Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-10-10

| my political orthodoxy. While l do not
aspir., as he intimates, to be leader Of
that patty, nor pretend to be its standard,
| yet do hold to its faith, abide its nomina-
tons and support its platforms. Whether
the platforms are sound, l will not now
pause to consider. Whether they are
''fixed up by little conventions, or are
''elastic," they are the expressed political
faith Of the people and not the ipSe Dirt
Of any self-constituted public mentor.
Not content with this, he charges that
am secretly candidate for the United
States Senate. Why should conceal the
fact if were a candidate? But if chose
to be one, what law or rule of propriety
would violate? Offices of honor, profit
or trust, in this country are free, and every
citizen has the right to aspire to
them, and whether he publicly avows
his claims and parades his own mer-
its before the country, or quietly abides his
time in the course of events, is mere mat
ter Of taste, Of which every citizen must be
his own Judge. Mr.. johnson has no
authority to state that | am a candidate.
He has no proof upon which to base his
assertion am.
NOT A CANDIDATE.
When that body which is clothed with the
sole power to fill the vacancy in that high
office is elected, will have the privilege Of
presenting or Withholding my claims for its
consideration. This right do not propose
to surrender or compromise. l do not
question the right of other gentlemen to
pursue a different course. Mr.. johnson,
however, cannot, by the unwarranted at
tacks already made, or by repetitions of
them in the future, induce me to swerve
from purpose deliberately formed TO alb
stain from all participation in the canvass
| is he making. 1t does not accord with my
view of propriety. The Senatorship is a
position any Tennesseean may covet, and of
which any citizen may feel proud, if con-
ferTed upon him as a mark of merit, but if
to receive it l must ride over the reputation
of my fellow-man, the victim of my own
malicious ISLANDERS, or the honor of my
State or nation brought to disgrace for my
personal benefit, l shrink from, and must
decline, the revolving terms of purchase.
THAT PARDON.
Another remarkable paragraph in this
most remarkable speech of the ex-President
claims my notice:
"As early as Jan. 10, 1867, John G. Brown
received direct pardon from my hands,
and with that pardon in his pocket, he
Seeks my destruction. If this man is the
candidate of the UNION AND AMERICAN,
say let it speak out, that the people may
know il. So far as | am concerned,
would not be Senator f had to buy the
place BY intrigue and fraud. [Applause. I
Thank God, have learned that the differ
ence between a competency and more than
a competency is too small for me to throw
aside my character as an honest man TO
secure it."
What is meant by this strange associa-
ton, am at a loss to determine. Its Oh
seurity is, perhaps, studied. If he means
to imply that have procured, or proposed
to secure my Office by improper means, or
that | have resorted to, or will resort TO
unfair devices for his obstruction" or his
defeat, have only to say that the charge
is untrue, andthe SANDER is defiantly hurled
in the teeth of him who conceived and gave
il utteTance.
HIS PULASKI SPEECH.
Still he is not happy. He arraigns me
for advising my own people to elect State
Senators and Representatives with refer
ence alone to their fitness TO legislate for
the honor of the State and not because Of a
desire to elect any particular man to the
United States Senate.
1 deliberately gave that advice to the
people of my own county, and l am anx-
iOus that not only those people, but every
county in the State may follow it. If you
elect men to the General Assembly to
whom you are willing to confide to man
the delicate duty of legislating upon ques-
tions involving your lives, liberties and
property, the security and protection Of
your wives and little ones, certainly you
can entrlist him with the less important
duty of choosing a Senator IT, Congress,
without C mmitting him in advance to any
particular individual.
If the Senatorial question is to be the
all-absorbing theme of this canvass; if that
is to be the watchword and battle-cry; then
you may expect Independents and Radi-
Gals TO cheat MS Of our legitimate majority
in the General Assembly.
THE "CITY HOTEL CoNCLAvE."
He charges me with having contributed
to the defeat Of his Senatorial aspirations
in 1869. Suppose did? Has it come to
this, that an American citizen cannot de-
cline giving his support TO another for Of
fee without being hunted down and hav-
ing his motives iDpugned? Do offices in
this country belong to men, so they can
have the right to demand them? Is any
one man, Saul-like, head and shoulders
above his fellows? Has any man divine
right to be United States Senator because he
has once held it, and because he has held
every Office in the gift of his State? Ny
offence, however, seems to grow out of the
fact that had in my pocket, one of the ex-
Presidents pardons, which had been given
grudgingly after eighteen months delay,
while they had been freely dispensed to
thousands who had contributed to prOduc-
ing the war, bat who had not encountered its
dangers. My sins, if there were any, did
not consist in cOnspinng against the gov
eminent, for l was not a politician and
held no place. L only responded to the call
of my State that had given me birth, when
she was forced from her chosen position
of neutrality, by requisitiOn upon her for
troops to coerce sister States from their de-
clared position of independence.
This aside, 1 have yet to learn that the
exercise of executive clemency chains its
subject to the chariot wheels Of the official
who dispenses it, for all time to come. 1t
is a high constitutional prerogative, lodged
with the Chief Magistrate TO prevent the
punishment of innocent men, and for the
protection of such as are only technically,
and not morally, guilty Of crime. If the
President exercised this high prerogative in
accordance with the intent of the COnsti-
tuition, it was only an official duty that
created no ALLEGIANCE to him, but if it was
proStituted to personal services and as a
personal favor, then the President violated
his duty and showed himself unworthy the
trust and confidence reposed in him. Zap
plause.l
WHATS IN A DREAM?
A private letter printed in the Boston
,-nlntns Tho fnllc.IL.iInrr nIrinIls