Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1869-02-05
wuAyMvsY oUu People DO, ;

wuATNvsT OUR PEOPLEDofrl
way the Miiitia are Called OutA-ren-
ncsscc RadicaIism W.. National
How an Oppressed People q May
Help Themselves. n They VIII.
To the Editors of the Union and American.
Crime and outrage must abound;
/ /" Rebels" must be rebellious; Ku-
! Klux ststalk abroad; the militia
must be called out: because the ext
gencies of Brownlowism demand all
this, imperatively. The State must
be secured next August for two years
longer. The State credit may be
wrecked, immigration may be deter
red and every, Interest of the COM
monwealth may be Frustrated; but
the ofliceholding party must hold on.
The continued Acknowledgement of
4 Democrats must therefore be justified.
/ Brownlowism must be justified in
this outrage before the "National Re
publican party" The Boutwell,
amendment may go to the dogs |; 1t
must not be applied to Tennessee !:
therefore, Tennessee must be placed
under martial law, that this rather
civil amendment may not be en-
| forced. aptl
| Such, Messrs. Editors, is the situa-
ton. Our so-called civil govern
ment, is, till next August, a machine
organized for the set purpose. of Gre
ating civil disorder. Born of strife, by
strife only can it be perpetuated. Our
officers of the law, who should pre-
serve peace, are eager only to see it
disturbed. When railroad trains are
Ku-Kluxed and prison doors un-
hinged, they chuckie,in their sleeves.
Nothing. suits them better. AThese
things make their election sure.
We, the people, the x-payers, who
must foot all accounts, had no voice
in the election Of these officers. And
we must still have no voice, else they
might go Offleeless. And so they
wink at outrage, ifthey do not actual
ly aid its commission: that the militia
may come upon us. Little 1t matters
TO them whether the criminal be
black. or white, "Rebelror Radical,
If only scrime be G2comitted that
Brownlowism may be justified.
What should our people do p
What can they do? 1t is a solemn
farce to call mass meetings and pro-
test against the wrong, or send
respectable men here to demonstrate
with the fellows that pull the wires
against a course of policy that is
with them n political necessity. N
is useless to waste invective on the
ilerelict officers of the law, so-called.
They are independent of us. We
haven't the ballot to GUST them; and
to summon them before judges of
BrownlOw's appointment, would be u
profitless mockery of the things that
Were. u FEu& tisH.sH l.J
Burdened as we are, more oppress-
lively than ever before, with taxes to
support a suggestions civil govern
ment, it Is plain that we must our
selves attend in a great measure TO
the enforcement of the laws. Ardu-
Gus, unjust, and uncalled for rs the
task may be, each individual citizen
must take hold and aid in the arrest
of wrong doors. For this purpose the
Democratic organization of last fall
should be revived and perfected till II
ramify every county and precinct of
Middle and West Tennessee. No
ku-klux-no Vigilantes--but let
each district and sub-district have its
committee to see that the peace is
preserved, and all viOlaters arrested
without regard to political or physi-
zeal complexion. IHg T@ Ett = : "a
If this avail not for its primary
purpose, then let those committees of
safety give to the world each particu-
lar outrage on humanity Let the
stencil OF this tyrannous cesspool be
stirred up till it nauseate the whole
country. Let the terrible power of
the press be brought to bear on
Brownlowism as never before, and
mayhap we will rid ourselves of it
for ever. co am. tH. .....H 'ot
If the worst come. the concerted
action of which such general organ
ization might avail itself, would be
Infinitely better than leaving each
isolated community to struggle as it
may or meet its doom. 5F
Can such organization be effected I?
Its difficulties are manifold. The
time, labor and attention required, is
an extraordinary demand on the
quiet citizen. But is ii not neces-
sity? What other course promises
as much-what other course promises
any relief? How else shall we avoid
the fate OF Arkansas? How else es-
cape the court-martial, the dungeon,
the lash, the torture, the thumb
screw, the halter? How else save
our wives and daughters from the
forcible embrace of black militia? -
Can such organization be effected |!
VIII it be? O.t.|
"lf you are an anvil, be patient; If
you are hammer, strik hard |"
'T1 O'S.
NASHVILLE, Feb. /, 1859.