Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-03-20

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This Public pledge, that peace viii be main-
tanned, and the rights Of all can, ought, !
innst and shall be enforced at ali hazards,
and 10 thelast extremity.
7 Resolved, That these proceedings be
published in the city papers, and that
copies of the sase be Transmitted to Wash
ington, as the sense of this meeting
At the suggestion of the Committee on
Resolutions Mr.. Colyar read the following
petition and protest addressed to the Presi-
dent and Congress Of the United States
To the President Of the United States, and the
Congress of the United States:
The undersigned, citizens of the State
of Tennessee, under the provision of the
Constitution which secures to the people
the right peaceably to assemble and petit
ton the Government for redress of griev-
ances, by way of petition and remon-
STRANGE, would most respectfully petition
and ask the President of the United States,
and the Congress Of the United States-the
latter to desist from all attempts to organ
ize for us Military Government in place
of our Constitutional Government, and
the former as Ccmmander-in-Ch Chief of the |
Army, to protect us against any attempt |
to overthrow our State Government.
Petitioners most respectfully show that /
they are part of the people who make the |
State of Tennessee, and as such are keenly l
alive to the threatened danger from |
movement now being made by few mem
bers of Congress in reference to the State. |
The attempt to destroy our State Govern
ment by an enactment of Congress, and to
put Us under military rule, and call it re-
construction, is the establishment of des-
potisrn, and none the less so because done
BY Legislative enactment. 1t is more gen.
tie than if done by the sword but the loss
of liberty is precisely the same. Feeling
this threatened loss of liberty keenly, pc
titioners most respectfully pray a calm
hearing of their case; and they submit the
following facts:
Since 1876 Tennessee has been one of
the United States of America, with Con
stitution republican in form. In the war
of 1912, and IN the Indian wars of 1918
and 1886, and in the Mexican war, she per-
formed her part of the service with alac-
rity, and many of her sons sleep upon
| the field where the nations flag needed
| friends.
In the late war between the Government
and the States in rebellion, it is due to
| truth to state, that the people were di-
vided-divided upon their honest convic-
tons of duty, and like brave men, after
the war actually came, stood by their re-
spective convictions with their lives In
their hands until it closed. This was
natural consequence among people who
had been in the habit of thinking for
themselves and who occupied a border
territory.
But petitioners would further state, that
the people of Tennessee were, aleost to
man, united in their efforts to prevent this
war, as their vote in February, 1861, showed.
In this four years struggle Tennessee
was the grea. theater of strife, and from
one end to the other she was soldiers en-
campment Both armies occupied her ter
ritory, and what was land of plenty was
made the land of desolation. At the close
of the war; and after the soldiers IN the
Southern army, who survived the struggle,
had surrendered as prisoners of war, they
came home to empty storehouses, unculu-
waited fields and suffering families.
By the action of the State and the Fed
eral Government, the former relations be-
tween the two were at once restored, ard
for nearly five years these relations have
been undisturbed. The State has be0n all
this time fully represented in Congress, and
has had Governor, Legislature and full
Judiciary.
Petitioners do not deny the fact thai
masked men, in a few instances, have COM
mitted crime, nor do petitioners believe
that in all cases the civil officers have done
all that might have been done to prevent
crime but they pray that the whole peo
pie shall not be made to suffer, the severe
penalty of a loss OF liberty for this, and es-
pecially until officers elected by them shall
fail do their duty.
During the whole time since the war,
and up to the present time, the people
have not been and are not now response
BILE for The class of men holding the peace
Offices
The entire Judiciary, the Sheriffs and
Constables throughout the State were near
" all elected, and otherwise put in office,
under the most peculiar circumstances. A
Legislature which had no sympathy with
the people generally, excluded from the
baIlot-box about four-fifths of the white
men in the State They also conferredupon
the Governor discretion of setting aside
elections at his pleasure. And this state of
things continued until less than year ago.
The peace officers OF the State, who are re-
sponsible for the peace and good order of
the people, were put in Office while this
state of things lasted. The few men in the
State who were not extremists, and who
were entitled to vote under the law, were
nearly all excluded and denied registration
by partisan registrars.
Hence, for nearly four years, what was
called the ballot-box was a mere mode of
appointing partisan favorites to Office, and
the people had no voice. These appoin-
tees are still in Office all over the State, and
your petitioners earnestly appeal to Con-
gress, and ask that the people shall not be
held responsible for omissions of duty, If
they exist, OF men who are in no way the
agents or servants of the people.
By a late decision of the Supreme
Court of the State reversing the
action of the former Governor in
depriving persons (who were en-
titled to vote under the law of their GER
tifcates, about twenty thousand white men,
who had been kept from the ballot-box by
order OF tho Governor have been restored
to the right of suffrage. 4 very large num-
Der are still disfranchised, but petitioners
pray that no action shall be taken against
Tennessee until an election isheld in which
the white people, or some respectable por-
ton of them, have a voice in the selection
of peace officers, and until such peace
officers SO selected shall fail to do their
duty-fail to enforce the law in case of
crime.
Petitioners would further state that the
hope of reconstruction by establishing anil
itary government has SO encoUragedall that
class OF men who expect Office by the white
people being again DISTINGUISHED, that they
are quite willing to sec the Law violated
and the offenders go UNPUBLISHED. Fetl-
TONERS submit with confidence, that as
long as the enforcement of the laws IS in
| the hands of men whose interest and feel
ings are with those who are seeking to es-
tablish military government, the people
ought not to be punished for their omission
to execute the law.
! Petitioners further state that the accounts
| given of crime and lawlessness by the
! friends of military government, are so much
! exaggerated that they can scarcely he said
4 to contain any truth. A careful investiga-
| ton will show that the State of Tennessee,
| in all its history, has seldom been freer
! from crime than at present 1t is true that
the people during the time Gov. Brownlow
was Governor were so burdened with taxes
without any voice in fixing them, that many
of them became restless, and were hard to
control. They not only for several years
| felt the oppression of taxation without re-
/ presentation, but they saw their money
/ when paid squandered, and their State debt
! constantly increased, until it seemed the
! burden was more than they could bear. They
! saw the white men who were entitled to
vote by the law as it was passed, liter
/ ally driven from the registers Office, while
! they saw certificates put in the hands of
/ those who would use them for party pur-