Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-02-10
A SECRET CIRCULAR.
A Radical Trick.
Another Attempt to Keep up
the War Prejudices.

Iour years past nave grown great on lll-gct-
ten and worse used power. What do they
care for the public peace, the public pros
perity, the rights of the citizens, the great
principles of republican goVernment-if
they are to be excluded from the offices
of profit and honor9 They know that their
mad rule has lost them the confidence and
respect of the citizens of the State, whose
lives and fortunes depended upon the ad-
ministering of equal and exact justice
to all men. They know that
it was only through the most
unwarrantable and degrading proscrip-
ton that they obtained the power
which they so mercilessly exercised for
the four years succeeding the war They
know that it is only by the same unwar-
rantable and degrading prescription that
they can ever be restored to power. A
wretched and oppressed people, fraud and
corruption in high places, an empty
treasury and public disgrace marked the
period of their rule. In the hour of their
prosperity they were deaf to the voice of
Reason and Justice. In the hour of their
adversely they are deaf to the voice of
Truth. In the circular which we publish,
there are eight sentences in the first para
graph, and each one of those SEN
fences, except the one relative to their pa
pers, contains a statement which
every fair minded man in the State knows
to be palpably false. What ordinance of
the Convention or act of the Legislature
is there that proscribes any man, that
applies test to any man, that discrimin-
ates between any one man and any other
man in the State What act of violence
has been done to the person or property
of any loyal man. Let the men who
signed this infamous circular point to the
single, solitary instance, or stand forever
condemned before just and enlightened
public as slanderers of their felloW-citi-
zens. Do they refer to the five men who
were killed at Huntingdon for murder and
arson! Dothey refer to the two men who
were hung at Lebanon for horse steal |
ing and arson? We are not the defenders
of violence, but we wish to know if these
are the Union men to whom reference is
made If not, who are they2 Have
not these signers a better knowledge of |
the acts of the Convention and a better |
knowledge of the Fourteenth Amendment |
Of the Constitution of the United States |
than to boldly-nO, not boldly, it was Sc
cretly done-than to assert in any way,
that ''the Convention have determined to |
strike down the loyal Judiciary and |
fill their places with ex-Rebels by |
appointment Why have they not |
a paper to speak for them? Because
the present Legislature has repealed that
nefarioIs act of former Legislature |
which required that all legal advertise
ments should be published in these organs
of proscriptiOn, none of which, however,
could even then obtain general circula-
zion.
We give the signers of this circular the
benefit Of our circulation with great
pleasure. Read:
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF TENNESSEE:
NASHVILLE, Tenn, Jan. %, 1870
Sir: The situation of the loyal people of
Tennessee is alarming. Scarcely day or
night transpires without some act of VIC
lenCe to the persons or property of Union
men. A Legislature and a Convention |
are now in session, with full power over
the Constitution and laws, ready and will |
ing TO Cypress them by any conceivable |
measure that they dare to adopt. The
Legislature have already passed laws the
object of which is the oppression of both
the white and cOlOred Unionists. The |
Convention have determined to strike
down the loyal judiciary, and fill their
places with eX-Rebels by appointment.
To have been a Unionist during the war
has become a brand of disgrace and a
cause for denunciation, public and private.
We have no newspaper of general Circu-
lation to speak a word in our behalf. It |
has become common for newspapers,
VIII uubluSIluS duudCIlJ, 10 lay the |
crimes of their Ku-Klux friends to the
charge of innocent Republicans, and there
are none to correct the SANDER.
At an informal meeting of Republicans
at the Capitol, on the 9th instant, it was
determined that the undersigned should
address letter to leading Republicans in
different parts of the State, inviting them :
to come to Nashville on the 10th day of s
February, proximo, for the purpose of !
upon measures of protection l
and defence: among which a thorough re-
of the Republican party will 6
be proposed. We sincerely hope you will g
respond to this invitation, and that in view q
Of the common danger all dissension will c
be forgotten, and that all the Union men
in Tennessee will be consolidated into one
compact Republican party.
A. J. Fletcher, Geo. w. Blackburn,
John Trimble, J. H. Agee (Rep.), VIM.
Eckel Rep.) NJ L. Mcconnell Rep.), +
John Hundley Rep.), r. Snodderly, t
Rep, Henry Brown (Rep.), James o. j
w. T. Elliott, ID. w. Pea g
body, J. w. Baker (Rep.), w. R. Nc
Bath, rep }, j. NJ. Layman (Rep.) r. G. +
Tokm (Rep.), Fred. Slimp Rep.), F. S. C
'ingletary Rep.). S