Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-09-30
EXTRACTS FROM JUDGE BLACKS
LETTER TO NIX. GARFIELD.
HELpLrssNEss OF HAYES.

You would nave US believe tina
Hayes, if elected, will reform abuse
and give US a pure administration. :
Your statement, and that of othe
gentlemen equally reliable, make
certain that Mr. Hayes bears an IRE
proachable character in all his privat
relations. do not doubt his posses
sion of that negative honesty which i
is a disgrace to want. / accord hin
those tame household virtues whicl
cntitle him to the respect of his neigh
bors and the confidence of his family
but he can no more stem the torren
of Republican corruption than he cal
swim against the rapids of Niagara
His whole history shows that he woulC
not even make an effort to do so. Ht
has been most happily called "a mar
Of tried subserviency"
A reformer in these times must bt
made of stern material. He mus
have no connection with, and be un-
der no obligation to, the authors of the
abuses which need reform. Above all
things, he must not have consented
expressly or implicitly to the commits
sion of the public wrongs which his
duties as areformer would require him
to punish. When he comes to oppose
wickedness in high places the con-
sciousness that be himself is an parl
deEicto will make even a strong man
as nerveless as infancy.
To show how hard it would be for a
man like Mr.. Hayes to resist the worst
orders of his own party, / must cite a
case directly in point, and certainly
within your recollection as we'll as
mine.
In the case of Milligan, you made
an eloquent and powerful speech be-
fore the Supreme Court for those free
principles which |, at the same time,
supported in my weaker way. You
showed the indestructible right of ev-
cry citizen to legal trial; you proved
that Magma Ctd9tG did not perish on
the battle field you demonstrated by
irresistible logic that the Constitution
was as supreme after the war as it was
before; you spurned with lofty con-
tempt the brutal idea that law was ex-
tinguished by the victory of the forces
called out to defend it; and you closed
with that grand peroration on the
Goddess of Liberty, which, if spoken
at Athens in the best days of her
fierce Democratic, D." would have
shook the arsenal and Illuminated
over Greece" These were not the
words of paid advocate, for you had
volunteered in the case; nor the sud-
den emotions of a neophyte, for you
had read and pondered the subject
WELL You spoke the deliberate con-
clusions of your mind, and there is no
doubt that in your heart of hearts you
believe them to be true this day.
Yet when the reconstruction law
was proposed you suffered yourself to
be whipped in, surrendered your con-
science to your party. and voted
against your recorded convictions, for
a measure that nullifed every provis-
ion of the constitution, whereby ten
millions of people were deprived of
rights which you knew to be sacred
and inalienable.
IF this was the case, what subservi-
ency may not be expected from Mr.
Hayes, when the party lash comes to
be laid on his back? You are mis- su-
perior in every quality that holds
man true to public duty. You have
been carefully schooled in the morality
of the new testament, you have lived
all your life in the full blaze of the
gospel, you are gifted with a logical
acumen which few can boast, and with
moral courage far above the average.
If you fell down before the Moloch of
Abolitionism, and gave up all princi-
~ hot NJ -. IL
Hayes deny to that grim idol?
THE STATES AND NATION.
L pass LIZ - d IdIeT pCTIUSH.
say that there were two radically dif-
ferent theories about the nature of our
the North believing and
holding that we were a nation, the
South insisting that we were only
of sovereign States. 1t
is not true that any such theoretical
conflict ever existed between the Sec
tions. That the Articles of Confed-
Grafton first, and the Constitution
united the States to-
gether for certain purposes there emu
merated, and thus made US nation
among nations, was never denied that
| know Of by any parry. But this ma
tional character was given to the Gen
eral Government by sovereign States
who confederated together for that pur-
pose. They bestowed certain powers
on the new political corporation then
created, and called the United States
of America, and hey expressly re-
served to themselv,s all the sovereign
rights not granted in the charter.
Democratic statesmen had no theory
about it. They saw their duty written
down in the fundamental law, they
swore to perform it, and they kept
their oaths. Thy executed the pow
ers of the Genera Government in their
whole constitutional vigor, for that, as
Mr.. Jefferson sid, was 'the sheet
anchor of our pace at home and our
safety abroad, " and they carefully
guarded the righs of the States as the
only security we3ould have for a Just
administration c our domestic affairs.
This was Universally assented to as
right and true. 10 counter theory was
set up. Difernce of construction
there might be,)ut all admitted that
when the line o power was accurately
drawn between the Federal Govern
ment and State oVereignty, the rights
on one side wer as sacred as those on
the other. Blu within two or three
years last past te low demagogues of
your party haygot to putting fn their
platforms the ssertion that this is
nation and not confederation. What
do they mean? What do you mean
when you indcse and reproduce it
H. lo,~, ~ AIo
eeign before hey united? Do you
afirm that the. sovereignty was who'll
y merged in tie Federal Government
when they assnted to the Constitu-
ton? Is the Tenth amendment
mere ielusion Do you mean to as
sert tat the Safes have not now, and |
nevel had, any rights at all except
whahre conceled to them at the mercy
of tie nation" No doubt this new
artlte was inserted in the creed of the |
Abatlonlsts, because they supposed
it wuld give sort of plausibility to
thel violent Intervention with the in
so tse. so shallow, and so destitute of |
all spectacle authority that it impo-
sespOn nobody.
3CEssION A YANKEE PRODUCT.
/ part of this conflict of theories,
ancesulting from it, you describe the |
Son as insisting that each State had
a r1t, at its own discretion, to break |
tho MON, and constantly threatening |
session, where 1.-THE full rights of |
slary were not acknowledged" In |
faond in truth secession, like slavery,
wa first planted in New England. |