The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-09-25
BROWNLOW.
Letter from the East Tennessee Senator
an Reply to Hon. Truman Smith
Certain Effect Of the Grill Rights
Bill
The Measure Fatal to the Public School
SyStem-Determined Opposition Of
the WhiteS-The Bill Not Neces,
SGTy to the Protection of the
Ne0r0

L nc EASttoUfC L uLuG 90 TIC L UOttC bCCltOOt
Systen1-DeteTmine Opposition Of
the Whites-The Bill Not Neces,
Sa1y to the Protection of the
Negro
From the New York Tribune of Sat-
urday we copy the following letter, writ-
ten by Senator Brownlow in answer to
Hon. Truman Smith. 1t possesses IN
usual interest at this time for the people
OF Tennessee, and cannot fail to have
some effect with the more thoughtful Re-
publicans of the north
SIR-It seems to me a fitting time to
reply to the open letter which you did
me the honor to write me, published in
the Tribune of the eleventh of last
month, on the subject of the civil rights
bill. And desire to reply to your lets
ter through the same widely circulated
Journal which you make the medium of
communicating with me. 1t is just two
weeks since one of the most exciting
and memorable elections was held in this
State of which there is any record since
the days of Andrew jackson. Though
1t was the least important of all onr cleo
tloRs-being L contest for county officers
"a larger vote was polled than there
members of congress, governor of the
State and members of the State Legisla>
ture. As might be anticipated, sc excit-
ing a contest in a southern State upon
such an issue has been attended with
riots and blOOdshed, and the killing and
wOunding of several men. The result of
the election is the overwhelming defeat
of the Republican party, defeat from
which the party cannot recover within
the next five years, and from which it
will not probably recover during the
lifetime of the present generation. As
sample OF the
REVOLUTION
which has taken place, l will mention
that in the county in which | reside,
where we had one thousand Republican
majority, the Democracy have elected
their ticket by seven hundred majority.
In Shelby county, where the RepubE-
can ticket was triumphant at an election
a year ago by about one thousand ma
jOrity, the Democratic ticket was recently
elected by about FIVE thousand majority.
Thousands of ex~Uuion soldiers, who
never before or since the war voted other
than Republican ticket, went to the
polls vehemently cursing the Republican
majority iG congress, and depositing their
ballots for original secessionists against
their comrades in the Union army, swear
ing as they did so that they would never
again vote with party which supported
the cO-education of the races in some
leading journals Of the North have seen
rejoicings Of the result OF the election in
Tennessee as a condemnation Of Presi>
dent Grant and his administration
l., -. IL
President Grant is more popular in
Tennessee to day than he has ever been.
The sole issue in our election was the
civil rights bill And the letter you
wrote me, in view of the election since
held, is prophetic. You say, writing on
June the 25th, the tendency of this meas~
ure twill be to unite the great body,
perhaps | should say all Of the white
race, and in such a contest the former
are certain to obtain the ascendency un-
| less South Carolina be an exception"
Mississippi may be added to South Caro-
lima as sustaining the Republican party
| if congress shall pass this bill; but in no
other Southern StOtc, with this bill
adopted, will the Republican party have
a chanceLOf success. With this load of
mixed schools to carry, the only result of
| an election in Tennessee will be to take
/ the census Of the white and black voters,
and as there are only forty thousand
! colOred to two hundred and forty thou.
| sand white voters, it does not require
much genius for mathematics to show
| that the Republican party IS doomed IN
/ this State and in the South. 1t Is no
! longer q question as to wheter we will
| have
MIXED sCUO0TsTS THE sOTrTuERE sTATEs
| where the whites have the majority. The
| elections already held show that to be as
| impossible as it Is for the distinguished
| your and my position, to be made pope
| of Rome unless the national governme mt
| shall do it by force of arms The North
| has the power to do this by passing Mr..
! HoaF's bill for a system of compulsory
| education; but to do so it will be necess
| sary to station Federal troops in every
county of the border States. | have been
written to by large number of persons
| in different Northern States who desire
| to settle in Tennessee, to know the effect
| of the passage of the civil rights bill on
! our school system. These writer's tell
me they will not settle in a State where
! there is no system of free public instruc
| ton, l tell my correspondents that the
white people of Tennessee are very anxi-
! Gus for immigration. They feel that
| their State is languishiug for the want of
| it; that it can never be truly prosperous,
! and have it's vast resources developed
| without it; that as an earnest of their de-
| sire for immigration they have establish
! ed as liberal a system of free public in
struction as any Middle, Western or
! New England State, and perhaps a more
| liberal system, in view'of their straiten-
| ed financial condition. That under the
constitution and laws of Tennessee the
negro is not Disseminated against; that
he has fair divide, pro rata share oil
the school fund, though he does not pay
one mill on the dollar of the taxes as
sessed for the support of these schools
But through the Tribune l will frankly
say to my numerous correspondents tha
they had better not come to Tennessee
until it is settled whether congress viii
pass this bill for the
CJ>EDUCATIoN OF THE RACES,
for the present generation Of Tennessee
ans will abolish the whole system, and
be deprived Of all the benefits Of immi-
grafton and the development of their re>
sources sooner than submit to this meas
ure. Both races are now perfectly equa
in the enjoyment of free school privileges
in Tennessee. The privileges aud the re
strictions work equally upon them.
white child Is just as much restrained
from attending a colored school, as
eolored child is white school, and th,
abstract right of one race in the premise
is abridged just as much as that Of tn
other. Under this system we have il
( Tennessee five hundred and eignty-nin
eolored schools, and six hundred ant
thirty colored teachers. Under thi
benefcent system the great mass of tn