Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1882-08-05
rHE TENNESSEE DEMOCRACY
An 4nalYsis.

elude under the term Democracy
all that has ever been comprised
under that name since the war; all |
that heterogeneous and now discor-
liant multitude which was driven
into the Democratic lines under |
stress of the general dread and |
hatred of the iniquities of recon-
struction. State Credit and Low
tax Democrat, Readjuster and Re-
pudiator all, shall be passed in re-
view in our present discussion, the
purpose of which is to ascertain
whether it can be hoped that those
now conflicting elements can be ex-
pected ever again to constitute q
united organization.
To form any rational estimate of
the probability of such result. we
must make a separate study OF each
of the elements which it is proposed
to combine into harmonious uni
ty; and the test we apply to each
is its creed and purpose in reference
to the State debt. For that is really
the one and only question now be-
fore the people of Tennessee, and
will be until in one way or other it
is finally settled, either by liquida-
ton or reputation. And so 1t
should be; again and again 1t has
been attempted to convince our
people that the State debt is OF sub
ordinate Importance, and that 1t
ought TO be postponed to the con-
sideration of matters in Federal
politics of deeper moment, bat
they are not convinced. Any pub
lie meeting held i'll Tennessee will
convince the spectator that the
debt and nothing but the debt is
present to the minds of Tenneseans
when they turn their attention to
politics. They think, and they
think justly, that nothing else can
affect as directly the well-being Of
the State, and they think too that
the debt is matter for which they,
and they alone are responsible,
while for all other questions there
are thirty-sevcn other States united
in responsibility with them.
The debt question then is our
chemical reagent which we will
apply, one after another, TO the va
riOus elements which once cOnsti-
tuted the Democratic party, with
view TO ascertaining their nature
and affinities, and thence the prob
ability or improbability OF their
combining again in the future.
The first element then for our
political chemistry to test is what
remains of the true Democratic
party. 1t consists of those who re-
fused last June to be carried away
in the great inundation of readjus-
terism and took their stand on the
settlement which is now law, re-
fusing to yield an inch in the way
of compromise to those who propose
to disturb that settlement with
view either to the immediate repu-
diation of the debt, or to its gradual
abandonment after series of COM
promises for hdFnlOhy's sake. This
is the one pure and unmiXed elc
meat which has crystalized from
the SETTLING magma in which the
others are held, either in suspen-
sion or solution; it is hard, trans
parent and insOluble; it has its def
inIte composition which all men
can recognize; ii will combine with
nothing foSeign TO its own constitu-
ton, but is an excellent nucleus for
other atoms to crystalizc around,
which may have atlinitiCs for it,
whenever they can disengage them
selves for their present discordant
associations.
There is another constituent in l
the body polite, equally homoge-
neous, equally definite i'll its cOnsti-
tuition, but not separately recognize
able i'll the present confused state of
affairs; to insulate it for separate in
vestigatiOn we must go back for
two years and recognize ii in the
body of men who abandoned the
party at the convention Of 1880,
and whose abandonment ought TO
have been final, for they left the
Democracy because they were not
of it. They had been long at vari-
ance with its belief and utterances
in reference to the debt, and they
only placed themselves in their
true position when they took up
their stand outside of it. This con-
stitucnt of the political magma also
is capable OF precipitating into a
tOlerably hard and cohesive mass,
as was shown in 1880, but it differs |
from the first i'm not having def
mite constitution, and in being very |
soluble. 1t comprises two diverse |
elements, one of which, like Mr.. |
Savage, contends that the debt, be-
ing illegally contracted, is not due;
the other that, though legally con-
tracted, it ought not to be paid.
This is Col. Yancey's position. The |
two, however, practically work to-
gether ON their common principle,
that nothing shall be raised in the |
way of principal or interest 80 long
as they can prevent it. This con-
stituent of the old party was precip-
itated we say and separated from
the general mass in 1880; it has
now been worked up into the gen.
eral mixture which was left after |
the first element had separated from
1t in 1882 by capitalization it eXer-
cises a controlling influence in il,
that control which is always eXer-
cised by men who know what |
they want and pursue it with undo
Waiting purpose and indefatigable
perseverance, over men who have
no definite principle to work on.