Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-06-02
The Conservative influence OF
the Great Body Of the Tax
Payers indispensable
I'm O Government.
From the Cincinnati Gazette. May %.


see no signs of wholesome popu-
lar sentiment-of a capable, indie
pendent, self-reliant people, such as
exercise moral control over their
representatives and leaders; we see
nothing but helpless mass and the
strife of a few reckless leaders, de-
termined to rule or ruin. Nor does
it present even this alternative, for
the escape from ruin is by no means
guaranteed by their rule.
Tennessee is suffering from the
inevitable consequences of irrespon-
sible governmental government
which ostracises the great body of
the tax payers, and of that intelli-
gent class which naturally makes
up the controlling public sentiment.
In her experience we realize the
truth of declarations made by Gov.
Andrews; of Massachusetts, and of
Henry Ward Beeeher, for which
they were much denounced at the
time, to the effect that we cannot set
up safe government in the South
by excluding the property holders
and the natural leaders Of society.
1t was supposed to be very simple
and easy thing to do, and that we
had only to enfranchise the mass of
blacks just set loose from the long
night Of bondage, and to disfran-
chise the former governing element,
and we shOuld have loyal State gov
ernments. We hope our readers
will bear witness that we never ad-
vocated such a plan, and that we
always held that until the people
of the Southern States could be
trusted the United States should
govern them; not by arbitrary mil
itary power, but by law.
We have seen full trial of this
system of establishing loyal gov
eminent in Tennessee, and it has
become a question whether such
loyalty is not exhaustive to the
State, and whether, we may not
have to relax the loyal rigidity in
order to save the State from ruin.
In general the Radical rule has
been marked by prOfigacy in both
State and municipal government,
as is shown by the great increase in
State and municipal debts, besides
the great floating debts which they
are carrying along at ruinOus rates
of interest. In this we realize the
evil of DISTINGUISHING the great
body of taxpayers, and thus losing
their conservative influence in pub
lie affairs. And this is aggravated
by an agrarian spirit which takes
possession when they who are hos.
tile to the property class have con
troll of government, who are apt to
regard every burden they add to
property as SO much toward its
equal distribution, and towards Sc
curing their share. And in this
case there is the feeling that these
burdens are in the line of retribu~
ton upon the property class for
their disloyalty in the civil war.
1t will not be denied that the
political situation in Tennessee is
working serious injury to the ma
terial interests Of the State, not only
in the public finances, but vastly
more in the baleful effect of politi-
cal disorder upon the general pros
perity and upon the growth OF pri-
vate enterprise and upon all the
material interests to which public
tranquility is the first requisite.
| We believe that there is a general
conviction of this in the minds of
the Republicans of Tennessee and
of the necessity for political
change. And we believe that it is
their general conviction that the
Acknowledgement of the late Rebel
class ought to be removed, and
that they are only prevented from
| giving effect to this conviction by
the fear of the party leaders that
they will lose their places if the
acknowledgements is removed. And
this motive finds great power in the
fierce intolerance which the dis
turbed conditions have brought into
parties into Tennessee, and which
is very much according to the ma
ture Of her people; which holds a
terror over any who show signs of
making concessions to the enemy,
and visits upon them the fierce
spirit and hateful epithets gener-
ated by long civil war. ..0-
A large portion of the Republi-'
cans of Tennessee are now realiz-
ing the liability of engines invented
for extraordinary cases to be turned.
against the inventors, and they seem.
to need the restoration Of the dis
franchised class to secure their own.
| political rights. The extraordinary
control over the elections, which.
was placed in the hands of the Gov.
ernor to protect the State against
the vote of the Rebel class, has given
| that officer an engine for perpetu-
ating his own power, whose evils
the Republicans now realize. 1t
seems to have been q reliance on
this which led the faction which
supports Governor Senter to play
the game of disorder, confident that
Governor Senter has the power to
secure his own election, whether
regularly nominated or not; and
therefore that they would gain by
preventing the convention from
acting, and would lose nothing
by breaking it up with disorder.
The situation, as it appears to US i,
is that Mr.. Stokes has the support
Of the preponderance of the sub
stantial sentiment and numbers OF
the Republican party On the 9th
er hand, Gov. Senter has possession
Of the government, and the aid Of
! all the interests which that can
gather around it; he has extraor-