The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-05-15

meeting, and its merits as system fully |
TEACHER.
THE COLYAR MEETING.
Protest from One of the Par
ciPamts i'm il.
The following card from THos. BoYERs
in regard to his connection with the Col
var meeting so-called, held at Nashville,
last week contains some wholesome
truths, and is worthy of perusal:
l can sincerely say, without the least
afectation, that have the greatest aver
sion to appear in the newspapers, or TO
engage in a public controversy, and this
reluctance is not at all abated BY my con-
nection with the press for many years. l
may be perpetrating an Irish bull in this
remark, but the fact is none the less true.
l was induced to attend the. political
meeting of various gentlemen, held at
Nashville on Monday and Tuesday last,
in response to a call from Col. AS. COL
VAR, the Chairman of the JOHNSON State
Executive Committee, for a conference,
more especially of those who were supper
tiers of ex President JOHNSON in the last
Congressional election. What the pre-
else object ofthe conference was to be
was not informed, but supposed that it
was intended to harmonic the differences
that had sprung up in our State. Ger
tianly there was no intimation that a new
party was to be formed. | had been &C
tive in quiet way for several months
past, in trying 10 pour oil over the waters
that had been dashed into foam during
the last unhappy political canvass, and /
went to the meeting to help pns i6catR,
and to close up and heal the voGI6s of
the controversy, and tn fIaternize dis
corda!G.t, mem bers of the same family, who
in an evil hour, fell out by the wayside
and quarrelled, not over principles, but
over men. IhaVe lived to see the EVIL
effects of the bitter canvass, and longed
for a restoration of the unity ofthe grand
old party in which | was born. / had no
reflections to make upon the patriotism of
the adherents of Gen. CHEATHAM, and
[ had no apologies to make for my ardent
support of Mr.. JOHNSON, whose election
advocated with all my might, and for
reasons sufficient unto myself | wanted
to meet and shake hands with those l
had opposed. And | must right here say
that the reconciliation was fast becoming
assured, and that the "CHEATHAM men
met me with candOr and willingness
that was both pleasant and encouraging.
A majority of the voters Of either wing
were in full accord as to the necessity and
| wisdom of complete oblivion of the past
| and union against a common antago-
mist.
What was my surprise to find that the
conference was a war meeting, and not a
peace meeting, and that its leading mem
Der was bent upon all sorts of mischiev,
Gus action, that it was disposed to make a
platform to commit the party to the oppo-
sition to the Funding and Assessment
laws and make this the test of Democrat.
ic principle; and to make still greater
mischief, the throat of the Democratic
party was to be cut, and a new party was
to be born and baptized. Now, consid-
ering that this conference was merely an
assemblage of gentlemen who were called
| together to "confer" and not to tinker up
platforms; that they had no delegated
authority whatever from a human being,
and, to make the situation still more
absurd and inconsistent, the body was
composed of men who were cOnspicu-
Gus as anti-convention and anti-caucus
| men, the situation was anomalous in the
extreme. The great objective point to
be accomplished was the inauguration
of war upon the present State admins
tration, and upon all who voted for the
funding and assessment bills. Consider
ing that those acts were voted for with
out regard to party-by CHEATHAM men
by JOHNSON men and Radicals, what but
disaster could grow out of this wanton
attempt to divide our people again into
factions? They were measures about
1oh hn Of hn Ca
could honestly differ, as upon any mat
subject of local legislation. They stood
| upon the same footing as a free school
| law, Il road law, whisky law, or other
general law. They might not be the
| wisest or best laws but they were not
| questions of principle that could only
| determine the soundness of ones poll.
| teal faith. Ofcourse, the members who
voted for or against them were RESPONSE
| BILE Individually to their constituents, but
not to the Democratic party, or any other
party, and their action could, in no wise
bind their party as party.
| Mr.. Editor, | have no right to charge
nor do l, that the object of those who
| voted for the resolutions that were finally
adopted by the meeting, was to split TIL
party into pieces. ! do know that many
| who so voted had no such intention, but
| do say that if any considerable number
| of our people should unfortunately fal
into that way of thinking, that it will b,
an evil day for US. | hope and believt
| that all such ideas will be choked to dealt
all over the State before they fairly get t.
breathing. Under the specious Land de
ceptive pretense of relief to the people
there lies concealed the hideous monster
of repudiation, which will soon rear it
head and srike its fangs deep into tn,
public, as well as private credit. Tn,
prosperity of our State all depends upol
our good name. Rob us of that, and W,
drift back into poverty and disgrace
Whisper the fell wCrd, and enterprise
and capital vanish from our borders
Our vast coal and iron mountains, tina
now throb with the pulsations of nev
life, will be as still as before the flood. w
mast keep honest, if not for honesty
| sake, for our own interest. Once unchair
the demon reputation, and down top
pies all credit, Counties and corpora
tions would catch the contagiOn, and ruin
would be universal. The word should
not be even whispered.
Now, Mr.. Editor, when all these things
happened as is recorded above, felt like
boiling" but l saw it through. And
now bolt. l am with my old party, and
regarding the beating Of the Radicals the
| first duty and chief end of political man
in this country desire a thorough union
of our people, and sweeping victory this
| fall will be the result Pretermitting all
the objections that have heretofore had
to conventions, favor the most thorough
organization The emergencies of the
hour demand sinking ofpersonal views
and unbroken front in our ranks, if we
would preserve our ascendency in Ten
nessee.
Your obedient servant,