New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-08-21
THE TENNESSEE MINERS VAR.

Colonel Anderson's forciblc rescue and the
signal rout of the warning Coal Creek miners
by the Tennessee militia under General Carncs
emphasize the momentous gravity OF the present
situation, though they may seem To point 10
an early relief With thousand soldiers ana
q posse of civilians ready to invest their noun
tain stronghold, no doubt can now exist OF the
ultimate subsection of all the rioters and the
triumph of the insulted law. The bare thought
of the price at which this might be accom-
plshed is, however, sufficiently appall-
ing, and no humane man who real
ICES the consequences involved in this dead
" strife of brother and neighbor can fail to
deplore anew the causes that have led up 10 IT,
The total detrment TO the state is not e1-
pressbe in terms Of profit and loss though the
mere money damage must be enormous. re
munerative contracts are derangcd. the states
resources arc INSTRUCTED, the confidence OF cap
ital is shaken, and taxpayers will feel heavily
the burden of a costly military expedition. Yet
all this dwindlcs into insigniiicance beside the
crime against individuals and the rcproach
fastened on popular government.
The Tennessee mining war is not an AFFAIR OF
Yesterday 1t began, in small way, thirteen
months ago, and the story OF It's calamltouS
prolongaton constitutes an almost incredible
chapter Of political trimming, executive neon
ne,ence and personal rresou6on. In July,
1891 the free GOLFERS at Briccvillc rose against
fl,s convicts beside whom they had worked
peaceably for years, to show their resentment
at recent renewal of the odious convict lease
law. Governor Buchanan, in periunctory obcdi-
ence to established precedent ordered out
handful of militia TO awe them. The miners
who inhabit wild mountain region ana are
charac eristicay intrepid retorted by intrench-
ing themselves and threatening to pick oil every
miltiaman from an ambush. AT this acute
crisis the colonel in command, actuated APP
parenty by orders from headquarters, igno-
miniously retreatcd with the convicts to Knox
vile thus overly conceding TO the miners the
unheard-of privilege Of armed insurrection.
The miners naturally emboldencd, then bar
gained with the Governor not TO modest the
conyicts or burn the stockades while he should
call an extra session OF the Legislature to re
peal the law True, this extraordinary Official did
feebly protest his distaste for bargain he could
not guarantee. seeing that he possessed no
guiding control over legislative action. But he
was soon hectOred into submission-with the
inevitable result. The Legislature met, passed
inspired resolutions upholding his " courageous
course,n were buttonholed by the lobbyists OF
both sides, wrangled holly for six weeks. and
then adjourned, leaving the law precisely as it
stood. and tho miners right to lawlessness I'M
challenged The miners by way OF asserting
il. promptly liberated more convicts and burned
some stockades, and until last week practically
held in terror second handful OF citizen sol
diers marched against them apparently to save
appearances.
The Knoxville town bell. that last Thursday
rang out the riot CALL sounded the knell of
good government in Tennessee, so far as its
present Chief Magistrate is concerned. Fortu-
nately, the State is full of loyal and courageous
citizens, ready to vindicate its honor and stand
I'D for the integrity of free institutions. Major
CARPENTER, beset by alarmists who told him he
was marching to certain death, cried Il" Boys,
| guess We will 60 on" Colonel Anderson
asked to surrender, besought his opponents to
retire and not provoke the retribution it was
his duty TO administer. Such examples OF
courage and forbearance throw into only darker
relief the laundering supineness of the dis
eraced Executive OF course, he now vaporS
ostentatiously about upholding the majesty
q
the militia in the State" But the battle has
been fought out, in spite of him and his ad
visers. and by reaction from the very disasters
he chiefly melted. He has shown what dangers
may attend popular government by thoughtless
agents, assuming its honors as political plum,
without thought of its responsibilities. He
ought never to have retreated, at any cost, from
his first honorable stand. He ought never to
have listened to a whisper OF compromise until
the miners had laid down their arms. He ought
promptly to kave proclaimed martial law when
the truce was ended, whether technically justi-
fed or not, and once having reassembled the
troops he ought to have reinforced them to the
point of effectiveness and uncompromsingly
have held them to their dnty.
Public sympathy at the outset was wholly
with the miners in regions not pecuniarily
affected and where the issue was understood.
Although Governor Buchanan as legislator
voted for the Convict Lease law the measure
is inherently and peculiarly detestable to free
Americans Every upright citizen must have
radical objection to compulsory association at
his work with convicted criminals; and it is
the misfortune of the handwriting Tennessee
miners that they lacked an official ruler quail
fed to elicit its lawful expression OF course,
the immediate abrogation of the leases would
have entailed heavy loss to the State, though
why the contracts were not modified to permit
the employment of convicts in specified mines
only, and by themselves, is mystery yet I'M
explained At this moment the contry's So
licitude concerns the miners crimes instead of
their grievances, and public sympathy their
own violence has transformed ipto a condition
of rowing rebuka. Their position is fraueht