Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-03-23

ship between US viii, + hops, endur!
until our lives end. / can an8Wel
my q1estioners noU IS to whose my
pictured faee is III In the same you
/ will see ina painfing exhibited ii
1876; a beautiful mother carrying
a fine, dark-eyed baby-boy ''pick-a.
back and bearing The name
Madame Ia Countess de Bealisy
and Son.
EEaJor sykes Explains VI i sc bid
Not SpealF.
Icolumbla Herald and Mas
AS my reasons for not responding
to the call made on ute last Monday
to reply to Col CQlyaf's speech may
/ be, and ] have reason to believe
have been, misunderstood, il is
proper that / should state why did
not reply ON that occasion. 1t was
not intended as a discourtesy to
those who called upon me, nor was
it because ! was unwilling to take a
| position upon this all Important
question. My reasons were these :
On last Friday a gentleman of this
| place told me that he had invited
Col. Gplyar here to make a speech,
and he hoped l would not interfere
with him and would not make any
reply, and give him an opportunity
to fully explain his views. j said
to that gentleman that / would
cheerfully comply with his request /;
that Twas not in politics, and had
no desire TO do so; that / had
enough tOdo to attend to my pri-
vate and professional business with
out engaging ip political discussion,
and sOyfar as was coneeFneds Col.
Colyar would not be interfered with
by any answer. The same gentle
man said to me Monday morning,
that he had learned that i was to re-
r4J to Colyar. told him again
that 1 would keep the promise had
made him, and would not reply.
This would Of itself be a sufficient
excuse for my not speaking, but had
been so disposed, was too sick to
speak on that occasion, and would
not have done so after my promise,
had been well. i might here close
this note, but in order that / may
not be misunderstood / will say that
/ have no desire to conceal my
views on this question, which / con-
slider paramount to all Others. am
satisfied that refusal to adjust our
public debt upon fair, equitable
and satisfactory basis, will be the
greatest calamity that can happen
to Tennessee and her people, not
only as to character, but in their
business matters and in their mon
eyed affairs. / am further satisfied
that the action Of the last legislature
in rejecting the liberal terms offered
by the creditors of the State, has
materiallya affected Ourcredit abroad,
prevented capital from coming into
the State, and has caused the money
that is here not to circulate by inn
pairing credit and destroying con-
fidence, and is main cause of the
continuance of hard times. Tenn
essee is producing more now in the
aggregateand per capita, in quantity
and in money value, than she did
in 1860, when all say we were pros
porous, and yet money matters are
tight. Such croaking speeches as
these made by Col. COlyar, and men
of his stamp, by discOuraging the
people, and destroying confidence,
are doing great injury and intensi-
flying the money stringeney. The
plea of poverty avails very little
when we remember that the legisla-
ton by Congress affects all other
States as well as ours, and when we
remember further that Tennessee
has been less taxed since the war In
proportion to her population and to
her production than any State in
the Union, except Texas and Geor-
gia, and if she had accepted the
terms offered by her creditors, her
taxes would have been less than any
State in the Union i'm proportion to
her population and productions. The
decrease in the value of property in
the State since 1860, when we had
slaves, has been only forty per cent.
after counting all our losses by the
war and by the contraction of the
currency; and yet the last PROPOSE
tion made by the creditors which
the Legislature rejected, was to re-
duce our public debt fifty per cent,
more than the depreciation in prop
erty. No excuse that will satisfy
any reasonable man can be given
why a State like Tennessee should
refuse to accept reduction of
debt, (Which Colonel Colyar admits
to he just, and VALID to the extent
of forty or fifty per cent. when
offered freely by its creditors. The
revolutionary measures proposed by
Col. Colyar in his speech on
Monday, so far from bringing re-
lief from Congress, would prevent
all relief measures by showing that
the charges made against us in the
Northern States were true that we
were faithless to our obligations and
regardless of plighted faith. The
Democratic party, to which Col. @.
processes to belong, cannot afford to
violate all its former pledges and
prove faithless to its ancient princi-
Piles to follow the teachings Of Col.
COlyar. Tennessee is now i'm the
crisis of her fate. What she does
now will affect generations after we
have passed away. The discredit
of State sticks to her as the poison
ed shirt did to Nessus, and the evils,
which result will be permanent
and lasting In their character. /
therefore believe il is the duty Of
every private citizen, as well as
public men, to come to the rescue Of
the State, in this her hour of trial
and of trouble. Yours,
WM. J. SYKES.