Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-10-13


III. paryip, General Advertising Agent,
Cincinnati, Ohio. is osr duly authorized agsh'
to contract for advertisements.
GOVERNOR sENTER's MESSAGE.
The Governor elect Of our State sent
in his Message to the General Assembly
Yesterday. The document we now nave
before us, but clearness and strength
of thought is sadly wanting to make II
readable. The little tadpole Governor
writes to an intelligent and practical body
of gentlemen as if he was delivering 9
freshman Fourth Of July GRAFTON. He Is
exceedingly select in the choice OF WORDS
which, when strung together, mean
nothing.
The first suggestion of the Governor,
in his peculiar fastidious style, is that the
present General Assembly should ear
uestly implore the Supreme Ruler OF the
Universe for the blessings of wisdom.
That, in itself. is very good, provided the
Governor would add short prayer for
Sen,er himself, who is exceedingly needy
in that particular.
he then goes back to the war OF '76,
which is reviewed for the benefit of his
colored constituents, who are supposed to
he ignorant of the great facts so
familiar to every schoolboy in the
land. The Governor is quite eloquent
on this point. for be knows and feels
doubtless the patriotic FIRE of his ances'
tors burning in his bosom that have
smouIdsred since he fed with the Con-
federste Legislature from Nashville be-
fore the victorious army OF General
BuelI. We would not refer to this I'M
uIeassntness but for the suggestions con-
taioed in the Governors mssssge. The
fortunes of war, he says, had decresd that
the larger portion of our citizens should
be disfranchised, until at least their
loyalty could be proved to the satisiac-
tom of the Government they had SO OBJ
s,inately fought against for four years
We know how much Governor Senters
loyalty amounts to, having seen little
of il in the past. His devotion to the
Union was in proportion to his fears oil
being conscripted in the Sso5;.55sssss army,
while be boasts Of being the hrst aeces-
siouist in the land. The Governor re-
CARDS the enfranchisement of the negro
population as fixed fact in Tennessee
the right, as he says, having already
been conferred upon them by the results
of the war. We don't know that the
war was wsged for that purpose, and
If it was It certainly did not establish
il: for o. every one knows, negro
outrage was only thought of after
the rebellion, and then for the
purpose of keeping the reins of power IN
the hands of the Radical party, whose
future is not bright, with the right Of
white men in this State to vote. The tail
Of the Republican tadpole Governor
shows itself again in his recommends
ton to the Legislature to ratify the Fif'
teenth Amendment The purposes Of this
amendment, he states, is not to confer
any special impurities or compel any
social equality Of the colored people
against the will and consent OF others
That ia exactly the purpose ofthe amend
meut-to confer special immunities
upon the blacks, who heretofore we're not
regarded citizens of the government OF the
United States The message further
holds that the degradation Of the negro
by being deprived Of the ballot would
render him dangerous to the public inter
est. The question would naturally arise
does it improve the negro morally to in
vest him with oil the dangerous powers
Of citizenship We cant see how il
could; but, on the contrary, by making
him politician be is at once thrown into
the way Of temptation, which his nature
could not resist
This very precise Governor claims tina
it is only vehement party cry that col
cred suffrage and equality in citizsnshiI
are repugusnt to the American people
Such is true in fact, but the party spo
ken Of embraces large majority Of thu
people referred to. 1t was q party NOV
that inaugurs,ed the principles Of th'
Fifteenth Amendment-the party ths
Governor Senter himself belongs to q
this very time.
Ii Is not, nevertheless, TO be discord
and our objects secuted because they "a
advocated by a large portion OF tn
American people. We cannot see tina
such is sufficient reason or consituies
reason at all why the Legislature shonl'
forego their predictions, and vote 70
the obnoxious amendment nov Pendiui
before the Legislature. The Message
like its author. is very weak.