Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1882-08-19

10 octIio forever HeT troublesome
debt; but / believed, too, that it
would be difficult to make the
masses see it as / did. / thought
my vote in its favor might not rep
resent the opinions of my people;
so / came down to GAINESVILLE and
called upon Judge Charles G. Smith,
the chairman of the committee
which had nominated me and by
whose influence l had been elected,
and candidly told him my difficult
culties. l said to him, as the chief
committeeman of my party, that
with my convictions on the question
of the State debt, its legality and
its justice, l could not and would
not vote against proposition to
settle it fairly and honorably, as L
thought the 1908 would; but, said ],
imbued as / am with the spirit and
genius of our free Institutions and a
representative government, I can
not and 1 viii not run the risk of
misrepresenting the people, whose
Representative / am I therefore
ask for counsel from the commit
tee, and from my constituents. /
was not the master, but the agent
and the servant of my people; /
would do their bidding if | honest
~ could ; if not | could and would
resign my Office and come home.
I would not stultify my own con-
science by voting against the bill,
and SO l said to Judge Smith, aft
my people wish me to keep my seat
and vote for the bill as their agent
and servant, let them instruct me
so to do, else will resign and come
home" Though l believe l appre-
ciate the honor of seat in the Leg
islature, I never did hold il of SO
high value as to cling to 1t to wrong
myself or wrong my people. l
furthermore said to Judge Smith,
that a petition must be sent to me,
not from five thousand, nor yet one
thousand men, for SO many men
sign any petition presented, but that
the petition should be signed by a
few hundred of the prominent, con-
sentative, thinking men - men
prominent in the party, and who
would read and ponder upon the
document before signing it, and
upon whose Judgment / could rely
for the current of popular opinion.
i also suggested that the committee
would have to instruct me to vote
for the 1908 bill. returned to my
duties in Nashville. Soon after
the committee was called together,
and l was instructed to settle the
debt at 1908, if l was unable to set,
tie it at 80 and 4, and every intelli-
gent man in Tennessee then knew
that a settlement at 80 and 4 could
not be obtained. Soon afterwards
IL petition reached me instructing
me to vote for the 100 and 3 bill. /
recall now the names of our distin-
guished Congressman, John f.
House, Judge Scales, Mr.. John AL
len, of District No. 1, and two hun
bred and over more upon that petit
ton. The two papers in Clarks-
vile, which had supported me,
called upon me as the Represent
atiVe of the county, to vote for the
same. Every prominent Wright
Democrat in Tennessee added his
voice to swell the volume of instruc-
ton. AT that time l had very
troublesome local question, in re-
gard to our Criminal Court, before
the Legislature, and it attracted not
less than one hundred prominent
citizens of this county to Nashville,
and every one WHO spoke to me
upon the question urged me
to vote for the 1908 bill,
with the single exception of Mr..
JnO. w. Jones, who said eff he was
in my place he would not vote for
it; he did not believe it was the
popular side" And after this con-
Versation, it was, the eXecutive.com-
mittee met. Mr.. Jones was mem.
Der of it; it instructed me to vote
for the bill, and l reasonably sup
posed he had changed his mind,
for he never wrote or sent me word
that he opposed such action of the
committee, and besides remember
ed Mr.. Jones opposed the regular
nominees of the Democracy in 1876
and 1878, and | possibly moderated
his advice, in contradiction of all
other men i had seen or heard from
in Montgomery county. Why, the
very night prior to the passage of
the bill, Mr.. w. A. Milliken came
to my room Immediately after sup
per, and while 1 was lying upon
my bed, urged me to made speech
in favor of the bill say urged, for
he was very earnest in his impor-
tunitics So much SD that when
said felt too badly to get up and
write speech, Milliken said he
would write one for Inc and sat
down ana began to prepare an
i'll favor OF the 1908 bill.
by arrangement Of certain figures
and calculations, { think l now
have the very paper in my posses
sion in his hand Writing,) when l
told him to get up and go on; that |
| would not deliver anybody clsG's |
speech but my own, and that l
would get up and prepare one. He
said l cert,iniy should, that un-
ilcrst00d Tie whole question, that / |
had made brilliant canvass, and |
that my prapir knew | could speak |
ana that they expected me Tot only |
to vote, but To voice" their scnti.
ncnts. Milliken irf. my room, but
not until hc made mo promise /
would work away until II O'clock,
when he said he would return.
About L and O'Clock he did re-