Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1869-10-02
ALOOK AHEAD.
VIII the Coming Legislature Ratify
the Fifteenth Amendment.


the Fifteenth Amendment.
"Avery," a Tennessee correspond
eut of the Cincinnati Commercial,
INDUCES IN the following predictions
In regard To the fifteenth amend
ment:
The Legislature elect, which Il
shortly to convene at Nashville, will
not ratify the fifteenth amendment.
There Is no longer room to doubt what
will be their course In this matter
no room to hope by those who are
friends to the amendment; no reason
to fear by its enemies. 1t Is well
enough to look the shadow of coming
events sqaure In the face, and be no
more astonished when the truth of Its
presence bursts upon us In October,
than the September visions Of APP
preaching reality. The coming
event Of the period" is the fifteenth
amendment, and there Is no doubt
what Tennessee's course will be I'm re-
gard to that absorbing question:
Her vote will be recorded against IL,
or else the signs Of the times are not
to be relied on, nor the opinions Of
the members elect themselves.
Governor Senter and the Isegisla-
ture were elected upon u platform
embodying 10 clear distinctness the
principles Ofthe fifteenth amendment.
1t was a main plank in the plat
form-a rallying point and q rally
ing cry. Senter Is still for 1t, but the
men elected with him upon the same
ticket and upon the platform are not.
He was the head of the ticket, but
the tail Is greater. than the head, for
the head is merely figure-head,
and the tail Is power. The Governor
Is little more than Gubernatorial
ornament to preside at receptions,
pardon convicts, and board in Nash
Vile. The power Is all in the Legis-
lature, and they will not use II to ad-
vance u favorite Republican measure,
whether Governor Senter be Its
champion or not. He can recon-
mend that the amendment be adopt
ed, but his recommendation will have
no other effect than to attest the truth
of his oft repeated declarations, aud
the sincerity of his motives. For
practical effect he might rs well urge
the adoption of the marriage laws of
Massachusetts, or the liquor law of
Maine.
1.-THE old Legislature were in ses-
sion, they would adopt 1t in twink
ling, no matter who recommended II,
or who opposed it. For them to fol-
low Congress was as natural rs for n
lap dog to follow It's master, and any
amendment that Congress might pro-
pose would be sure to find an earnest,
II not able, second at Nashville
There has been change of years
crowded in the space of months, and
an easy way to get Mt what the CON-
ing Legislature will do, Is to consider
whatthe old Assembly would refuse
to do, and vice versa.
Heretofore Tennessee has been
counted in the list is 10 make up the
the required twenty-seven; but the
regularity with which she has been
counted In, can now he exercised In
counting her out. When the amend
ment comes up, nobody will object to
the Niger having a vote but then
the idea Of Congress and the consti-
tuition having any thing to say about
| IL will be the flaw, and the
"getting out of place" for those
who are tangled in web OF inC0n-
veniences and victims 10 their own
insatiate desire for office. The con
stitution has risen TO a sudden sacred
ness and there Ia a greater degree of
solicitude Expressed for its preserya-
tion i'm nuritv than Mt any preyiou,
time in the history of that venerable
instrument. The constitution OF our
fathers must not be patched 50 much,
lest. like nm old shirt undergoing the