Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1874-06-20
DIR. B. M. PALMER.

This eminent man has resigned tn
charge of the first Presbyterian churc
! OF New Orleans, after a pastorate {
nearly twenty years. 1t is not our in
tention here, to ask for DIR. Palmer
generous welcome at the hands of th
people of Tennessee. 1t has bee
known for some time past that he ha
been offered the chancellorship of th
University at Clarksville, and it wa
regarded as certain that he would ac
cept it. This is a matter of conerat
ulation to our neighbor city and to tn
State, but it is at the same time pain
fully suggestive of the terrible press
ure that has been brought to bear apoI
the people of Louisiana. Many of tn,
years of DIR. Palmer's life have beer
spent in the metropolis of the South
He loved New Orleans and New Or.
leans loved him. His church was tC
the visitors of that city what The
Church of the Pilgrims is to the visi-
tors of New York. He had left his
native State, South Carolina, because
the field that spread out before him
was one of vast usefulness. AT the
time New Orleans was the most opulent
city of the New World. On any day
fifteen hundred vessels from abroad
could be counted at her wharves,
while the average now does not exceed
thirty. DIR. Palmer saw all this change,
but with singular fidelity he continued
to discharge his trust. Going about
doing good, comforting where he could
not cure, mitigating suffering wherahe
could not wholly relieve it, literally
sowing beside all waters, he sought to
stay the ruin of people that claimed
him as their truest and most devoted
leader. His children were born in
New Orleans and several of them are
buried there, and yet he finally quits
his old home andseeks another, higher
up in the great valley.
How did this come about and what
is the leson that it teaches the people
of Tennessee? Does any one suppose
that DR.. Palmer would have been per-
mitted to leave New Orleans if the
conviction had not been forced upon
her people, that their future was dark
and uncertain? In SO or 80 they
would have been able to offer induce
ments to any one whose services they
desired, that could not have been out
weighed by any city on the continent.
They might have done almost as much
for several years after the war, but
they are beaten and disheartened at
last. The men of Louisiana who in
other days made her known through
out the world have gone into exile, or
died broken-hearted. Benjamin is in
England, Slidell returned to France,
Soule is dead, and Warmoth, Pinch
beck. Durell and others of that ilk
vainly attempt to fill their places. The
old individuality of the State is gone,
and the exodus of her best people
grows greater day by day. 1t is thus
with all the States South and South
west of us. Men who adorned the
bench and bar of Arkansas and Mis-
sissippi, and who had been honored in
old days by these States, are scattered
all over the land. Pike and johnson
are at Washington. Elliott, Phelan
and Clapp removed to Memphis. Thus
it is, not only with professional men
but also with farmers and mechanics.
1t is not our present purpose to de-
plore this, or to ask how it came about.
Tennessee land especially West Ten
pessee) is the gamer by it apd we
merely inquire how it chances that
she is so, and how she can remain so.
The question is answered every day by
men summoned to act as jurors in our
circuit courts. There are seen fire.
quently at such times faces not familiar
to the bar. When their owners are
asked if they are freeholders or house
holders, they generally say that they are
householders. When asked if they
consider Tennessee as their home, they
say that they expect to make it their
permanent home if it suits them.
These men are nearly all substantial
farmers or handicraftsmen from the
States south of us. They have gath
cred up their household treasures
sold out their lands at one, two, three
or four dollars an acre, although the
same lands would have brought forty,
fifty or perhaps one hundred dollars
an acre twelve years ago, and fleeing
from intOlerable persecution and cru
cifying taxation, have rented homes
with US. How can such men be made
to grow into freeholders and thus be-
come permanent portion of our pop
ulation? They left their old homes
not because they did not love them, not
because our skies are brighter, but
because Tennessee is free, because she
is governed by white men. In the fig
ures showing the number of the in
habitants of Tennessee, they saw or
thought they saw security for the
future. They reasonably supposed
that where there were 100000 whites
and only about 350,000 blacks, Radi-
calism could never attain permanent
foothold. Shall we continue to gather
the richest spoil left from the over
throw of our sister States-shall Ten
1essee Continue safe asylum for her
neigbbo or shall we throw away the
opportunity that we now enjoy of be-
coming rich and powerful and prosper
GUS once more, apd soon? II we are
true 10 ourselves, if we are not misled
by demagogues who would have been
feEgiSsu long ago by generous people
Esf past binaders. and past feroclty
lille they had the power TO crafty it,
2 az had frankly confessed their
IN e will in a little while receive
.u,.s, .omsnSon y = AZ a,eeessions from abroad,
I1it;u II thnt - =. ,cessSry for us to do is to
Aii tnat Is 1T IN h, Eds the control of
ur own home all. irs. ms h.s;lS viii IN aap nnr
o the price of our .'ands, oulIu a1 JP 1IPbfnI our
owns and cities, and give b hI imI,n;os
impulse to all our gl> "at lnt. ..9 ";ned
he opposite result can De sn,iuJIu sn,Ia
lst as readily. Give the hshlc-Is
over, or let it look as if it ', 7ere pos
ible for them to eventually OBJ 9in -.
nd we will be no better off tnan
ur neighbors in a very little VIII de.
lien rule, looking to WashingtC I,
Dr. support and not to the people OF
he State, can ruin Tennessee for the
resent generation, as readily as 1t
as ruined Louisiana, Mississippi or
Irkansas.-JGckson Wing and Tn
lne.
The Rebel Forces.