Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-09-25
AN INTERNAL FIREBRAND.
Election I'm Tenn eaaee--a he ID mo-
Gratis Will Certainly sweep Eight
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civil Rights aud the CongressiODa
J Election I'm Tenn essee--a he ID nm q
Gratis VIII Certainly Sweep Eigh
Districts.
II. V. r. in the Cincinnati Commercial
The Republicans will carry the FRS
District and that is the only one wher,
they have reasonable hope. Indeed
there are none of the other districts tina
are at all doubtful, except the Second
But even give that to the Republican,
and the Democrats will certainly gair
FIVE. They will carry the Third, Fourth
Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth ant
Tenth.
The First District is Roderick Random
Buffers property, and no sort OF com
bination has ever been sufficiently
powerful to get him out. The district il
Republican by about three thousand
mai ority. Butler opposes the civil rights
bill as bitterly as any Democrat in the
State. Otherwise he would be doomed
No man can be elected to Office in this
State who favors that measure.
The Second District has been Repub'
lican since the war, until the August
election, when the Democrats carried
nearly every county in it. In this dis
trict live Brownlow aud Maynard, and
the revolution there was solely on &C.
count of the civil rights bill. Knox
county, for instance, has always been
the stronghold of the Republican party.
In 1872 the Democrats got but l708 votes
in the whole county, while the Republi-
cans had 1868. Nearly three thousand
of these Republican voters were white,
there being but about eight hundred
negro voters in the county. Look at
these figures, and then think what rev.
olution there must have been to have
given the county to the Democrats last
August by nearly one thousand majority
Civil rights did it. Had that internal
frebrand not been thrown into the South
l believe the Republicans would have
carried Tennessee in less than four years
They were making fine strides in that
direction. But their fat is in the FIRE
now. The internal frebrand has done
for them what the ku-Klux accom-
plished for the Northern Democrats.
The Third District will be carried by
General Dibrell, Democrat, by not less
than three thousand majority. Dibrell
il a fine old time gentleman, and the
worst thing that his enemies have been
able to rake up against him yet is the fact
that he was General in the rebel army.
Well. what if he WASP 1t is rather late
to be Directing TO him on that account.
The war has been over about ten years.
General Dibrell is man of fine quail
ties. For thirty-6ve years he has been a
consistent member of the Methodist
Church. Yon may be sure that this
long Christian life will count in his favor
among a class that are not few.
These three districts take us out OF
East Tennessee. In Middle aud West
Tennessee the Democrats have their
nominees in the field and will carry
every district. Bright in the Fifth Dis
trict got the nomination after a long
and severe struggle. Unfortunately
Bright cannot be defeated, for the Re-
publieans are far below par in that dis
trict.
In the Nashville district the Demo
Gratis have nominated John f. House,
an old Wing and a very able man.
These old Wings are a rather good class
of men. / notice almost invariably that
the old Wings are softer in their feelings
toward the negroes than the old Demo
Gratis. They are more charitable, more
humane, more coneiliatory and more
kindly disposed toward the unfortunate
black race / don't know why this is
so, but | know from actual observation
that it is so. There is nothing that
keeps the old Wings out Of the Republi-
can party but bundle or two of ex-
ploded prejudices aAd that internal fire.
brand, the civil rights bill.
In the West Tennessee districts the |
Democrats will sweep everything before |
them. None Of the districts have a ma
jority of negro voters or anything like
il, and white Republicans are rather
scarce in that direction. The civil rights |
bill has driven thousands of them back |
10 their first love, or rather to what they |
consider lesser evil than the party Of
loo many equal rights.
4-aapH