Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-04-12
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tween man and man, yearning for that pro-
FOUNDER reform which shall replace competi-
lions by cooperation, and resisting with
great weight of unanimity those aggressive
spoliations which under every ingenious
pretext are crushing ont the free life of the
American people, instilling an inordinate
greed for Office, and making each to de
mand that somehow he shall be supported
by somebody else.
In other aspects the conduct ef affairs
curing later years is not altogether inviting
10 Republicans, who feel some responsible
W 1or what transpireS. Abroad, the repute
VI the nation has not been sustained, our
| diplomacy has been frequently scandaliZed,
tne OLD friendships with nearly every for
el9n power have been chilled, and the gray
est complications have been hastily appealed
70 an arbitration, where the very pTelimina-
RES seem yet to be involved in dispute. |
Our commercial marine is
Swept From the ocean,
soon to be driven likewise from the lakes |
ana after having few years since closed a |
thousand miles Of sea coast against the |
blockade runners of the world, we are now
taunted by Spanish officials with inability |
70 defend the harbor Of a single principal
CITY, Sinister objects, selfish scheming.
Womanly intrgues, personal antipathies
master the Department of State, and lassi-
tude feebly initiates courage. Thus it hap
pens that whilst the patriotism of Cuba
without protest is being stamped oHt in
blood, the vaunted monroe doctrine
Pebbles Down
to projected land steal at San Domingo.
Another subject that has never ceased to
claim absorbing interest has been the rela-
ton sustained by the government to the
emanciPated race. Proud of the achieve
ment of having liberated three millions of
human beings, Republicans have felt So
licitous to see them so
Incorporated
with the communities in which they dwell,
chat their newly acquired citizenship should
work no disturbance and incite no umbrage.
Resuming suspended labor, mingling in To-
cal concerns, giving to the cause of good
government free support, attached to
different parties as individual judgment
might determine, it was recognized that
the rights of the cOlored race would be res
pected by all aud that question pass finally
out of politics. Its safety would lie in
division of its suffrage, its division would
come from being.
Let Alone.
But it may be well asked, has such con-
sideration for the welfare of the freedmen
obtained with those in power? Has not
policy the very reverse been pursued with
regard to them, has not an active partisan
ship been demanded of them, has not their
vote been welded, absolutely as a unit, and
has not the result of all this been prOtracted
alienation, disreputable government, and
endangered liberties The external control,
which by teaching political dependence,
uses race thus emancipated as a threat
and means of dominating the suffrage of
all opposed to its continuance in power,
substantially puts the achievements Of the
war at the peril of single Presidential
campaign. 1t thus does, in its own person
that very thing which constitute its gravest .
charge against former adversaries, and does
it from purely selfish considerations. 1t re-
CARDS the colOred vote as
An Appanage Won by Force.
to be only administered in a spirit of force,
and to be taught to rely upon external force
for maintenance. Must they not, however, a
be protected, you ask, against outrage and Il
crime, in person and in rights? l answer
yes-a thousand times yes. But is mill
tary terrorism that only or best protection?
Does all our civilization and genius of gov
eminent embody itself at last in a squadron
Of dragons? Has the plying shuttle of tt
civil law, carrying its many colored threads,
and weaving beautiful patterns Of order for
society, lost all its cunning? Protection
Yes, say protection to them as others,
whether in Missouri or New York, but let
hat protection come of agencies and admin
stratiOns powerful by virtue of the conf
1eace they inspire,and repressive of wrong
lIos.
Civil Service Reform
has been most largely demanded by the
and enlightened voice of pub
ic opinion. The press, that reflects so tru- n
Y, with all its partisan bias, the general u
public thought, has been a unit in denounc- q
ng the present modes of appointment, and Il
,alling for methods of Intervention that 4
would lift the offering of the departments
above the much reprobated spoils system. st
How far has its voice been listened to, or lie
'eform been a success? A feeble attempt,
never earnestly prosecuted, has lapsed un- W
Ter the exigency of campaign purposes, 10
md the very appropriations to that end are 2:
Ioted down by a Republican Congress and Ii,
denounced in a Republican Senate. A per-
onal wTangle, instigsted by the administra- cl
ion, as to who made the largest number Of o
is the miserable fiasco to
he whole proceeding. "
But l detain you by enumeration Of u.
auses which have alienated so many Re- q
,ublicans. They feel like the HindoOs, who "a
hiding that their idols though ever so 81
much prayed to, would not abate the
Hague, started inquiry and discovered them n
II to have been manufactured at Manches-
er. You know that the criticism is a true o.
me in all its parts, as true as that the French d
we're supplied with ammunition at Spring o.
ield or that Leet was gazetted as general tn
rider upon the Customs. When the great
eader Of the educational interests of New du
England, Mr.. WOOlsy; when the first Jour- ma
lalst of the Republican organization in the %
East, MI. Greeley; when that brilliant or %
lament Of the legal profession Of the CO
Vest, Mr.. StallO when an Adams of Mas It
achusetts, Clay of Kentucky, a Curtin %
f Pennsylvania, Grimes of Iowa, now, u
las dead, and may the good angel all
cater flowers upon his grave; when so
many others illustTio1S for purity, talent uD
nd culture, draw like conclusions, then
nay you rest sure that your Judgment is
ot morbidly biased.
There is one controlling fact yet of great of
IMPORT that must not be lost sight of at this rel
mctuIe. 1t is that no established belief
an be supplanted by
Nero DenuncietiOm. 10
10 matter how great may have been the
Lults of an administration, OstensiOly in
lie name of RePublicanism, you will not
Icceed except by presenting something
her and better than it to the confidence of
le people. To you, as Republicans by pa
it is very vital consideration,
neither you will persist in recognizing no Gle
rong in all that is complained Of-or will
1u acknowledge responsibility growing G.
1t of the conduct of the government for 12t
} many years. Will you leave these evils
breed a. other
Great Revision of Parties sid
lat shall carry the thought Of the country
to that other extreme of hostility which in
ay undo all the work of your hands, or lea
i'll you with courage and fOrethought apply
e corrective, disregard the discipline, and
We the nation?
In speaking so pointedly to you, mean
, disrespect to that great body of public /
ntiment which, under other forms and ply