Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-02-20
RAxTER,s CIRCuLAR

OuSlg ASSUSO O Said " tuc SOp4o u 1cu-
nessee," signed jointly by himself and Judge
Thos. A. r. Nelson. 1t is as follows:
To the People of Tennessee:
The perilOus condition of public affairs
demands your deliberate and unpreiudiced
attention. Official frauds and thefts, which
would once have startled the American
! people, have become of such frequent oc-
| currence that they scarcely awaken a mo-
ment's attention. Corruption prospers,
| while public virtue decays! Two great par
! ties are rivaling each other in their struggle
| for the ascendency. Each is extreme in
| its principles and preiudices, and hence,
neither is capable of restoring public tran
| quillity. Both are striving for power, and
when obtained, neither has shown itself dis
posed to WELD it iudiciously OF constitutions
! aly. The history of neither entities it to
! public confidence or support. Disregard of
| the stitution-indifferenc to public
rights and interests profigate and cor
rupt use of the public funds-the occupa-
! ton of high official stations by unprineipled
men, are all evils which call loudly for re-
| dress and reform. Distinguished men of
! the Republican and of the Democratic par
! ty have become alarmed in view of the dan
gers which threaten us, and have asked the
patriotic men Of all parties, to meet them in
convention in Cincinnati, Ohio. In order
to signify to them our appreciation of their
efforts TO reform official abuses, restore
| power and efficiency to the Constitution
peace, purity and prosperity to the Govern
ment, it is proposed to hold a CONVEN-
| TON at --, on next, for
the purpose of appointing delegates to the
| Cincinnati Convention. We invite every
one who feels personally interested in the
meeting, no matter what may be his rank
or condition in life, or his former party af-
| fnities or associations. ISimatures.1
SIR: A disorganization of the Demo
| cratic party is essential to the defeat of the
Radicals. Democracy for some years has
simply served, in a national point Of view,
to keep the Radicals united. Let us, there
fore, like sensible men, take a new depar-
! ture, and if we cannot get all we want, Sc
cure the next best thing attsinable. If you
| concur, get all the signatures you can in the
next ten days and return. The call can
| then be published, naming the time and
place for holding the convention.
Respectfully, THos. A. r. NELSON,
JNo. BAXTER.
Judge Nelson is well known to the people
of Tennessee as gentleman Of great
purity of character and peculiar political
idiosyncracies. He mingles the Judge and
the orator with the poet. In fact he mixes
things generally. The ante-bellum citizens
of Tennessee will remember him as the
author of 'sKIEG CAUCUS, OR EAST
TENNEssEE's LAMENT" I" a regular built
Epic, with beginning, a middle and an
end, written during the progress Of various
meetings held in Nashville" in the fall of
1851, the result of which was the
election of Gov. James c. Jones,
and the defeat Of the author, T. A. R.
Nelson for the United States Senate. This
poem was written and circulated by then
Mr.. now Judge Nelson, as "a Vision of
Judgment" The hit at Gen. Zollicoffer
therein will never be forgotten by his
friends. "The tall and stately Netherland''
was excoriated, denounced as
''The criminal from Hawkins county
True 20 his instinct took the bounty"
Jordan Stokes is brought forward
'With nose as sharp and as keen
As If goblin: damned he'd seen"
But those who wish to read this epic
and hear what the writer elad to say of
Foster, Jones, Milton Brown, Netherland,
Henry and himself, all candidates for the
United States Senate, must consult the
chronicles of November, 1861.
John Baxter, the other sgner of this
! somewhat remarkable document, though
not better known is now more generally
known to the people of Tennessee than
Judge Nelson. Though he did nothing for
either side during the late war, he was
suspected by both. Like the ancient
Eschines, he watches for the moment
when in his opinion some reverse of for
tune has befallen the people or anything
untoward has happened. At such a crisis
he rises up an instructor of the whole State.
He writes with sprawling pen, or springs
up an orator, rising from his retreat like
wind. In full voice, with words and phrases
collected, he rolls them out audibly aid
bre athlessly, to no advantage or good pur-
pose whatever, but to the detriment of
some OF other Of his fellow citizens, and to
the general disgrace. But to the address of
this unfortunately yoked and Unmatched
pair:
1t is an assault upon both the Democratic
and Radical party, as unmeasured and Bit
ter against the one as the other. No line of
demarcation is drawn, no discrimination is
made between the two; each is as foul as
Vulcan's smithy; neither better than the
other. This is the temper in which this cir
cular is written. This is the feeling which
is manifested, aye, emphatically expressed
toward both parties, without a word of pre-
ference for either. The only positive point
urged is for ga Reorganization of the Dem
ocratic party" Messrs. Nelson & Baxter: the
Democracy of Tennessee know you, they
respect the former for his simplicity, and
despise the latter for his contumacious
treachery Of friend and foe.
You state in your circular:
DlSLlLlSuiSLlCu lllcu VI Iuo h6puUllCdu
and Of the Democratic party have become
alarmed in view of the dangers which
threaten us and have asked the patriotic
men of all parties to meet them in conven-
ton in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Judge Nelson, your co-signer, Baxter,
knew this was false when he put his fist to
it. The resolutions of the Jefferson City,
Missouri, Convention upon which you base
your action, says:
Resolved. That we, the Liberal RepubL-
cans of Missouri, faithful now as we were
in the dark days ofcivil war, to the vital
principles Of true Republicanism, etc.
The last resolution concludes:
We therefore fhvite all Republicans, who
desire the reforms herein set forth, to meet
In National Mass Convention at the city of
Cincinnati, on the first Wednesday of May
next at II NJ, there to take such action as
our convictions Of duty and the public ext |
gency may require.
Baxter knew that there was not D emo
graf in that JafTarsOn Citv Conventior