Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-02-09

conformity to these expressed by your
self touching the expedieney Of universe
amnesty ard impartial suffrage, and tha
he has, in the case Of Virginia, in connec
| ton with negotiations now pending il
} Washington, uttered declarations, which
iffollowed up by appropriate action, ma,
soon enable him, after triumphantly win
dicating our National Union in arms t
secure to himself the transcendaut glorI
ofnestoring TO that Union all Of its orig
inal value when constructed by on
fathers, so that it shall again become
! what it once was, perennial and con
stantly OVERLOOKING fouRtain of genuine
civic freedom and national blessedneSs.
Long as this communication has al
ready become, we feel unwilling to draw
it to a close until one or two additional
suggestions shall have been offered, in
regard to the matter embodied in the fol,
lowing extract from the editorial article
which has induced us at this time to in
trude upon your attention. Referring "a
the effects likely to be produced in the
South by the adoption ola just and mag
unanimous course on the part OF the Fed
eral government, you say: If the Re-
publicans in Congress shall give secure
and lasting peace to the country by join,
ing hands, with those whom you esteem
the friends Of law and order in this re-
gion, Z" on the lucid and complex platform
Of Universal Amnesty and Impartial
Suffrage, the Ku-KluX and their abeters
will be speedily hunted out of every pOp1
ulous, organized community, and CONS
pelled to disband or flee; schoelhOuses
and all other means of intellectual and
moral improvement will be placed under
the protection of all who have property
or hope 70 acquire any and the rights OF
the blacks secured forever against eiiscsl
uai assaul. By coninact which Will
pledge to Their support aH that is sub !
s.an.ial and IGNORED 10 the whole CONS
munity." According to the true import
Of this extract, we have no hesitation in
declaring our conviction that at least
ninety nine hundredths Of all those in
the South recently connected with tho
Confederate cause would indorse
every sentence and word in the
clause just cited. In regard to
those 10 whom you allude as Ku-kluX,
we know nothing personally and can,
therefore, say nothing more than this !:
If Congress shall act the parental part
which you advise and which we sincerely
hope it viii, no pretext whatever will ex-
list for illegal organizations Of this chars
acter under any Rameor designation, and
should such organizations be anywhere
found existing, there is no good citizen of
the South who would not heartily en-
gage in the work of eXterninating or
putting them down. Give US back the
rights of citizenship, of which so many
of us have been heretofore deprived, and
we shall take pride in performing this
and all other civic duties. Elevate US
us once more to the rank Of freemen in
this the loved land Of our nativity, and,
with patriotic zeal, and with an intleX-
ible regard for our coUntTy's repOse and
welfare worthy Of the purest days Of
Roman virtue, we pledge ourselves, be-
fore God and man, to see to 1t that the
laws Of the land are everywhere, within
reach OF cur influence, faithfully obeyed,
and its authorized functionaries treated
with becoming courtesy and respect. Aid
us in binding up the yet bleeding wounds
in our body polite, and assuredlv it will
not be our fault if these wounds shall ever
be hereafter reopened. Heartily do we
re-echo your concluding words, and say
"0ur country needs the best use of all
her sons, whether gentle or humble, and
has no moral right to bandage her eyes
and tie her hands behind her back.
Above all, the champions of freedom
have no right to squander the opportu-
nifty now presented for placing the rights
of the blacks under the egis Of a guar
anty which eventually insures them
against all question in future" This is
indeed, in our Judgment, the language
alike of justice and of sound and long
sighted and widely circumspectiyo policy,
Allow US, Mr.. Greeley, who are now ads
dressing you from the great central city
Of Tennessee, and with the knowledge
and sanction of many Of our best and
most influential citizens, TO say that it
would be indeed surprising if among us
this oft-recOgnized guaranty should not
be hereafter faithfully adhered to. We
claim to be up to the present moment
the only State in the broad Union where
the principle Of equality before law of
all men, without regard to race, color, or
lineage, has been long since solemnly and
formally recognized by the members OF
both the great political parties which
have been for several years past contend,
ing for supremacy. We here assert what
no man either here or elsewhere will dare
deny, that there is no division
among our people in regard TO
this matter. We have not only
acduiesced in the downfall of Afrl>
can slavery, but we would not revive 1t
from the dead past, if We could. We not
only recognize African slavery as extinct,
but our former slave-Owners are, If pos
sible, more strenuous than all others for
enabling the enfranchised African race to
maintain their new~feund civil rights In
the peaceful exercise Of the ballot. No
public man in Tennessee is likely here
after to attempt the disturbance Of the
sacred social pact which has been deliber-
ately entered into by all classes OF our
people; nor could such an attempt be
risked by any one among US without rem
dering himself odious to our people to an
extent which no individual has hereto~
fore realized. We believe with you, that
our colored voters are likely hereafter to
prove good and quiet citizens; that they
will ZealOusly struggle for the public
welfare that they will be generally
amenablc to sound and salutary counsel
that in the unrestricted exercise Of the
rights of citizenship they will every day
grow more quiet, more obedient tO-law,
more patriotic and public spirited in their
dispositions and conduct, less subject to
be deluded by the arts Of demagogues
and fanatics, and more ambitious OF i'm
proving their own capacity for performs
inc the high and inspiring duties now
devolved on them. IfnO sinister infiu-
ence shall be interposed to prevent the
accomplishment Of an object so desirable,
we confidently expect in few years
more. here in Tennessee, to have the
most homogeneous people, both IN Sentl~
ment and action, TO be tound on the Amc>
rican Continent. Nor are our citizens
stupid enough not 10 perceive that Ten
nessee is hereafter to he greatly bencr
fitted by this very system, If 1t shall Ice
faithfully carried out, not only IN in
creased domestic concord, but in the
strengthening Of our influence in tho ma
tional councils by increased rcprcsenLa~
ton in the popular branch of Congress.
Again we repeat your noble words, and
say: Let IAN earnest and cordial re-
4,