Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-06-23

the white men of the State
viii be half accomplished in the
result of the August election. aisea 1
An ,0KDER TO ENJOEN REGisrKAgs.
adDr..T s. Hunt of New Middle
ton, Smith county, writes a lettea
to the editor of the state journal,
the new Stokes organ, in which this |
remark occurs 8v el,t,,sT s~s1f,o
1I" Gen. Nv. B. Stokes is manifestly the
choice of the loyal people of Smith for
Governor, and if We can retain our pre-
sent Commissioner Of Registration we
can take care of ourselves and will roll
up a rousing majority for him at our
August election" N-N 'N'' 9'H .h
Why cannot the Stokes men Of
Smith county take care of them
selves if they do not retain their
present registrar 1t must be be.
cause they are afraid that a new
registrar would register citizens
who would not vote for Mr.. Stokes,
a thing which tho present registrar
would not do. That has been the
policy of the Radicals heretofore,
but now that a gentleman is in the
Governors Office who has respect
enough for his oath to require that
all laws be faithfully executed, we
hear the cry of distress como mp
that if a registrar can be re-
tanned what can be done
in the way of carrying
a county for particular cans
didate. Let us whisper into the ear
of DIR. Hunt that if the registrar of
his county will execute the fran
chise law faithfully and hon estly
by giving to every man certifi-
cate who is clearly entitled to vote
under that law, there will be no ne
cessity for a change of registrars,
and none will be made. We un-
derstand Gov. Senter to have
pledged himself in his speeches
that he would make changes only
for cause; that where a registrar
refused upon any pretext whatever
to register citizens who clearly come
within the provisions of the fran
ohise law, or recognise the late de-
cisiOn of the Supreme Court at
Brownsville, he would certainly re-
move them and place men in office
who would discharge their duties
honestly and impartially. For this
Gov. Senter deserves 10 be com
mended. Now how does the State
Journal meet this purpose of the
Governor Here is its advice to
its friends: ..H .a. .. aa.a
"Whenever Sentar shall remove a
Commissioner of Registration in any
county, and the said Commissioner begins
to issue fraudulent certificates, let some
good citizen sue out a writ Of injunction
at once, have the violator of law enjoined
instantly. This is the advice of one Of
the best legal men of our State"
The phraseology of this para
graph is intended to leave the inn
preston that it is only in the cases
where +" fraudulent " certificates
shall be issued, that resort should
be had to an Injunction to put q STOP
to fraud But the plain meaning
of this suggestion is to thus put q
stop to the issue Of certificates tC
men who will probably vote fol
Gov. Senter. There are hundreds
of men in almost every county o.
Middle and West Tennessee who
are clearly entitled to vote under
fair Interpretation Of the franchise
law, but they have been unable tC
get themselves registered because
it was morally certain they would
not vote the Radical ticket. IT i;
the policy of the Stokes men still
to keep these citizens from the bal
lot box, because it is felt they will
not vote for q man who opposes
their Acknowledgement on political
grounds alone. The order has
gone forth from the 'Bre-
vet Lieut.. Col. and A. A.
c." TO the Stokes cohorts to
bushwack every registrar who
may be found issuing too man J
certificates by tying them up With
an Injunction, and thus stop the
work of grinding out voters, no
matter how fairly and honestly
these citizens may be entitled TO the
exercise of the elective franchise.
Let systematic movement of this
kind be made, and il will greatly
retard the operation of making
voters, even though an Investigation
shall show that there is no fraud
whatever i'm the matter. The
Stokes organ rightly suspects that
there are very few men who are
likely to vote for Stokes yet to be re
gistered, and it is perfectly willing
10 see the registration machinery
stopped for time at least by get
ting il into the courts. Let US have
no attempts to interrupt registra-
ton. If frauds be committed by
either the registrars or parties ap-
plying for registration, the law
makes specific provision for their
punishment, and to the proper tri-
bunal under that law let the appeal
be made where there is well de,
fined case Of fraud.
----.-
A TENNESSEE ORATOR.