Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-06-02

1 tl0n lhaL II bnOuld De returned Hie
: required by the public wants. Ia 1876
the year after the termination Of an ex
, psnsive war with Mexico, we found our
selves involved in debt Of sixty fou
| million dollars, and this was the amour
owed by the government in 1860, just prio
TO the outbreak of the rebellion.
The vast debt, If permitted to becoml
permanent and increasing, must eventual,
be gathered into the hands Of few, ans
enable them 10 erect dangerous and cor
trolling power in the affairs of the govern
ment. II the borrowers would becom,
servants to the lenders, the lenders wouIC
be masters of the people. We now pride
ourselves upon having given freedom to 4.
000, 900 of the colored race. Ii will iher
be our shame that 40, 100000 Of orr peo-
pie, by their own tolerance Of usurpation
and profigacy, have suffered themselves 10
become enslaved and merely exchange own
era for new task-masters in the shape oil
ondholders and tax-gatherers. Besides
permanent debts pertain TO monarchial
governments, and tending to monopolies,
perpetuities and class legislation, are total.
ly irreconciiable with free institutions. It.
trodueed into our republican system, they
would granually but surely sap their fonn-
datiOns ank eventually snbvert our govern :
mental fabric, and erect upon its ruins a
money aristocracy.
/ Already does the banner Of imperialism
hout the sky. A paper devoted to the
I upholdiag of this colossal monopoly, by
the erection of an empire on the ruins Of
| republican liberty, is weekly Issued, ard
its notices are the WatchWords of frances
| Imperial master Napoleon III, and of
| successor of Washington, of Jefferson and
| of Jacksonville President of the United
States (Mr johnson here read an extract
| from the New York Imperialist)
And here in passing, let it be said, these
men want war with Great Britain-a war
| to swell this debt, to raise the prices OF me-
cessaries of life, to increase taxes, and in
| this distress and despair to make the EN-
pire secure. When in the Presidency, /
had a treaty concluded with England TO
avert their claims. Like Lucius q. Cato,
confess my thoughts were turned on
peace, on restoration OF prosperityat home,
on civic virtues, on economy. Bot this
treaty was rejected. These considerations
of the country's good were set at nanght.
This is the drift of events and is il not
enough to arouse attention, TO excite
anxiety, to cause people to look TO their
rights aud liberties, amp demand of every
candidate for their suffrage restoration
of every guarantee of which they have
been dispossessed, and pTiyilegeto return
to principles? In all these questions,
would say that the colored people ale
equally interested, and when their new
made Radical friends came like the daugh-
tera of the horseIeech and cry Give! Give
they shOnld osk how they stand on these
great questions which are the foundations
aud buttresses of their new. found liberties
as we'll as these of the white race
The public debt is more than two and a
half billiOns, and expenditures near five
hundred millions yearly. Let us explain
how the government borrowed money.
Capitalists bought greenbacks at two and
three hundred dollars for one and took
government bonds. The government never
saw gold, for none passed. 1t was gigantic
imitation based on credit only, and
gold was ont of the question. As property
banished at the South, il reappeared in
the North. Millions in slaves disappeared,
and three billions of bonds appeared in
the North. The misfortune was too that
bonds went TO men who lost nothing,
and sacrificed nothing in war. Great
applause / recommended Congress
10 change the debt 10 annuilies and
pay a hundred and fifty millions per
annum; and in seventeen years ex-
tinguish the entire debt, stop the interest.
take the government out Of market as
borrower, and set equivalent to 100000
600 free for commerce, industry and
agriculture. The advice was re-
iected but creditors will never get bel
ter. No permanent debt was ever
paid except by reputation. Ours will
never be. | am for paying all that is just,
no more. A plause. The reviewed
policy Of paying bond holders in gold,
and pensioner farmer, soldier, and laborer
in paper was adopted. Why this unjust
and indefensible course. Let US ask Rad
icals TO explain. am for paying all alike
either in gold or paper.
What condition is Tennessee ID? All
the elements Of wealth are ours. We
want law, order, confdedce, and more
cheap capital. Why is capital high? Ex-
lravagance and corruption keeps the gov
ernment, State aud federal, borrowing and
paying high prices for money; then we
turn around and tax the people to psy inter
est and perpetuate corruption and extrav-
agance. The government rests only upon
confidence, respect and affection of the
people, and go long as this state of things
continues, we cannot have these, the
further We drift from the landmarks of
liberty erected by our fathers, in the con-
stitutional and broad system of wise and
equal laws.
During the rebellion it is well known
that l fought in the Union for the Union
and the constitution. At the close of the
strife found a party for Overthrowing
the constitution by violating it deliber-
ately and wantonly. l fought them. |
am still for the constitution. The Rad
icals went to Richmond and turned JEFF
ferson Davis loose, and then came back
to impeach me for high crimes and miss
demeanors The disunion usurpers at
Washington, after secession and the re-
belliOn was over, Tebelled against the
constitution and republican liberty. AS
between Jefferson Davis and Charles
Sumner, l consider Sumner the greater
enemy to the constitution. The former,
though for secession, was still for a con.
stitutional government, while the latter
is for overthrowing the constitution and
establishing a despotism. Great ap-
plause
IhaVe an indictment against these en-
emies of the constitution. Iquote from
my address to the people Of the United
States, on retiring from office:
Let US turn for moment to the hiss
tory of the majority in Congress which
has acted in such utter disregard of the
constitution. While public attention has
been carefully and constantly turned to
the past and exposed sins Of the South,
the servants of the people in their high
place have boldly outraged tn cir trust
broken their oaths Of obedience, and un-
dermined the very foundations of lib
erty, justice and good government.
When the rebellion was being sup~
pressed by the volunteered services Of
patriotic soldiers amid the dangers of the
battlefield, these men crept without
question into place and power in the ma
tional councils. After all danger had
passed, when no armed foe remained
| when o penitent people bowed their
heads to the flag and renewed
their allegiance to the government of
the United States, then it was that
the pretended patriots appeared before
the nation and began to praise about the
thousands of lives and millions Of treas
ure sacrificed in suppression of the re-
bellion. They have since persistently
sought to inhame the prejudice engender-
ed between the sections, to retard the
restoration of peace and harmony, and
by every means to keep opened and exs