Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1874-07-04

CAN GRANT BE ELECTED A THIRD
ssr.. Na TINE?


IS being discussed to some extent, by
the organs of all parties. The prevail
ing opinion seems TO be that such a
even ifseriously contemplated,
will be signally defeated by an indignant
people, not yet sufficiently degraded TO
prefer the gilded trappings Of imperial |
power to the simple garb of honest and /
manly free men. The time has been /
when the decision of this vital ques-
Iion might safely have been con-
tided to the intelligence and integ-
rity of the masses; but the demoraliz-
ing influences of civil war, waged,
On one side, by blind fanaticism
and deep-seated hatred, aided by the
deliberate and successful plan of
corrupt party in power, to debase the
standard of citizenship by an admix
ture of semi barbarous and incongru-
Gus elements, leave little ground for
hope that the Republic will be saved
through the instrumentality of pOpu-
Jar intelligence ard virtue.
The love of liberty has so slight
hold upon the popular heart that it
has ceased to be a motive of action,
and the only hope for the preservation
of free institutions rests upon the
single chance of discord in the ranks
of the spoilers. But can we build
upon this hope, with any confidence,
when we find the more intelligent and
virtuOus minority divided upon the
most trivial issues? Love of country
should be stronger bond of union
than even the cohesive power of pub
lie plunder;f yet we find those loudest
in their professions of devotion to prin
ciples, the most active partizans OF
selfish disorganizers. In fact, amid
the widespread corruption Of public
morals and the unsettling of doctrines
once considered cardinal, immutable
principles are lost sight of and the i'm
pulse of the moment has become the
motive power of individual action on
all grave political questions AS an
evidence Of this, We find Democratic
and Conservative journals lavishing
eulogies upon Brownlow, because the
Pickering fame of his expiring patri-
otism, frightened into temporary
fash-quickened by the spirit of re-
sistance to that monstrous iniQuity-
the civil rights bill. His active agency
in bringing about, step by step, the
condition of corrupt tyranny under
which that infamy was conceived and
well-nigh consummated, was forgotten
in a moment, and the long catalogue
Of his crimes against liberty and hu-
mainly, amnestied upon the first man
Hesitation of a consciousness that his
career, since the war, was an immeasu-
rable departure from the line of pa
triotic duty. This evidence of consci-
business, so far from palliating, should,
in justice, serve only to deepen the
conviction of his criminality.
So too, with Grant. To say nothing
of his agency in desolating the South
his lawless and vindictive war upon its
people, their political and individual
prosperity, during period of recog-
nized peace, have Won for him advo-
Gates among southern men, thousands
of whom are ready to support him for
third term upon the bare suspicion
that he might, for once, display enough
of patriotism and craftsmanship to
veto the civil rights bill Are there
any settled convictions of right and
duty governing these spasmodic efforts
to restore liberty to an oppressed peo-
pie and virtue to depraved govern
ment?
The policy of Grant administration
has been to corrupt the people to the
point of venality, and so TO concen-
trate capital as to enable him to pro-
long his official power by purchase. A
lew If one per cent on national bank
capital, will yield several millions of
dollars, a pro rata upon the salaries of
officers, and the forced contributions
of the various monopOlies which exist
upon government favor, will yield an
an immense bribery fund. Thus
armed with the OmnipOtent dollar,
nothing is needed for success, but to
fix the price of the venal leaders of
the people in the several States. The
leaders bought up, the people will
follow as focks do, the wearers Of the
bills-nor will they stop to enquire
whether they are being led into greener
pastures, or within the range of raven
Gus wolves. This is a gloomy picture of
the present and future, but experience
proves that it is not overdrawn. The
opposition, with strength enough, if
united, to stay the tide Of ruin, is d.
vided upon questions of party names
andiudividual preferences-thus vast
ing time and strength at the moment
when the enemies of their country are
on the eve of reaching the last stage
on the march to empire.
LII, rr,nnnr l. thnt Grant iS 90 hnr-