Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-02-24
TENNESsEE'S EXECUTIVE.
A st. Louis Journalists impress
siOns of Governor Porter.

visit TO Nashville, and appears IN that pa
per Of the 10Th inst;
Last evening met Gov. Porter at the
Maxwell House. The Governor was lis
teniDg to the dulcet strains of an itinerant
string band and talking Of matters and
things generally with the venerable Judge
Ewing, one Of the recent candidates for
Senator. As soon as he deserted the cor
respondent Of the Republican the Governor
inquired after the health of his old friend
and cOmrade in arms, Gen. COckrell, and
then led of into an animated conversation
upon public affairs, some portions of which,
as indicating what will be his policy in
view Of possible troubles to result from the
despO.ic and revolutionary course Of the
Grant administration, are of public inter
est. Gov. Porter belongs to
TIE NEW SCHOOL OF SOUTHERN POLL
TCIANs,
of which Senator Gordon, Gen. COckrell,
Gov. Garland and Lieut.. Gov. Penn, of
Louisiana, are with himself the foremost
representatives. he is a tall, handsome
man Of about forty years Of age, Of erect
form, graceful carriage and afiable, winning
manner. His bearing is very quiet and I'M
obtTusive, and his style of talking is earn
est and digni6ed, but very easy and
pleasant. He is most evidently a man Of
strong moral convictions, and, though not
in any sense a brilliant intellect or a genius
as the saying goes, he is full of practical
common sense, and a safe counsellor
for such a people as those of Ten
neSsee in times like these. The Gov
eTnor, after some illusions to minor
matters said that the Arkansas message of
the President, together with the general
policy foreshadowed by the Republican Con
gressional caucus, had filed his mind with
anxiety, not TO say alarm. he had begun
TO hope when the result Of last falls cleo
tions became fully known that the tribula-
tiOns of the South were about over, and
that the time would soon come when the
people of every State in the Union would
be enabled to conduct their own affairs
without the constant
FEAR OF INTERVENTION FROM WASHING
TON,
but late developments of Republican policy
had led him to fear that the troubles Of his
people were not yet ended.
He felt that, in view of the fact that
every effort would doubtless be made to
set the outrage mill running again, it was
very important that the people Of the
North should be fully and truthfully adj
yised of the temper Of the Southern people.
| He regarded the services of the Two or
three independent newspapers which had
| sent their correspondents to Alabama last
| fall as Of inestimable value. They had
completely blocked the game Of the author
tiles at Washington and had turned the
outrage mill into a farce and its work into
ridicule. He believed
THE PEOPLE OF THE NORTH
were Just, and that they wished the South
| well; but that they had been mislead In
| Judgment and thereby led into sanctioning
harsh and cruel policies and measures,
| through systematic misrepresentation TO
them Of the temper and feeling Of the
| Southern people. These misrepresenta-
/ tions had been made by interested poll
ticians of the Republican party and by
their partisan newspaper organs, because
/ they found political profit in such c4lum-
/ MES. He was Tejoiced to see the indepen-
| dent press Of the North leading OFF in
/ search Of the truth, and in opposition to
the schemes Of those who sought to per-
petuate their own power by wholesale de-
/ famation and oppression Of the Southern
| people. 1t was a field in which not only
enterprise, but philanthropy and patriotism
were manifested by those newspaper man
ayers who sent their correspondents down
here in search Of the truth that justice
might be done. He realized fully and
keenly that
THE ONLY HOPE OF SALVATION FOR THE
SOUTH
rested in the success of the Democratic
party in the North. Southern men fully
comprehended the Radical policy and
thoroughly understood what course would
be requisite on their part in order to meet
| and defeat It. The Radical policy was to
/ irritate the South into violence, and, if
possible, into instruction. If this could
be accomplished, the voters who had re-
Gently left the Republican ranks would be
! driven back again, and thus the pepetua-
ton of the power Of the present ring
| assured. This was Enthusiastically the
Radical plan. he presumed that if
| it could be carried out according to pro-
| gramme, its results would not fall far short
| of the anticipatiOns Of its authors. 1t
rested with the Southern people to defeat
this wicked plan by refusing to perform the
share in 1t allotted to them. The Radical
politicians expected them to furnish out
RACES, by the recital of which the Northern
| heart might be fred. 1t therefore became
their duty to furnish a spectacle of patience
under suffering and fOrbeaTance, under iTri-
tation by which the North would be moved
to sympathy. He was thoroughly ac-
quainted with
TIE FEELING OF THE PEOPLE OF TEN
NESsEE,
and he was satisfied that, under no cir
cumstances, nor by any provOcation, could
they be induced to play into the hands of
| their enemies. They would endure what
ever infIiction might be visited upon them
bv those in power at Washington, depend
inc upon the great Independent and Con-
sentative newspapers Of the North to tell
the story Of their wrongs and upon the men
of the North to rescue them by driving
their OppressOTs out Of power. Ii
THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL
passed the Senate and became a law, he be-
iieved it would be the policy Of the Radical
politicians like Maynard and Barbour Lewis
to incite the negroes to OstentatiOus eXeT-
else of their newly acquired privileges,
boping thereby to infame hot-blOoded and
reckless whites to acts of violence. But if
the Civil Rights bill became a law, he
should employ all his personal influence,
and all the influence of his position, with
the people of Tennessee to restrain VIC
lence and to prevent intractiOns Of
the law. There might be much indigna-
| ton at the intrusion of the negroes into
| theaters and hotels and on the vehicles Of
transit, but all the influences that could be
| exerted by the older and wiser heads would
be brought to bear to prevent any violent
/ demonstrations. The negroes, if left TO
| their own pleasure, would not make them
| selves obnoxious under the Civil Rights
| bill. But they were perfectly subservient
! to the influence of men like Barbour Lewis,
and might be led by their advice or insti-
| CATION to make themselves obnoxious, par
! ticularly in claiming accommodations at
/ hotels. This was the source Of
! HIS GREATEST APPREHENSION,
| but he believed that moderation would
| prevail. He should do all he could to en-
! force whatever laws might be enacted so
! long as they remained in force. If vio-
! lence were done to a negro by white
/ man, he should vigorously enforce the laws.
In case the Civil Rights bill should become
a law he thought it would be proper for
the Legislature to adopt, in the shape OF
! Joint resolutions, an address to the people
Of Tennessee, setting forth the peculiar
! exigencies of the situation and cOunselilng
] fbaf eo-baarancn moderation and Datience