Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-02-20

excellent paper in which you published
his letter, was exceedingly well timed
and well said. Your statements of Ten
nessee's ability to meet her debt, In to-
days issue, is incontrovertibly true.
hope it will reach the eye of every
member of our present Legislature
and command the attention it so vel
deserves.
In this connection, hope you vii
find place for the within article from
the NelC York Bulletin, which needs nc
commentator at my hand.
1 am very respectfully yours,
BID.
New York Bulletin.
John Bright has lately been utterinl
some very oid-fashioned ideas, in his
usual common.sense way, before tn,
Liberal Association at Birmingham
His audience being largely COMPOSED
of the laboring and mechanic classes
the veteran reformer improved the op
portunity to whisper IN their ears sun
dry truths which must set them Il
thinking; and as the truths are Of a
kind that are quite as applicable this
side Of the Atlantic as on the other
we take the liberty of quoting, fol-
home consumption, the following ex.
tract:
81 observe at a meeting at Liverpool
the other day, that some men, who appear
before the public, and perhaps are work.
ingmen, propagated the opinion that it i:
very important TO have what they call labOl
representatives in Parliament. Now
wOrkingmen are like other men. Every
class seems to be the prey Of some delusiOn
and some false cry, and it is attempted e
be shown to the workingmen that if they
can pick out some man Of their own, who
has dug in a mine, or handled a trowel
they can put him into Parliament, with
some special advantage 10 be gained. Il
we are to have a Parliament composed OF
classes, one of wOrkingmen Representatives
and one not of representatives Of the work.
ingnen, it appears to me that it would be
one Of the greatest calamities that could
happen in our representation. If you can
find man-let him be first-clasS, second.
class, or third-claSss passenger-f you
can find maO with intelli-
gence and honesty and fr1nneSs-
and that kind of capacity which
yOu can understand for Parliamentary
duty, then, say, lay hold Of him at once
and make him a member of Parliament.
laughter But this new principle, IN
derstand that some Of the working men say
that they don't quite comprehend it, and
they fear that the object Of preaching this
new doctrine is that few men anxious TO
get into Parliament might get there upon
it. / will not say that is true; many
things l disapproye are held and preached,
and perfectly honestly. l believe it to be
a principle which is contrary to all the true
interests Of the country, and to all the wise
and best principles Of the best men in it.
What have We been at for all this number
of years? What have we asked you TO help
US to do from this platform over and over
again? To work with Us, in order that We
might mould a nation out Of a class Zap
piauSe1; and surely that is q wiser thing to
do, and vastly more patriotic, than to en-
deavor to support a nation in which all
sections are every one jealous Of each Other'
We happen to know something of
this new principle" and its pestilent
effects, past and present, In our own
country. 1t unsupported some twenty
five or thirty years ago, and for awhile
it was the taking sensation among tie
little great men Of the time. It's first
practical demonstration under the man.
ipulation Of the demagogues who were
then woOing the ''sWeet voices of the
poor" who had votes to give, found ex-
preston in the agraTian cry of "vote
yourself a farm" The theory was
that the public lands belonged 70 the
landless, and were not, as they are, the
common property of all the people,
held in trust for them by their agent,
the Government. 1t was by no means
an original idea. These people rarely
deal in original ideas. 1t is IN fact as
old as the Gracchi, but it ran like wild
fire nevertheless, and never stOppe d
until it sent a good many Of its advo-
Gates to Congress and the State Legis-
latures. The result was the gradual
out of the public do
main and the formal recogni-
tiOn Of the vicious principle
that legislation must bend to the
clamors Of a particular class. Soon
another class came along, also demand
ing public lands-this time, for railroad
purpOses-and these too had to be
placated. These bad precedents were
the seed that subsequently brought
forth a crop Of other miscbiefs Of the
kind, including the attempt to regulate
wages and hours of labor by statute.
All this while the advocates of these
forms of paternal government had their
hands strengthened by the clamors of
a certain other class, for higher tariffs,
more protection" etc, until at length
the body polite was In as pitiful plight
as the poor man on the roadside who
fell among thieves. Every class seemed
to be the prey of some delusiOn
and some false cry" Now, 1t ID to Just
such follies as these that the shameless
traficking in legislation which fills
the air with scandals is largely
traceable. 1t had its birthplace
in these evil beginnings, and
one need not look far now to
see its fatal results. The moral
sense'of our public men is deadened,
and the old constituencies to reputation
that "felt a stain like a wound" we
sometimes fear, has passed, or is pass
ing, into tradition. But what then !?
Are good men to grow weary Of the ef-
fort to maintain honest government,
and the principles Of equal and exact
Justice upon which honest government
alone is possible? Must the whole sur
render to a part? Are the fractions
always to have things their own way +?
Is this or that particular class to be
permitted to set itself up as the nation =,
at the gates of the Treasury? Are we
to give up the fight against making
this Government Of ours the merest
purveyor of exclusive privileges ? By
no means. when bad men unite, good
men must combine" The contest must
60 on, and whatever Is true must tri-
umph in the end. The English re-
former is right: ct is better to work
to mould nation out of 4 class than
to endeavor to support a system in
which all sections are every one jealous
Of each other"
GARLAND, of Arkansas, need not get
himself in a pucker because Grant has