The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1874-08-27
ADVERTISE MENT,I
From the Coffee County Democrat, June
29Ch, 1872 J
A LETTER FROM COL. MATT.
MARTIN.

\ LETTER. TLCOM JUL.
MARTIN.
MAJOR ENACK:
You have been pleased to present my
name to the public, at he head Of your
columns, as a candidate for Congress,
and to speak in complimentary terms
of my qualifications for the position,
For the preference thus shown me l
feel deeply grateful. and in response
will say to you, and to the many
friends who have expressed a desire to
so honor me, that l am not a candl-
date, nor is it proJablc-in any contln-
gency now foreseen--that l Shall be-
OF course / would not refuse a seat in
Congress, were it awarded me by the
consent of a majority of the voters OF
the district; but in the present anon
alous condition Of politics throughout
the country | can expect no such en-
dorsement as would induce me to be-
20 me a candidate. should have 20 be
fully satisfied that the people, not the
politicians. Of the district, generally,
desired me TO run before / should pre-
sumo to myself. And es,
pccially, as my views OF the polItlcal
situation do not harmonize with what
seems now to be the prevailing sentl-
ment among the politicians.
We have Two candidates in the field
for President, neither of whom can |
conscientiously support. Ever the adj
vocate of principle-never of policy
| cannot now consent to give my vote
for any candidate who represents no
single doctrine upon which | have so
long acted. A lifelong Wing before
the war, l yet, upon the issues forced
upon the country in 1861, placed my
self %squarely in favor of the principles
then controlling the Democratic party,
to which l have steadily adhered to the
present time, and for the maintenance
of which l dared to peril "life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness for the
longest, darkest, most miserable four
years of my life.
But, if policy is to be not only a
part, but Tie Leading feature Of the
Democratic crecd-il a new plank is
to be inserted in the platform, declaring
it the duty of the Democrats TO aban.
don their cherished principles in order
to win-then | have been living in ut
ter ignorance OF the tendency of its
teachings, have entirely mlsapprehend.
ell the import of its precepts.
With three million Of Democrats
who cast their sulTrages in 1868 for
Seymour and Blair, and the Southern
States DISTINGUISHED and unable to as
sist in that election, to back them with
a most encouraging increase since then
in our Congressional delegation. and
with the growing conviction among
the people that, because of the corrup-
ton and protligacy Of the Grant ad'
m~inistration, an easy victory is within
our grasp, will the Democracy now
abandon their time.honored principle,
and run headlong to destruction by
taking to its embrace such a nan as
Horace Greeley and his corporal's
quad Of sore-headcd followers! men
who have never recanted a solitary
tenet Of the Republican party, but are
only soured because they could not
control the offices Of the Government
and thereby appropriate to their own
pockets the millions annually tilched
from the treasury. In what particular
is Greeley better than Grant, What
monstrous ism of which Grant has
been the practical exponent that has
not been indorsel By the pen, If, in.
deed, it did not enanate from the brain
of the Tribune %thunderer? What pc
culiar policy of the Grant Administra
ton has Greeley failed to advocate and
uphold? Ny c%ountrymen, pause for
a moment and reflect! Who is it lead,
ing you in the way to this pittall2 Who
but the mar who says to you, "Come.
assist me to beat Grant, or I will help
him to beat you" 81 intend to be
President, if possible, with your votes,
but under no circumstances will | sup
ports Democrat" 81 have abandoned
no principle" 81 take back nothing.
and | require nothing of you but your
votes" A mar who has spent his life
in abusing and disappearing the
Democracy, undermining the Constitu
ton and laboriug to ccntral;ze tue
powers Of the Government to the de-
struction Of the rights Of the States
Horace Greeley. Sumner, who, side
by side with him, has labored in the
same direction, the ready co-worker
with hin. in the advocacy of all the
destructive isms Of the party, who is
willing to have one hundred whie men
enslaved to give the negro rights
which he has never known-has no
qualification TO UNDERSTANDING capac.
lty to appreciate-who would force
them to your tables, have them sleep
IN your beds, give them the best seats
in stages and railroad coaches. and, in
line, equalize them with you in every
respect. The same can DC said of the
Of the advance guard Of this
lew movement in r~adicalism to mislead
he Democracy and beguile them into
he meshes prepared for their destruc.
ion and that Of :heir country's liberty.
What Democrat can openly, before
people, advocate the claims of
nan whose hatred to them and their
principles 'crops out' in almost eyerv