Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-10-28
BEUP AND DOING.

Only one week remains before the
general election, immensely important
in itself, and doubly so as the omen of
the Presidential election. Shall 1876
be glorious echo of 1776, replacing
the Union and Constitution on the
solid foundation of the fathers, whence
Radicalism has partially wrenehed
them? Or shall that centennial year
sound the knen of American liberty,
the violation of our traditions, and the
formal inauguration of Cesarism?
Shall 1876 blast the bright hopes born
to the world in I776? Shall the new
continent follow in the weary wake of
the old? Shall the next thousand years
of American history he a miserable re-
petition of the last thousand in Europe?
The centennial year will decide, and in
the making up of that decision, Novem-
Der, 1874, will WELD most important
influence
In view of the bold strides made to-
ward despotisn during the past few
months, every freemen still I'M
shackled should speak out in clarion
notes at the ballOt-bOx. 1t is not a
privilege u erely, but bounden duty
a duty to neighbor, wife and children,
as well as ones self-a duty to hui
mainly and the cause of freedom
throughout the world. II will be too
late to cry out when the ballot-box
is placed under Federal control,
and our elections become military
plebiscites of the Eapoleonic
type. Now is the accepted
time now is the day of salvation, if
we would be saved.
Within the past six months We have,
on the one hand, seen Grant allow
little nest of Arkansas Radicals to up
set the State Government and hold
carnival of blood and terror for thirty
days, in the streets of Little Rock;
while, on the other hand, when a whole
people rose as one man against the
Louisiana usurper, they were crushed
back under his despotic heel, before
the sun had rolled round IN his course.
We have seen marshal law pro-
claimed In one State after another, on
the very eve of elections. We have seen
the Federal Bureau of Justice turned
into a public Juggernaut to crush out
the will of the people. We have seen
officials and the moneys Of the general
government prostituted to the manu-
facture and dissemination of wholesale
lies against peaceful communities. We
have seen inaugurated against the
South by New England the internal
system invented and practiced for cen
turtles by old England to Justify her
oppression to ireland.
These things have come to our very |
doors. Even to-day supposed offend
ers against the peace and dignity of |
Tennessee are held by the Federal au
thorities, leaving our State no means
for dealing out justice in their
regard. Innocent citizens are as
liable as criminals to be thus
wrenched from the local authorities
set up by communities for the preser-
walton of society itself. We need
hardly remind our readers that the
Federal Government is not the pre-
server of society. The latter existed
long before a national government was
dreamed of. Hence the enormity of
the claims made by the general govern
ment during the past few months,
which strike at the very heart-core of
liberty-local self-government.
Let every Tenncsseean, therefore,
rebuke these dangerous usurpations at
the ballot-box next Tuesday. Let
every qualified voter, withoutexception,
pass in his verdict. Never did issues
80 momentous and pressing invoke the
aid of every friend of freedom.
Let our majority be unmistakable
and overwhelming. A small
vote may embolden the usurpers IN
their course. There is danger In
a weak or equivocal protest. Let every