Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-02-12

promote strife and bring endless
trouble upon the Commonwealth. A
large amount of money is in the treas
sury, collected to pay the interest
on the debt. It is in the State de-
positories. It must be made secure.
If the interest is not to be paid, the
tax should not be collected and it
will be necessary to have called
session of the Legislature to adjust
matters to the new order Of things.
We can tell more about this, how
ever, when the smoke of the explo>
sion has cleared away and we can
more clearly see what is left from
the wreck.
Another result of the decision is
to turn the political canvass in Ten
nessee this year into veritable pan
demonium. The friends of State
credit will make a final desperate
struggle to save the State from the
reproach and shame with which such
demagogues as Savage, Marks, Wil-
son, Beasley, and their colleagues in
infamy would overwhelm us. The
lines will be drawn. There will be
assertions to the enemy, and
the ranks of those who
would march to victory under
the black banner of reputation will
be swelled by the craven syoophants
whose god is Office and who sacrifice
principle for petty spoils. There
will be but one question in our State
canvass. That of the State debt
will take precedence of all others
Reason, intelligence, State pride,
sense of justice and patriotism, will
be appealed to on one hand, while
demagogues on the other will strive to
arouse prejudice and stir up strife by
all sorts of appeals to the baser pass
sions of men. 1t will be a contest
of intelligence against ignorance and
prejudice, between honesty and dis
honesty, between justice and rob>
berry, between men Of principle and
unprincipled, detestable demagogues.
The devil will be turned loose, and
the contest will be without a par
allel in the history of Tennessee pol
itics.
For ourselves, we will not swerve
from the course we have pursued
these many years. We stand square
on the platform adopted by the last
Republican State Convention. We
are for the settlement of the State
debt upon such terms as will be sat
isfactory to our creditors. We ad-
NIT the legality of the debt.
If our creditors will make such terms
as will save us from the payment
of the full amount, we will thank
fully accept whatever reduction they
may make. Wewill support no man
for Governor or for the Legislature
who proposes to force the creditors
of the State, 1aolens vole,ss, to take
any specific amount. We will, to
the best of our ability, uphold the
banner of State credit let who may
join the repudiationists.
SENATOR JOE Brown, of Georgia,
voted the other day, it will be re-
membered, against a resolution pro-
viding for the appointment of Neill S
Brown, jr, as acting chief clerk Of
the Senate, while the chief clerk per
forms the duties of secretary. But
for his vote the resolution woulc
have passed, as Senator Davit
Davis voted with the Democrats
Now. Joe Browns Democratic
friends are criticising him fol
his action. They say h
was influenced by desire to get or
the good side of the administration
He has been very anxious to contro
Federal patronage in Georgia, and tc
accomplish this, wants to be consid.
cred a non partisan.
His Democrotic friends speak very
unkindly of his course, but we dc
not see that they have any right to
He was elected as non.
partisan. He was once Republi'
can. He was a delegate to the
Republican convention that nomina-
ted Gen. Grant the first time. he
helped to nominate Grant and supe
ported him at the ballot-box. He
was considered as Republican until
he got the Senatorial bee in his bon
net, and even then he was supported
by Republicans as a choice of evils.
Joseph is a pendulum politician,
vibrating from one extreme to the 9th
er, but he has the judgment to vibrate
one way on another.at the suspicious
time to be on the winning side. Last
spring he had more to say against
Gen. Malone than any other Demo
cratic Senator, with the exception OF
his cranky colleague, Ben. Hill, but
it is possible that he has made the
discovery that Mahoneism is good
thing, and is laying his ropes to Ma
honeize Georgia. Who knows!