Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-10-21
THE BARGAIN AND SALE RATI.
FLED.

been sold. aud they cannot hesitate a
to their duty. 1t is no longer a secre
that Mr.. Thomas is the Republioa
candidate for Governor of Tennessee
The Democrats have been betrayed
and we cannot believe that they vii
allow themselves to be made the tool
for securing Radical victory in Ten
ncssee. There is no longer a shadoy
of doubt as to the position of Mr.
Thomas. IF there be Democrat il
Shelby county ia sympathy with Mr.
Thomas, as an Independent candidat,
for Governor. we ask him to read tbs
following dispatch, ,sin the Avalanche
of yesterday:
GREENyILLE, October IL The raco FOL
I Governor, I can truthfully say. is between
Porter and ThomaS in East Tennessee
Nancy and 4ardley are not known in lhs
race. After thorough canvass OF thii
| division of the state, the conclusion ii
justly reached that Dorsey B. Thomas VIII
carry every county In the state, except
w.B. BRowNLow.
We cannot believe that there is a
Democrat In Tennessee, whatever may
be his prejudices, unwilling to put the
seal Of disapprobation to this bargain
by voting for James d. Porter. Dem
ocrats Of Tennessee are not sheep in
the shambles to be sold out to the
Radicals at the will of a few disap-
pointed office-seekers and chronic ha-
ters Of Democracy. Standing as an
independent Democrat, free from
Radical contamination, and hostile to
Governor Porter, Mr.. Thomas would
have received the votes cf many sore
heads and marplots; but, now that he
has formed an alliance with the Radi-
Gals, whose ayowed candidate he is,
every man not determined to join the
Radicals will repudiate the conspiracy.
The Republicans Of Tennessee have a
motive for supporting Mr.. Thomas,
and the natural inquiry is, What is
that motive? 1t is not on account of
MIR. Thomas newborn zeal for low
taxes, because the Radicals declare
that they care nothing for high taxes,
as they pay but little of the taxes sad
died upon the whites, who alone are
oppressed by the burdens Of taxation.
Moreover, the Republican State con-
vention, in June last, antagonizes the
present position Of Mr.. Thomas, by
passing a resolution sustaining the
credit of the State at all hazards and
without regard to taxation, however
onerous. Governor Brownlow wrote
a letter to the convention denouncing
the sentiments that just such men as
Dorsey b. Thomas now utter, and a
few days after the convention adjourned
Gov. Brownlow said In the Knoxville
Chronicle
If the leading politicians of the Demo-
moment that they can dodge the question
of sustaining the State credit, they are
mistaken. The public mind has been
aroused on this subject, and equivOeal
ground will be untenable. The Republt-
cans, in their convention held last week,
took advanced ground in favor of sustain-
ing the public credit, and will take no
steps backward. We will await with some
degree OF Interest the action OF the Demo-
cratic convention which meets on the
thirty first instant. There are clearly two
factions in the party-one in fayorot repu-
diation in whole or in part, aud the other
for honesty toward our creditors. We will
see which faction prevails. We have said
before that thisquestion IS one OF too much
gravity to be made partisan issue. We
are of that opinion still. When the future
good name and honor OF the common
wealth Is at stake, partisan issues should
be forgotten Tor the time, and those who
are unwilling TO see the State disgraced
should act together to prevent such a Ca
tastrophe. Candidates and party conven-
tions should be required TO speak out so
thai their whereabouts may be understood.
And what is more, when the last
Republican State convention was held
in Nashville, on the twenty-fourth Of
August. il reafirmed its platform
maintaining the credit of the State at
all hazards; and, what is more re-
markable, it endorsed the policy adj
opted By Governor Porter BY passing
a resolution 'denouncing the Democ-
racy for collecting a tOrty-cent tax,
and refusing to meet the interest on
the State debt, while accumulating a
fund for which no legal use has been
prescribed or is proposed, as unjust
aud degrading to the tax payers; and
more efficient enforcement
of tax collections. Here is high-tax
resolution, and if Mr.. Thomas should
be elected Governor of Tennessee by
Radical votes he will be required TO
carry out his pledge. But as Mr..
Thomas is a lOw-tax man, aud the
Radicals are for the payment of the
State debt, the question naturally ari-
ses as to the motives that induce the
Radicals to support Thomas. There
is no difficulty in solving the mystery
II is the hope Of diSorGaHizing and de-
strOyiRg the Democratic party. This
is the only purpose which induces the
high tax Radicals to support the low
tax Thomas. -Four years ago Andrew
j Johnson, in voting for Greeley, said
he used him to kill the Radical party,
as he would use n crooked stick to
kill a snake. The Republicans are
using Thomas, not to kill high taxes,
which their platform favors, but TO
kill the Democratic party in Tennes-
see. No true Democrat can lend him
self to such a purpose. There is a
double treachery in the coalition-in
the bargain and sale agreed upon. The
Democrats, in honest sympathy with
Mr.. Thomas on account Of the bur
dens of taxation, and the black Re-
publicans who are true to their party,
and would support no Tilden aud
Hendricks Democrat for Governor,
have all been sold out. Yardley is TO
be hissed off the track. The con-
tracing parties have so decided, and
IL Will DG bbcu lIOlu Tue uUONt
that the white Republicans Of East
Tennessee have deserted the colored
just as Barbour Lewis, the
favorite of the blacks, was deserted by
the white Republicans. Yardley aud
the negroes have been betrayed by the
white leaders. The baseness of the
betrayal has never been surpassed 10
the history of American politics. We
believe there are hundreds Of Repub-
licans in Tennessee who are not car
ried in the breeches pocket Of the
high contracting parties, and who will
Indignantly repudiate the sale. And
you Democrats who enlisted under the
Thomas banner from the purest mo-
tives, you now understand your duty.
Your only hope and aim have been to
bring relief to the suffering taxpayer.
But the bargain proposes TO transfer
you to the Radical party OF Tennessee.
Read the above resolution, adopted
bv the Republican State convention,
and Won will see that there is no
escape from high taxes by the triumph
of the Radicals. Let the Radicals
elect Dorsey B. Thomas, their avowed
candidate for Governor, aud a majority
to the Legislature, and the above
platform, adopted by the last Repub-
iican State convention, will be rigidly
observed, aud taxes will be increased
just as they have been in the Southern
States under Radical rule. Governor
Porter is the nominee of his party.
Under his administration taxes will
never exceed forty cents, as be is
pledged to oppose any excess Of forty