Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1869-01-21
Secretary Fletcher's Let
ter.

Secretary Fletcher published
communication in the Nashville
Press d Pimes last week, from
which we extract
Candor requires me to say that l
differ with someof eur party as to
the temper with which ex-rebels
should be treated. The State gov
eminent should have considered it
self standing in loco parents to the
lepeople of the State. Itshould
have sought to allay the strife a.
mong the children OF Tennessee.
to heal and soothe rather than to
irritate and provoke discussion
to cure up rather than tear open
the wounds which the war had in-
fiicted upon the body polite, 1t
was absolutely necessary that while
the passions Of the people were yet
infiamed and heated by the war,
the victorious minority should
be protected from the majority.
A partial and conditional disfran-
chisement could not be avoided. -
Our mistake was that we made
the franchise law sweeping and
perpetual-ofering no hope or
inducement to the ex-rebels to be-
come loyal. Thousands of them
would join our party today, but
we see they can not get to US with
out perjury in taking an iron-clad
oath. This excessively severe
policy of our party is about to
produce its natural consequences.
! u IS about to explode for the s0ant
OF cali6fe. If we had allowed the
courts or the Legislature, or if we
had provided special tribunal, to
relieve such as manifested a Loyal
and patriotic spirit, we would
have manifested a proper spirit,
and would have built up our
party and have made it Inn
pregnable. Instead of this we
are growing weaker daily, and
many of our best men have be-
come disguised and declared open.
lily for universal suffrage at once
The Confederates will ere long get
this boon in spite of US, and nc
thanks to US, and will be the less
inclined to leniency. The only
| justification that can be offered
for the acknowledgements of any
citizen is the protection of the mi
nority. Ipity the man who would
disfranchise his neighbor for his
own qualification.
The man who is DISTINGUISHED
in a repubIic is not apt to feel that
it is his government or to take any
pride or interest in it, nor apt to
make a useful or even law-abiding
Icitizen..socff t. t. / DO not feel COM
Portable residing in State where
half of the people and two-thirds
of the taxpayers are publicly de-
graded by the law, without any
motive to be proud of the State
and its government. | desire
paci6cation, harmony and a resto-
ration of confidence among the
people, and that this chronic strife
may cease in our generation, and
not be left as an heirloom for our
posterity.
Again, while / denounce and con-
denim those leaders who brought
on the war, and those of the low
err order who maltreated citizens
and prisoners, / am persuaded
that the misguided masses of the
Southern people were honest in
their devotion to the Southern
cause-bad as it was. 1t will not
do to say that the men and wo-
men of one-third of a nation are
all felons. / take it that the man
who left his family and home
and fought and suffered for four
years without pay, and to his own
inpoyerishment, would not have
done so if he had not thought he
was right. a1'
d These people were greatly i'm
poverished by the war. They
suffered defeat, wounds and captiv-
ity. We have emancipated their
slaves; we have disfranchised the
master, and disabled him from hold
ing Office or sitting on juries; we
have enfranchised the slave, and
given him the right to hold Office
and sit upon juries, thus in many
localities reversing the relation Of
master and slave. / think we
have punished them enough for
participation in the rebellion, and
thatit is time to commence, grad
uaIiy, at least, to remove their
chains. A father may punish al
iruaut ar rabeilioua son until hal