Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-11-02
TO THE DEMOCRATIC VOTERS OF
TENNEgSRE

IN tennessee renders II the imperative
duty of the Democratic State Executive
Committee to communicate to the party.
such information and advice as may seem
necessary to attain the success of our party.
and through this the triumph of those
political principles which we deem essen
tial to the public welfare. We find the
Radical party of Tennessee thoroughly or
ganized, active, energetic and watehful.
1t has at its command to do its work in this
canvass thousands of yolunteers and seven
tenths Of the Federal officials who ore TO
be found in every county and in nearly
every civil district of the State. On the
other hand we fnd the Democratic marty
torn with dissensions and distracted about
personal issues as though the contest was
one of men instead Of a struggle for prin
ciple. We find ''independent'' candidates
and "bolters" in every Congressional dis
trict and in nearly every county, thus
endangering the success of the party
and bringing within the range of
reasonable probability, the election of
three or four Radical Congressman and
greatly jeopardizing Democratic major
ity in the Legislature. The result of the
recent elections in some of the Northern
States has largely increased the probability
of Grants reelection, and thus largely in
creased the necessity for a solid Democratic
delegation in the House of Representatives
| from Tennessee in order to prevent a
change in our government from Democratic
| Republicanism to Radical Consolidation
| and Capitalization. This change the
| Grant administration could easily and
would surely make, if we can judge the
| future by the past, if the Grant party
| should again have two thirds vote in the
| House of Representatives. The memory
of Radical rule in this State is too fresh
| in the minds of our people to require any
| argument toprove it's certain fatality both to
our material interests and our political
rights. In addition to other important
| legislation, the next Legislature will by an
act of the last session of Congress again
| lay off the State into Congressional dis
tricts so that we shall have ten Congress-
ional districts instead of nine as at present
The Radicals, who claim that they will,
through Democratic dissension, elect ma
jority Of the next Legislature, openly ayow
that if they succeed they will so district the
| State as to certainly give them five men,
bers of Congress for the next ten years.
! These are matters Of Federal and State
legislation too important ann too threaten
ing to be overlooked or disregsrded.
How shall these apprehended dangers be |
surely avoided? We know of but one plan |
which insures success: That is for the Dem |
| ocratic voters of the State, TO lay aside all |
personal preferences and prejudIces, 90 listen |
no longer to the discordant voices of those |
disorganiZers who for months past have |
been prOclaiming from the stump and the |
tripod that the great political need Of the
day is the disruption of the Democratic
party, and stand firmly in this hour of trfal
by the weil-established usages of the party
and vote for its nominees. The question is
not now whether this or that Democrat
would have made the better candidate, but
whether the nominated candidate is not
preferable to bis Radical opponent. We
have endeavored to obtain from reliable
sources in every county in the State ap.
prOximate estimates of the vote that will
be received by the various candidates now
before the people. From the information
thus obtained we give it as our sincere con
viction that there is not an sindependent"
candidate for Congress, not one, vino has
the remotest chance for election. We fur
Their give it as our earnest conviction that
the support of these independents" by a
respectable proportion of the Democratic
voters of the Stale will ensure the election
of from three TO five Radical members of
Congress-among them, that chief of the
tribe, he who for seven years has been the
most bitter, the most proscriptve, the most
vindictive, the most unrelenting enemy OF
a restoration to the Southern States and
Southern people of the rights and privileges
guaranteed to them by the Constitution of
the United States-Horace Maynard. Ben
d. /
have at some time shown some spirit of
reconciliation, exhibited some disposition
to forgive, manifested some indication of
returning lenency-Ho-ace Maynard never.
Whenever his single objection could pre-
vent the removal of political disabilities, he
has ever been present and prompt to make
it. After the elective franchise had been
restored TO the people of Tennessee; when
peace, quiet and fraternal feeling prevailed g.,
in this State, Mr.. Maynard, true to his hos
tiiity to the people Of Tennessee, went 10
the room of the Congressional Committee
on Reconstruction and privately placed in
the hands of its Chairman, B. +. Butler,
the following propositions to which he had
obtained the signatures of five of his col
leagues:
"FoRTY-FIRsT CONGRESS- OF THE UNITED SITS,
WASHINGTON CITY, ID. c., Feb. 10, 1870.
Hon. Il. F. BUTLER,
Chairman RecoRstruction Committee.
" As Representatives from the State of Ten |
nessee in the FOrty-FTst Congress, in behalf of |
ourselves and our constituents, we submit the |
following propositions and earnestly press their |
immediate consideration upon your committee:
81. We submit that the power DOW controlling ,
the State of Tennessee is wholly illegal and re-
evolutionary, brought about by fraud and VIC
lence in cOntTaventiOn of the constitution Of the
State as reOrganiZed by Congress. !
80. That the present State government of
Tennessee is wanting in the great and essential
requisite OF good government without which
peace and happiness are impossible, to-wit, the I
proper protection Of the property and the lives ;
of its citizens.
49, The State government of Tennessee as
now constituted and revOlutioniZed has never c
had any recognition by the Government of Inc :
United States, and we ask that Congress take
immediate steps TO provide for US government, {
republican in form, that will cOnduce to the
happiness or and welfare of all its people. ;
81. We ask that yeu supplement this work {
with act for the enforcement of the third sec
ton Of the fourteenth amendment to the Con- | [
stitutiOn Of the United States" c
W. B. STOKES,
W. F. PROssER, /
LEWIS TILLMAN, i
W. j. SMITH, /
HORACE MAYNARD.
Shall this man of political vile and pol :
tical guile be returned to Congress from the :
State at large by minority vote This :
must be determined by the Democratic :
7oters of Tennessee. If they divide their i
7otes on Cheatham and johnson, as they q
low seem disposed to do, it would be a
diocy to deny that Maynard will be elected. i,
majority of the Democracy of the State h
will cast their votes for Gen. Cheatham, O
he nominee of the Convention held after h
two months notice publicly given by the Y
State Executive Committee. But that 1
majority must be sufficiently large to J
secure the defeat of Mr.. Maynard We Il
will give it as our honest belief that Gen. a
jheatham's majority over Mr.. Johnson in b
Middle and West Tennessee will be greater a
lot only than Mr.. Johnson's majority over u
lin in East Tennessee, but will be greater t
han Mr. JohnsOn's entire vote in East Ten
lessee, even though he should get eUsry a
Democratic vote cast in that division of the il
jtate at the last election-16,2 61, which is el
impossible. That we do not speak at ran b
ON we repeat as we have before stated Ii
hat we have endeavored to obtain from p
eliable sources in every county of the b
,tate approximate estimates of the vote el
hat will be received by the various candi- o.
Iates now before the people. u
We have reports from seventy-two u