The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1869-06-08
POLITICS IN TENNEssEE.
a Republican View of Arbitrary r
publican Policy and its Fruits.

POLITICS In TENNEsBEE.
a Republican View of Arbitrary Re.
| publican Policy and Its Fruits.
| From the Cincinnati Commercial.
1t has been the common custom to
| describe the political situation OF Ten
| nessee, since the reconstruction, as
| shell" No one who has read an ac-
count of the late Republican State Con-
vPntion will dispute the fitness OF the
term. Such riot of passion, coarse
ness, profanity and blackguardism
makes the most vivid picture the i'm
| aginatiOn can conceive OF pandemo-
mum. In all that two days strife of
disorder we see no signs of whole
| independent, self-reliant people, such
as exercise moral control over their
representatives and leaders; we see
nothing but a helpless mass and the
strife of a few reckless leaders, deter
| mined to rule or ruin. Nor does 1t pre-
sent even this alternative, for the es-
cape from ruin is by no meaus guar
anteed by their rule
1Tennessee is suffering from the in
evitable consequences of irresponsible
goVernment-a government which os-
Iracises the great body of the tax pay
ers, and of that intelligent class which
naturally makes up the controlling
we realize the truth of declarations
made by Governor Andrews, of Massa-
chusetts, and of Henry Ward Beecher,
for which they were much denounced
at the time, TO the effect that we can
not set up safe Government in the
South by excluding the property hold
ers and the natural leaders OF society.
1t was supposed to be very simple
and easy thing to do, and that we had
only to enfranchise the mass OF blacks
just set loose from the long night of
bondage, and to disfranchise the for
mer governing element, and we should
have loyal State Governments. We
hope our readers will bear witness that
we never advocated such plan, and
that we always held that until the peo-
pie of the Southern States could be
trusted the United States should gov
ern them; not by arbitrary military
power, but by law.
We have seen full trial OF this sys-
TEN of establishing loyal Government
in Tennessee, and it has become ques-
ton whether such loyalty Is not ex-
haustive to the State, and whether we
may not have 10 relax the loyal rigidi-
ty in order to save the State from ruin.
In general, the Radical rule has been
marked by prOfligacy in both State and
municipal Government. as is shown by
the great increase in State and muntcl-
pal debts, besides the great floating
debts which they are carrying along at
ruinous rates of interest. In this we
realizo the evil of DISTINGUISHING the
great body OF Taxpayers, and thus los
ing their conservative influence in pub
lie affairs. And this is aggravated by
an agrarian spirit which takes possess
sion when they who are hostile to the
property class have control OF Govern
nen:; who are apt to regard every bur
den they add to property as so much
toward its equal distribution, and
toward securing their share. And in
| this case there is the feeling that these
burdens are in the line OF retribution
upon the property class for their dis
| LOYALTY in the civil war.
| It Will not be denied that the political
situation in Tennessee is working seri-
Gus injury to the material interests Of
the State, not only in the public finances,
but vastly moro in the baleful effect of
| political disorder upon the general
prosperity and upon the growth OF pri-
| Vate enterprise and upon all the matte
rial interests to which public tranquil
ity is the first requisite. We believe
| that there Is q general conviction OF this
in the minds of the Republicans of
| Tennessee and of the necessity for po-
litical change. And we believe that 1t
| is their general conviction that the dis
reimbursement of the late rebel class
ought to be removed, and that they are
only prevented from giving effect to
this conviction by the fear OF the party
leaders that they will lose their places
if the disfranchisement is removed.
And this motive finds great power in
The fierce intolerance which the dis
turbed conditions have brought into
parties in Tennessee, and which is very
much according to the nature of their
people; which holds terror over any
who show signs of making concessions
to the enemy, and visits upon them the
fierce spirit and hateful epithets gener-
ated by long civil war.
A large portion of the Republicans of
Tennessee are now realizing the liabil-
ity of engines invented for extraordi-
nary cases to be turned against the in
yentors, and they seem to n eed the re-
secure their own political rights. The
extraordinary control over the cleo
tons, which was placed in the hands OF
the Governor to protect the State against
the vote of the rebel class, has given
that officer an engine for perpetuating
his own power, whose evils the Repub-
licans now realize. It seems to have
been a reliance on this which led the
faction which supports Governor SEN
ter to play the game OF disorder, conf
dent that Governor Senter has the pow
er to secure his own election, whether
regularly nominated or not; and, there
fore, that they would gain by prevent
ing the convention from acting, and
would lose nothing by breaking it up
with disorder. ~
The situation, as it appears to us, Is
that Mr., Stokes has the support OF the
preDonderance OF the substantial senti-
Inent and numbers OF the Republican
party. On the other hand, Governor
Senter has the possession Of the Gov
eminent, and the aid ofal1 the interests
| which that can gather around 1t; he
has extraordinary powers over the
election, and he has bold, determined
and not scrupulous managers. Thus
the invention OF the time when the
State was torn by civil war, to keep.
| political control out of the hands of the
old governing class, returns to plague
the Republican party, and boldly de-
| fies its majority. A political recon-
struction is necessary in Tennessee
The Conservative influence Of the great
body of the Taxpayers Is always indis-
pensable in any government. A sepa~
ration of representation from taxation
is suicidal in itself, and Is a violation OF
| the principle OF all government. The
Republicans who are deprived of-thelr
legitimate control of the elections by
means of the arbitrary power lodged In
the hands of the Governor need, Tor
their own good, the restoration OF the
50, 900 DISTINGUISHED voters. They can
not do better than to make the issue OF
this election general political amnes-
ty, and reform of the State Govern
ment. MI. 49,, sEzstisz-s
THE New York Sun having finished
up John Russell Young, ofthe Tribune
lis DESTROYS OF taking the war path after
James Gordon Bennett,Jr., of the Her
AID, who is the young proprietor allu-
ded to in the following paragraph taken
| ~ O7khs o. ATsTFNTTnNI