Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-10-12
GOV. BROWNS INAUGURAL.


Gov. Brown, framed in spirit of liberali-
ty. The very large majority which he re-
ceived, and the comparative weakness of
the opposite party in this State, so far as
numbers is concerned, we supposed would
be sufficient grounds for him to buy all
partizan bitterness, and that his admins
tration might open with the exhibition of
a spirit of forbearance and liberality to-
wards that minority. But it seems that
we were very much mistaken. His Ian
guage as reported is such as to cause crimi-
nation and re-criminatiOn. If he supposes
that Republicans are going to stand quietly
and speechless under the unjust and ILL
beral attack he has made upon them, he
must have very poor opinion Of their
manhood.
The charge that the impoverished con-
dition of the people" is the work of a
meagre minority who extended suffrage
" as a venal consideration in exchange for
partisan, fealty," and that the "outrage
upon liberty" was perpetuated by
a military power, comes with an exceed
lngly bad grace from men who have occu-
pied so prominent q position in bring
ing about the impoverished condition Of
the State as has Gov Brown. We give
his language as follows:
The responsibility 1 am about assuming is
much enhanced by the financial embarrassment
of the State and the impoverished condition of
the people
The termination Of hoStilities found the civil
government of Tennessee in the hands of
meagre minority.
The ballot was denied to freemen Suffrage
was extended merely as q venal consideration in
exchange for partisan fealty, without regard to
the antecedents Of the voter. Military power,
at an enormous cost, perpetuated the outrage
upon liberty and hushed the popular voice.
The public debt, IN the short period of four
years, swelled from sixteen to forty-two millions
Of dollars.
Violent partisans, aided by a swarm of
nomadlc adventures, squandered the revenues
u1justly extorted from captive people; pros
trated our credit IN the money markets OF the
world, and inaugurated a carnival of crime I'M
heard of in the annals of the State for which
they, and not we, are responsible. The sceptre,
at length, passed from their hands and peace
again reigned over blighted country"
Now the charge that the impoverished
condition of the people is to be accounted
for wholly on Gov. Browns theory, is
what no man Of sense, whose mind is not
blinded by the lowest and darkest charac-
ter of political prejudice, can for one mo-
ment believe. Is there a man in the State,
whether he was q rebel or Union man who
saw the State plunged into a reckless and
causeless crusade against the Government,
under the lead of reckless, ambitious poll
ticians, that ever supposed the people
ga
other than an impoverished condition :
Will Gov. Brown admit his ignorance
of the plainest teachings Of common sense,
so far as to claim that he expected any
thing else? He will not. He knew that
the war would spread sorrow and dis
tress of the bitterest character all over cur
beautiful State. He knows that our fields
would be laid waste, our cities and towns
desolated, and that our young men and
old men would fall before the tide of war
like the leaves of autumn before the
Northern blasts. But in the face Of all
this, he engaged in the conflict and
encouraged others to do So The
result is what every man of intel
1igence expected. The people were
impoverished. When the State Govern
ment was recognized under Gov. Brown
low, the people were on the very verge of
famine, Previous to that time thousands
of them suffered for the necessaries Of life,
and but for the timely aid of the Federal
Government and of charitable societies at
the North, starvation would have resulted
in scores of instances. These are facts.
Though Gov. Brown, and men of his class
may find it convenient to forget them,
they are facts still.
And while such state of affairs APP
preached the people of the State at rapid
pace, from the beginning of the war, what
did Gov. Brown and his folks do to avert
it? Simply nothing. They added fuel to
the flames. They eXerted themselves with
all the energy they possessed to bring it
about. They invested the funds of the
State in worthless Confederate bonds.
They wasted the peoples money with
reckless, lavish hand. They stole the as
sets of our State bank, They fled before
the Union forces, and removed what they
could of the assets to neighboring States,
anu IHOuSdlldo u pun CAOuStuuo "SIS uSHSl
heard of, and never will be. They flooded
the country with issues of the State Bank
contrary to law, and every little one-horse
bank that wished to, issued thousands of
"shinplasters that were not worth the
paper they were printed on. 1t took as
much of the vile stuff to buy a bushel
of salt or a few pounds of coffee,
as it would of greenbacks to pur-
chase a horse. That was when the
people were impoverished, as they were
never impoverished before, and as they
have not been since, and we pray God
may never again be in the future. And
vet Gov. Brown has the ternerity to charge
II. A., a;,,,,,o,,or;ebad condition of the