Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-11-22
CnMpIINIENTARN

We clip the following from the Mem
phis Appeal of the 10Th. We are no,
lacking in appreciation of the good, the
bad, or the Indifferent opinion of our
Democratic contemporaries and of the
Democratic people. 1t is probable that
in all emergencies we may go faster than
some would advise and slower than Others
wish. OF this, however, our friends
may rest assured: whenever we fail to
sdopt the proper policy for the occasion,
it will be the result of failure in judg-
ment, not in devotion TO principle.
The mastery ability with which that
sterling Democratic Journal, the Nashville
UNION AND AMERICAN, is conducted
challenges our wsrmest admiration. II
Yields ponderOus battle-ax, every bio w
of which tells with powerful force upon
disorganizers and the miserable party in
Tennessee that has so long opposed the
best interests Of the State. In the late
contest the UNION AND AMERICAN was not
governed by temporizing expediency,
dishonest policy, or timid waveriDg,
yacilating course, leading the public 10
doubt the sincerity of its professions of
friendship TO the cause il Ostensibly advo-
Gates. On the contrary it meant what il
said and said what it honestly believed,
without fear or favor. At one time we
thought Col. John G. Burch, the able
editor of the UNION AND AMERICAN, want
ing iD holiness, and characterized by a
prudence which amounted 10 imbccility.
But during The late canvass he boldly
threw himself into the breach, and with
voice and pen shly maintained the integrity
of the party organization and warred
upon RsdiCalism with remOrseless Sc
verify. The wise Ulysses, himOf Ithacs
we mean, said or rather Shakespeare,
still higher authority, said it for him:
"Blunt wedges rive hard knots" and il
requires just such "blunt wedges'as Burch
used prior to the late election TO shiver
the ''knOt" of Radicslisn, and 10 teach
boilers that the party they would betTay
desplses their treachery and defies their
puny arms. A Radical plunderer or q
Democratic apOstate care no more for the
tufts Of grass thrown into their faces than
the san cUIOttes cared for the blank car
tridges with which the 'BourbOns" tried
to brighten them. 1t was not until a
mighty revolution had tOppled over an
ancient dynasty and deluged a continent
in blood, that a slim artillery officer from
Corsica taught the world that il was best
in dispensing mob TO commence with
grape and canister, and afterward work
upon the teTrOTs Of the flying and de-
morslized masses of ruffians with the
empty sound and fury of gunpowder
alone. This is the "policy"
which should govern in politics
The plea that moral suasion can, at
all times, accomplish all that is desired,
is the sheerest bosh. In the blasting Of
q quarry pound of nitro glycerine is
worth hundred hammers. Kid-gloved
philosophy and milk and water protests
are werth nothing in demOlishing huge
wrongs. The poiiceman's truncheOn is
the only moral susSiOn TO apply 10 the
garroter when he clutches the throat; and
when despots and knayes are irsmpling
upon the Constitution and the liberties of
the people, when thieves are IObbing The
taxpayer of his hard earnings, and when
traitors in the camp are trying to sell out
their principles and their comrades, it is
no time for rhOdomontsde and namby-
PANTY ssntimentality. For years the
Democratic party has acted on the defen-
sive; but for the future IFS warfare must
be one of aggression. The in.amies of
Radicalism are piled mountain high.
Their atrocities are shameful, scandalous,
and long suffering people,
pleading for peace, begging for recOncilia-
lion, weary of strife and sick of misrule
and corruption, are determined to crush
the Jacobins who oppose future tlanquilli-
ty because they have heretofore fattened
aud prospered by hate and discord.