Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-10-14

plundered by its pretended friends.
Surely Mr.. Prosser ought to know
something of the doings of his friends,
at least in this State, such as Arnell,
Mullen and Barbour Lewis, under the
sacred auspices of Gov. Brownlow.
And if he did know 1t, he could never
make such reckless assertions as he
did on thesubject of the public schools.
We have no space for the whole
speech, and can only give these as spec
linens of reckless assertion which real
ly left his opponent nothing to do but
to state few simple facts and leave him
helpless and baffied.
1t will be we inferred from what we
have stated above that it was not
necessary for Col. House to consume
much of his time in replying to such
glaring unfounded statements as the
above, the incledulous smile with
which they were received by the audi
ence was sufficient ground for him to
take an Independent course, and in
stead of standing on the defensive, he
at once assumed an aggressive attitude.
He too avowed his desire for a fair
scrutiny of the case between the two
parties, and he too called for an unim-
FASHIONED verdict between them. This
he said is what the radical party has
always dreaded; it has always taken
anxious care that that the passions of
the war should not be allowed to slum-
Der, knowing that the very reason for its
existence as a party ceases when they
are laid to rest; it therefore is COM
PEELED still to wave the bloody shirt
though the nation is becoming daily
more and more disguised with it. He
defed his antagonist to produce single
speech or editorial on the part of rad
ical orators or journals north in which
a return to brotherhood was advoca-
ted. He also showed that the Demo-
cratic party, as now constituted, could
not be held responsible for the war;
that it was made up of all classes of
every grade of opinion who were band
ed together to resist the intolerable
oppression of the Radical party in the
South, and that it contained many who
to the last moment had devoted their
lives to the advocacy of possible peace
full solution of the questions at issue.
He might have added that in the very
bosom of the Republican party north
there existed a venomous gang who
were just as resolved as the hottest
fire eater in the South that it should not
be settled without a war.
And then he put, with the eloquence
of which he is known to be master,
the same question between the two
parties as had been propounded By his
antagonist Shall a party founded
upon hate and sectional rancor get the
votes of this State? A party which
would rule the Southern States as Rus
STA rules Poland
He then consented to Mr.. Prosser'
proposal for calm review oil the po-
sition of the Republican party on sew
eral tOpics-Citizen's rights. Mr.. Pros.
ser must have supposed that his audi.
ence had forgotten the times wheL
through the action of the Radical par.
ty not 200 taxpayers in this county
we're allowed to vote. Economy, in a
party which in times of peace increased
the State debt of Alabama, Arkan.
sas, Florida and Louisiana by the
amount of from fifteen to twenty eigh
millions a piece. Administrative pu
rity, when by their own committees re
port one-fourth of the revenue was los
in collecting.
But in the case of neither speech d.
we purpose even an abstract of all th,
topics touched upon, and will only nov
allude to the eloquent peroration il
Col. Houses rejoiuder, where he tool
for his text the clause in the Republi
can platform which affects to rejoice il
The quickened conscience Of the nation
He showed with terrible powers o
irony how much reason the party ha
to rejoice in the nations quickened con
science; how it was turning away iron
the Radical party the best and pures
and ablest men who had hitherto sus
tanned it, and how the retributive in
dignation of the nation was ripe fo
that final expulsion from power, whic
was its inevitable doom on the 7th {
next month.
Only one defect can we notice in tn
: splendid effort of our eloquent repre-
sentative; he ought not to have let hi
opponent go unscathed for his aud;
cious mis-statement of the position {
, the two parties in regard to the publ
, schools. OF course he did so only be
cause he knew that every person pre-.
ent was acquainted with the iniqui
| Gus stealing of the school fund by til
BrOwnlow-Arn administration, bU
the inscriptions assertion of his al
tagonist demanded such castigatiO
as John F. House alone can give, an