Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-10-15

Meeting at Che Courthouse Las
Night

neid In the courthouse last evening, Mr.. |
Frank Reid in the chair. Less than seventy |
persons were present In the room during the
evening, and Of these about forty-five were
inside the bar as members of the organi-
zation
Mr.. Reid opened the meeting with long
speech, in which he set forth the views of
the Association. He said it must be apparent
to every observer of the times that there
was remarkable apathy on the part of the
people towards political matters. This apa-
thy seemed to penetrate in all directions.
1t reached business channels and they be-
came sluggish. Young men were leaving
this section of the country and going West
to better their fortunes. The cause of this
lay in the fact that the people of this sec
| ton of the country did not fully appreciate
the missions of the great American govern
ment. They were not as thoroughly i'm
bued with that faith in its purposes as their
brethren of the Northwest. If the people
| of this section could once appre-
ciate the fact that the American flag
was their flag and the symbol of freedom,
and that they owed it hearty loyalty and adj
herence, the shlggishness in business as well
as in politics would cease to exist. 1t was
/ the recognition of this fact that was the
secret of Republican successes ever since
| 1860. The people of the Northern States
| lad reason to distrlISt the tone of sentiment
prevailing at the South. They thought it
was unsafe to trust an equal share of the
administration of the government, who
| lately had been in arms against it,
and who since that time had not dis
played such loyalty to the American flag
as should entitle them to share
in the administration. If fraternal feelings
| could prevail throughout the land, men of
all nationalities would flock to the South
and restore her to prosperity and power.
| II was the intention of this Association to
promote concord among the people, but not
to sever the party connections of any who
might join it. They still remained Demo
Gratis, Conservatives and Wings as they had
always been previously. In this work they
would perseye es regardless of theattacks of
partisans whether Democratic or Republ-
can.
Gen. Nancy was called on to address the
meeting. He appealed to his hear
ers to bury the past, and accepting
! the government of their necessity, to try to
make it the best government they could.
He avowed his hearty sympathy with the
movement which had been set on foot by
the Reform association, and gave his name
and whatever influence he possessed to its
support.
Col. Thruston said he had lived some
seven years in Tennessee, and his expert
ence had taught him that there was no ma
! terial difference between the men of the
| North and the men of the South. Still,
| there was restraint between them and
lack of the cordial sympathy which
| should exist. He began to see signs of
progress, however, and when the platform
| of this new association was announced he
at once accepted it as basis on which all
could unite. 1t only needed its general
adoption throughout the South to inaugul-
rate an era of prosperity in every one of the
now suffering States. He hoped the Re-
publicans of Tennessee would adopt this
| platform, for it was broad and liberal. 1t
| was high time that sectional lines should be
broken down, and that concord and frater-
nal feelings should prevail among the people
| throughout the nation.
| Col Colyar said he was sure that every
| intelligent man would appreciate the eff
! fort which was being made by this organi-
cation to bring the people of this country
| together. The meeting had been called to-
gether in order that the public might hear
| for themselves, rather than take the version
of few partisan newspapers in the State,
the object of this association. He desired
| first to call attention to the fact that the
Knoxville Chronicle, an extreme Radical
paper, at one end of the State, and the
Memphis appeal, an extreme Democratic
organ at the other end, commented favora-
bly, on the platform of the association.
The one claimed it as sound
Republican doctrine, the other as pure
| Democracy, but each opposed the move
| ment because it feared that it would tend to
break up the party. Did not this fact sug-
| gest that there might be some good in the
movement? One idea of his in joining it
was that he had long believed that even in
| parties a private member had right to
| think for himself. He knew that it had
not been the case to a very great extent,
and his object in joining the Association
was to cultivate that idea. He might illus
trate his meaning by referring to the pro-
! ceedings at the echanics' Mmeeting on Fri
day night. 1t had been reported that there
was going to be vacancy in the Legisla-
| ture, through the resignation of MIR. Taylor.
! 1t turned out, however, not to be so.
| There was most respectable attendance at
| the meeting and by some means that he
could not account for, they saw proper to
| declare that if the expected vacancy should
| occur, he Col Colyar) would be their
choice as representative Sf Davidson county
| in the Legislature. He simply desired to
! illustrate what he meant. The paper in
| this city that claimed to be the organ of the
| Democratic party at once said ''yOu must
/ not do that-yOu must not recommend
| ANYBODY to run for the Legislature without
| consulting u.s. He proposed to in
| iuire which was the biggest end of
! the DemOcracy-John c. Burch, editor
of the UNIOS AND AMERICAN,
or the Democrats who were present at the
meeting on Friday night. 1t was not
| Democratic meeting, but made up of men
Ofan parties; men who had, perhaps, ex-
! IRENE views, and men of liberal views.
| They saw proper to declare him (Col. Col
yar) to he their choice, and John c. Burch,
| editor of the UNION AND AMERICAN, at
once exclaimed: "You must not do that
/ | tell YOU it won't do! You must consult
/ me You must not undertake to speak or
act without consulting me! !" 1t was
! Just this sort of party dictation that
| he proposed to reform, and he would
say that he was as good a Democrat as
! John G. BurCh, the editor of the UNION
| AND AMERICAN, and would say and do ex-
| actly as he pleased without consulting the
wishes of any newspaper. lr was this
sort of tyranny that he proposed to combat.
! The fact of the matter was, the UNION
! AND AMERICAN was afraid that somebody
would speak out and tell the people of the
| country what should be done. He proposed
! to do so, and Mr.. Burch could not read him
out of the party. He would say plainly that if
| Mr.. TaylOr's withdrawal of bis resignation
was an attempt to choke off the discussion of
| this question, it would not do. 1t was to
be discussed and must be discussed He
| (Col. Colyar) would say further that it was
| his opinion that the Democratic party
should not run any candidate for Presi-
| dent at the next election. He believed it
was the right policy, and if there was no
other person on the American continent to
say so, he would himself, for it was the only
way to bring relief to this country.
| Col. Colyar concluded by referring to
and discussing national politics, alluding to
the effect which the utterances Of Davis and
Stevens had had upon the political prosperity
/ of the South.
UndeIIVered Dispatches.
The following messages remained over
night in the Southern Pacific and Atlantic
! Telegraph office:
| McCrea Marry & Co: Rebecca MaSSen-