Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-08-03
THE TENNESSEE CONTEST.
Official Interference I'm State Elections
From the Baltimore Sun, July 2s.

1t is reported in Washington, an,
has been telegraphed and published
throughout the country within tn
, past few days, that the Secretary O
the Treasury and the Postmaste
General have each written letter
expressing a desire that Colone
Stokes may be elected Governor O
Tennessee, and intimating that sucf
also is the wish of the President
We have not seen the letters in ques
tion. 1t may be that the President
who is represented as quietly en-
ljoying himself at Long Branch,
glad to get away apparently from
the intrigues and opportunities OF
the politicians and wire pullers, has
authorized no such expression of his
preferences. 1t may be that he does
not care pinch of snuff or a Whit
of cigar smoke who Is elected Gov
ernor of Tennessee. 1t may be that
| Mr.. Boutwell, and Mr.. Creswell have
both been slandered and that they
have written no such letters. But
if the story be true in whole or in
part, to that extent it is an illustra-
tion of the degradation into which
our politics have already fallen and
the lower depths to which we are
tending.
The people of Tennessee, State
in the Union, not constructively out
of it, like Virginia and Mississippi,
undergoing no process of recon
struction nor supposed to stand in
need of any, loyal after the strictest
sect of whoever is loyal, are about
to elect a Governor. They are
called upon to choose between two
candidates, both Republicans; one,
Gov. Senter, the present Executive
of the State, supported by the mod
crate or conservative wing of the
party, the other, Col. Stokes, the
representative of the extreme Radi-
calls. Two cabinet officers are sup
posed to tell the people of Tennes-
see that it is their wish and that Of
the administration, so far as they
are entitled to speak for it, that they
shall elect Stokes! Without enter
ing into the merits of the question
as between the two candidates, or
as involved in the issues of the can
Vass, that these high government
officers should step so far outside
Of the sphere of their official duties
as to undertake to instruct the people
of Tennessee upon subject which
so peculiarly concerns themselves,
strikes US as being, to say the least
Of it, singularly officious. What
business is it of the Secretary of the
Treasury or the Postmaster Gen.
eral, or of the general government,
at all 1t was bad enough during
the late canvass in Virginia to wit
ness the efforts which were made on
both sides to get a satisfactory en-
dorsement from the government at
Washington. Each side proclaimed
itself to be the one favored by Gen.
Grant, and engaged in carrying out
his policy. But Virginia was in
no position to do otherwise. She
is State which is denied her right
full place in the Union; debarred
her just prerogatives, and her chance
of restoration depending in a meas
nre upon the favor of the adminis-
tration. Mississippi and Texas are
in the same category, and hence the
spectacle, however sad and humili-
ating, is less strange Of the repre-
sentatives of rival parties in those
States besieging the executive
ante chamber, or pursuing the
President to his retreat by the
seaside, for the purpose of
procuring his Endorsement of
their position and claims. 1t is
the result of that modified form of
"imperialism" which in substance,
not name, has been introduced into
this country and governs in the un
reconstructed States. In France it
has been the custom of the imperial
government at every election to in
dicate theirpreference for particular
candidates, and by letters addressed
to the mayors of communes and
other local functionaries to impress
upon them the duty of using their
utmost efforts for the return of those
candidates designated as "minis-
terial." We have no desire to see
any such system become general in
this country. 1t is just such officious
and intrusive action as has been
ascribed to Mr.. Boutwell, and Mr..
Creswell which is the opening wedge
for the system, with all its cOrrup-
tions and abuses. SO long as places
under the general government are
conferred as the reward of party
services, and held by the tenure of
party fealty, of course men in office
will everywhere endeavor to fur
ther the views and crafty the
wishes of their official chiefs
In this way the weight of the
general government will be more or
less felt in every adjustment of the
political scale, until, by thorough
reform in our whole system Of civil
service appointments, the parent
abuse itself is eradicated and public
servants in their several stations
and degrees cease to be the mere
serfs and tools of party. But this
open declaration of the "wishes" of
the administration, this formal en-
try into The lists and casting of all
the influence and power of the gov-
ernment in favor Of a particular
side, if practice not altogether
new, has of late assumed more dan
gerous and threatening proportions.
1t threatens, if tolerated, to absorb
all power in the hands Of the general
government and make it sole arbi-
ter in all questions of State or local
politics, to belittle and degrade the
State governments, and make Wash.
ingtcn the one centre of patronage
and intrigue for the whole country.
1t is an evil which should be met
and fought at the threshold. If any
| such letters have been written as
represented, they should furnish
another argument to the people OF
Tennessee in favor of the election
of the candidate who is not "min-
isterial." Every such attempt at
interference and dictation in mat
ter in no wise of federal concern,
and in which the preferences" of