Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1869-05-22
From the South Bend Qnd.) Nat. Union
a WORD To OUR PEOPLE.

nothing by time again and again il
comes up before US In every conceiv-
able shape, horrid stories of outrages
perpetrated upon Union men are
manufactured in that land of military
despotism by the wholesale, and then
little, trihing, peddling demagogues
are sent up here to retail them to us
In quantities to suit our credulity.
! 1t Is our duty to inquire into the
motives that actuate these men, and
"by their acts We shall know Them"
1 IL they may be found worthy of con-
fidence we may believe them, IL not,
If they are here merely to cause mis-
chief, we ought to tell them that their
presence Is not desirable, that our peo-
pie are a people of peace, that we love
the sound of the hammer and the
buzz of machinery better than the
wailing miseries of war.
1t is not the purpose of the writer,
in this article, to abuse or defame the
Republican party, its principles, orits
leaders. His object is to present to
you i'm its true light the character of
the men who are sent here to cause
dissension among us, to set us against
each other, and to review the course
of them rs a sample of the rest, nor
does he wish to be understood as at
lacking these men as private citizens.
With that he has nothing to do, 1t is
only in their political capacity that
he assails them. Indeed, he believes
that in his personal relations with his
fellow men, no purer man ever lived
than he whose political course the
writer wishes to hold up to the scorn
and contempt of men. He does this,
not that he may injure the man, but
for the good of his people. He does
1t that he may warn all men, of all
parties, against the influence of him
who has not the bold, manly, honor
able courage to stand by his friends
and his principles Wien pressed by
defeat, but who is ever anxiously upon
the lookout for the uppermost wave
that he may ride upon it, man
who is the political enemy of all
mankind. Over and over again he
has betrayed all men of all parties,
and of both colors, shifting so quickly
that few men know where he stood
yesterday, still less care where he
stands to-day, and we shall he COM
PEELED to follow hurriedly If we wish
to find him tomorrow. There Is no
confidence to be placed i'm such men.
We can admire bold, fearless,
open-hearted, candid enemy, but all
mankind, from gray haired age to in
fancy, turn with detestation from him
who wins confidence to return it with
base betrayal.
Whenever public men set them
selves up in a political character as
leaders of the people, 1t becomes the
duty of all men, whatever their own
views may be, and irrespective of all
personal feeling, nay, even, if neces-
sary, at the sacrifice of life itself, and
all its dearest relations, to examine
into the past lives of such men, to see
whether they are worthy of, conf
dence. To make this enquiry Is a
right which no public man will dare
deny, and from which no honest man
will shrink.
The people should know the char
acters of their leaders, and follow
none but the pure and true-none but
those whose lives are grand and no
ble-whose characters approach an
almost god-like simplicity and maj
esty-a more than Roman integrity.
The people should know whether
Their past lives have been one steady,
unwavering, unflinching, eagle-like
course i'm the cause of God, Justice,
truth, liberty and right, Gas God has
given them to see the right" or
whether it has been light, giddy, tri-
fling, ever changing, now here, now
there, like the lightning's zigzag
course, q mere Will o. the Wisp, to
lead deludcd followers, first in one di-
rection, then in another, and then
call upon them to retrace their steps.
Men of the latter class are not the
men in whom to put our trust. They
are not the men to tie to. They are
mere broken reeds upon which to lean
our strength. They are without fore
sight, without wisdom, without that
discerning judgment and determined
energy so essential to success. Their
minds, as variable as the winds, have
no balancing power, and they them
selves very soon become mere degrad-
ed, helpless, pitiable tools In the hands
of designing men, who, even while
using them, scorn and detest them.
Then, when the contemplate thing
has served their purpose, they kick ii
one side as heartlessly and uncere-
carcass. What pity that the cult
should SO utterly fall, sink down,
down, deeper and deeper, until 1t
reaches such unfathomable depths of
degradation: until at last, like the
feeble, Pickering light of an expiring
candle, it goes out in utter darkness,
unhOnOred and unknown.
We now approach a painful task.
Through its performance we shall
lose tor life, perhaps, the friendship of
a man who Is nearer and dearer to Us
than all Others combined. Duty to
God and our fellow men, to our coun-
try and an outraged and oppressed
people of eight millions demand that
we should no longer remain silent
Gratitude to people who, when we
We're among them, a stranger in
strange land, treated us like n brother,
and whose last repeated request upon
leaving them was only the poor favor
to correct, Us in US lay the power, the
false representations concerning them
TO defend, when assailed, that honor
which Is dearer to them than life,
urges us to defend them against the
vengeful, malicious assaults of the
hireling tools Of the oppressor.
Even-handed justice now demands
the fulfllment of q promise that we
gave two years ago 70 n resident of
Tennessee. A promise that was given
upon his request that when returning,
we would truly represent the conditiop
Of Southern society, and deny the false
charges which, rs he said, only tended
to divide and distract our people,
That promise We gave, and the man
who asked IL WAS Judge w. A. PETER,
of Clarksvllle, Tennessee. That man
made violent radical dcnunciatory
speech at the Court House on We'd
n,.sdaY night, Sept. 10Th. At the