Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1874-08-19
THE VOICE OF REASON FRoMA "wH1G. d"

A correspondent of the Banner, over
the signature of Whig," gives rea.
sons why he can not conscientiously
act with the Democratic party. He is
willing to unite with the Democracy
in a State election, he says, he "could
see good results, but he has too reasons
for not doing so.' One of these he
states as being the effort on the part of
Democrats TO make the party u white
mans party" He says;
A white mans party in the South,
with its legitimate results-a black
mans party-and victory to the stron
ger, insures the passage of the Civil
Rights Bill in its worst form, because
it creates "A necessity in the minds Of
all classes at the North.
When all the white people of the
State were against the Civil Rights
Bill the Republicans doing much more
to defeat it than Democrats could do
to make race issue in county cleo
tons, by chasing all who did not yield
obedience to party dictation with ne
grOes, i'm opposition to the in
NtlNSAo vi AlO " hlhO BOoBlCf phN
by appealing to the passions
of men with pictures and transpaien-
cies, and by keeping before the public
the individual utterances of raving ne.
groes, was simpya crime, and if blood
flows from it, | do not intend to be
responsible even by being identified
with the party whose leaders cruelty
made the issue to escape their own re-
cent misdeeds.
If the men who howl for q white
mans party in Tennessee are in earnest
about fighting the Civil Rights Bill,
the Old Line Wings, with that courage
which always chaTacteriZes prudence
and conservatism, will join them in
putting forth our best talent to remon-
strate at the bar of Congress, then face
| to face with the President of the United
States, then before the Supreme Court
of the United States, and if neces airy,
in an address to the whole people of
the North.
| But in a race for county offices to de-
| liberately array the two races, with the
| imminent danger to the peace and
/ labor of the country, which any intel
| ligent man was obliged to see in the
near future, merely To escape tinan-
cial issues which were troublesome to
/ the party, is line of conduct which
| can not find ready response among
| the remnant of Wings left in the
| State.
| To join the Democratic party now is
| to unite in this movement for white
mans party.
We see in this statement much of
that conservatism and good sense
which characterized the glorious old
Wing party in its palmiest days. 1t is
said that the Wing party is dead and
buried. This may be true, but there
are thousands of the best men in the
country whose eyes grow brighter, and
whose hearts beat quicker when they
think of its history. It's glorious
memories are enshrined in their very
nature, and though it be dead it liveth
still. And when trouble comes upon
us as it has in the past, this element, if
left to itself is always on the side of
peace. If Republicans progress too
rapidly and act unwisely, as they have
in the matter of the Civil Rights Bill,
this element says kindly but firmly,
stop and think. When the Democrats
would get up trace issue" and pre-
cipitate bloodshed by collision be.
tween whites and negroes, it says, thus
far shalt thou 60 and no farther.
There is something in the extract
above that is calculated to cheer
the hearts of all who sincerely
desire the prosperity of our common
wealth. The writer, in no unmistak-
able terms, condemns the policy OF
arraying the races against each other
in contest for county offices, the OBJ
ject Of those who do it, being to dis
tract the public mind, and to shield
from public indignation those whose
official acts so certainly condemn them.
Unless this old Wing element comes
to the front, the prospect for the future
is dark. 1t is morally certain that nc
State in the Union, and especially ouI
own, can escape ruin if its financial
affairs are to be managed by incompo'
tent, corrupt, Office trading politicians
like some we have at Nashville, and
if under cover of the Civil Rights
Bill they can maintain their power
they will do it.