Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-02-14
THE FLEECE HOSTILITY" TO THE
BR0WNI.OW ADMINISTRATION.

legree Of moral and material prosperity
and progress to which she is SO eminent-
" entitled; to develop her ample re.
sources, render efficient all her chari-
table and educational enterprises, and
maintain her financial integrity-in a
word--to place upon her that crown Of
honor she so well deserves to wear.
There can be no doubt our success, in |
all these respects, would have been far
greater, but for the fierce hostility with |
which the administration has been
fought from the beginning, and at all
points, by the rebel element Probably
no man ever filed the Office who encoun-
tered equal opposition to that through
which it has been my lot to pass.
There is no reason for what the
Governor is pleased to term the
" fierce hostility" to his admins
tration. His Secretary of State has
the candor to confess that it grew
out of " q disregard of the constitu-
ton and laws by our rulers" and
"the enactment and enforcement
Of laws originating in passion in
stead of principle" and of a." the
usurpations of the Executive De
partment," and "the passage OF
partisan and class laws calculated
to irritate and infiame instead of TO
heal and improve the demoralisa-
ton of the country in its social re-
lations." Here we have. in a few
sentences the key note to all the
+" fierce hostility" with which the
Brownlow administration has been
fought. This confession of Secre-
tary Fletcher is but the judgment
of every candid man. The New
York Times of April 80 41S68, thus
portrayed the BrownlOw policy;
"AH Brownlow's seventies, all his re-
pressiye measures, all his ferocious dia>
tribes, have failed Of effect-at all events
sthey have failed of pacifying effect. Al
the stringent schemes of the Legislature
all the acknowledgements of whites anC
acknowledgements OF negroes, have failed
to quell the spirit of characterization o.
bring the races into proper relation
with each other. 1t would be impossible
for those who have the management o
affairs to 60 much further than the.
have gone. Tennessee
has had three years Of tn
Brownlow policy. 1t has come to
what you now see. 1t threatens to com
to still worse, if worse be possible. w
should think it must now be conside re-
demonstrated that another policy tina
hat of Brownlow, and another spIrl
than that which inspires his mahgnan
utterances, and other administrators tina
those who have brought about such fear
full results, are needed in Tennessee.
This is the confession Of Re
publican paper It saw the balefu
influence of the Brownlow polio,
and had the candor to denounce il
What the Times said Of the Brown
u
low administration nearly a yea
ago is equally to it to-day Their
has been no abatement of that ms
lignant spirit which has croppe
out in every act of his administra
ton, and he complains that tn
people have protested against hi
usurpations and the burdens i'm
posed upon them. He came int
power at a time when the people
f Tennessee had been well nigh IN
, | poverished by the war, and nstea
of giving them an economical &C
ministration, the expenses Of tn
| State government have been pile
up until the taxes paid by the poop
are now fve-fold greater than the
D were before the war The expense
, for county and municipal Purpos'
f | under Radical rule have kept paC
with those of the State, and til
1 people are to-day groaninS under
weight of taxation the like
which was never witnessed in tn
0 State before the advent of IL
r Brownlow and Radical rule. No
r withstanding the enormous inerea'
? in the rate Of taxation, so great ha7
been the expenses Of the State GOV
eminent, that even the commo
schools have been neglected. B
! the act of May "a, 1865,
was provided that, after pa,
e ing the interest on the State del
a proper and current expenses of til
0 State, the sum of 100000 !
| applied to common school pu
, poses, in addition to what is no
2 allowed by law for said purposes
{ The interest on the State debt W;
funded, and therefore not paid
money, but the expenses Of Il
State absorbed all the revenue, an
5 that $500, 600 has not been apple
a to common school purposes to tn
g day. The taxes have been i
i creased five-fold, but none Of Il
I bonds that matured during Il
n BrOwnlow administration ha'
r been paid and worse than all, Il
q liabilities Of the State have bee
| doubled. Is it wonderful that, WIT
g Acknowledgement, the imposition
4 odious disabilities, the usurpatiC
4 and exercise Of power not warran
ed in the constitution and laws, al
# the enactment and enforcemel
p of laws originating in passlC
y and the fear Of the loss of polite
# power, GOV. Brownlow's admin
n tration has been fought with fer,
/ hostility" by the men thus degr
e ded by law but who are compellC
o to pay the taxes necessary to SUI
port the State Government. The
p is fierce hostility to the Brow