlow's ap,
pOintment, would be proftless mOekery
of the things that were.
Burdened as we are, more oppressively
than ever before, with taxes TO support
suggestions civil government, it IL
plain that We must ourselves attend IN
q great measure to the enforcement of
the laws. Arduous, unjust, and uncalled
for as the task may be, each individual
citizen must take hold and aid in the
arrest of wrong,dOers. For this purpose
the Democratic organization of last
fail should be revived and perfected till it
ramify every county and precinct of Md
die and West Tennessee. No Ku-Klux
no Vigilantes-but let each district and
sub>distriet have its committee to see
that the peace is preserved, and all viola
ters arrested without regard to political
or physical complexion.
If this avail not for its primary pur-
| pose, then let those committees of safety
give to the world each particular outrage
on humanity. Let the stencil of this tyran-
nous cesspOol be stirred up till it nauseate
the whole country Let the terrible
power of the press be brought to bear
on BrownlOwism az never before, and
mayhaP we will rid ourselves Of it fOI
ever
lfthe worst come, the concerted action
Of which such general organization might
avail itself, would be infinitely better
than leaving each isolated community Il
struggle a7 it may or meet its doom.
Can such organization be effected Its
difficulties are manifold The time
labor and attention required, is an ex-
traOrdinary demand on the quiet citizen.
But Is it not a necessity What other
course promises as much-What other
course promises any relief2 How else
shall We avoid the fate of Arkansas
How else escape the court-martial, the
dungeon, the lash, the torture, the thumb.
screw, the halter2 How else save Oul
wives and daughters from the forciblt
embrace Of black mihtia2
Can such organization be effected
VIII it be2
"lf you are an anvil, be patieat
you are hammer, strike hard %
N.suVYTp Eli 1870