Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-01-22
THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE
CONDITION OF TENNESSEE.

spring session, known as the FRANCHISE
act, we have held congressional elections
in the eight districts of the State, and
have elected eight Representatives to the
next Congress of the United States. As
general thing, the election passed Oh
quietly, with here and there exceptions,
and was characterized by much better
behavior than was anticipated.
1.-THE authority Of the constitution and
laws of the United States and OF the
State of Tennessee has now extended
over almost every county in the State
the machinery Of civil government is
working well, except in few instances.
The closing of the war and dis
banding of the Rebel armies returns |
thousands of men to civil life, and dis
tributes them among the various counties |
of the State How are these me
to be treated2 Are they to
make good citizens or disconnected SUBJ
jects Are the wounds made by the
war ever to be healed2 These are
weighty questions, taking the place of
those that engrossed our attention DUR
ing the war. 1t is not our policy or in
terest to treat oppressiyely the thousands
who fought bravely in a bad cause, pros
vided they act as becomes their cireum-
stances. As for the masses-thc young
and deluded masses-whO blindly fol-
l lowed the standard of revolt, let them
have full and free pardon, ifyou will,
on their sincere return to loyalty.
Civil government, as recognised
by Gov. Brownlow and the Legis-
lature elected under authority of
| the January convention, had been
in operation six months, and SO well
had the people behaved themselves,
| so quietly had they yielded obedi-
| ence to the authority thus set
over them, that even Brown
low was compelled to speak in
their praise; and not only did
he do that, but came out in
favor of granting "a full and free
pardon" to the "deluded" young
men "who fought bravely in a bad
cause" At that time the Governor
was suspected Of entertaining liber-
al sentiments toward those with
whom he had differed so widely
during the previous years of the
war. But the message from which
we have quoted contains the last
exhibition of this weakness. The
men who, according to Gov. Brown
low, had "fought bravcly in a bad
cause" had gone TO work so quietly
| and industriously, and were behav-
ing themselves in so exemplary a
manner under the rather lenient
| policy which had so far character
| ised the administration Of the State
| government, that the Governor was
impelled to make public acknOwl-
edgement of the fact; and there
stands his testimony to-day rs anne
mortal of the fidelity with which
those who had fought bravely in a
bad cause kept the faith they
| plighted on laying down their arms
and returning TO their homes. Have
these men whose gallantry and
bravery extorted praise from Gov.
| Brownlow acted otherwise than as
| good and law abiding citizens
| They have made themselves con-
| spicuous in upholding the peace OF
the State, and when this was seri-
ously menaced, their tried and
| trusted leaders came to the capital
and freely and voluntarily rendered
their services to aid in quelling any
outbreaks or resistance TO the laws
that might unhappily occur. How
have these generous acts Of these
"deluded" young men and their
older comrades in arms and their
leaders, been responded to by the
Governor and his party. They had
words of commentator for this
| prompt offer of assistance to the
| government in asserting and main
tanning the supremacy of the laws,
but these words had hardly died
from their lips before they renewed
the denunciations which they had
been dealing out for many months
previous. No effort has been made
by Gov. BrownlOw or his party
as a party to conciliate the men
they had deprived of the right OF
suffrage and representation. In
stead Of Cancellation, n system OF
the most rigid exclusion was inau-
| gurated toward these brave men
solely that the control Of the State
might be kept in the hands of men
who owed their accession to power
alone to advcntitious circumstances
, These excluded citizens pay nine
! tenths of the taxes necessary to
sustain the State government, and
it is no matter for wonder that they
are disconnected with the treat
ment melted out to them. 1t was the
iniquity which has been practiccd
, towards these taxpayers that forced
| Secretary Fletcher to confess the
1 other day that "tho man who 1t
t DISTINGUISHED in a republic Is not
apt to feel that it is his government
t or to take any pride or interest ii
r it, nor apt to make a useful or even
! law-abiding citizen of it," and
f that he did "not feel comfortable
G residing in a State where half the
people and two-thirds Of the tax
+ payers are publicly degradcdby law
without any motive to be proud o
? the State and its government.
!, This is the confession Of Brownlow
p Secondary of State after nearly -four