Year: 1867

As to the condition OF polltlcai mat
ters in Tennessee, the following, written
BY "Mack" to the Cincinnati Commercial
under date of Chattanooga, April q,
furnishes something of an idea:


Political affairs wear quite rs unpleas-
ant an aspect here as i'll Nashville.
There is little else to be heard than
complaints against the malignant OPP
pressions of BrownlOw and his clique
and they do not come from the late reb-
els either, but from men who served
gallantly in the Federal army, many of
them in Ohio regiments. One would
think, to read the Radical papers of the
North, that there were none but rebels
in the Conservative party of Tennessee
that it was made up exclusively Of
men who had not only worn the gray in
the late war, but were still animated
by the sentiments that induced them to
put it Oh in the first place. Nothing
can be further from the truth, so far as
this section of the State is concerned.
The most prominent workers in the
Conservative cause in Chattanooga are


men who have unequivOcal records as
good Union soldiers, but whose soldiers
sense of honor and fair dealing revolt
against the merciless tyranny of the
present State Government, and drives
them into any party promising relief
from it. They find themselves taxed as
no other people are taxed, and for no
other purpose than to enable Mr.. Brown
low and his friends to carry the cleo
tions.


They are obliged to pay their share
toward supporting militia force, which
will cost between eight and twelve mil
lions year; and it has no other object
than to Overawe voters at the pols-fOr
there are United States troops enough
in the State to meet any possible con-
tingency in the shape of riot or insur-
rection. Here, in Chattanooga, the
Legislature has saddled them with a
metropolitan police force, at an expense
of not less than $4,000 year; while
the peace of the city has always been
kept for less than half that sum. The
only object, of course, is to control the
elections. And so of other abuses which
j might name, unnecessarily adding to
the burdens. and taking from the liber-
ties of the people, in manner never
before attempted or heard Of. 1t would
be strange, indeed, if there We're not
found among those who fought for four
years in the cause of civil liberty, some
who could not countenance such meas
ures, under whatever shallow plea or
false pretense they were urged.


The rebels in this part of the State
seem to take little interest in politics.
They are all living peaceably at home,
dong their best to provide for their
present wants, and repair the losses sus-
tained by the war. So far as | can
Judge, they "accept the situation" in
the true meaning of that hackneyed eX-
preston. They acquiesce in all that
has been done to improve the condition.
of the negrOes-and even if they look
upon colOred suffrage as a doubtful OK
pertinent, they are not without sub
stantial reason for this view of the gues-
tion, in the failure of the Northern
States to set the good example. But
if they bad the power tomorrow, l
doubt if they would attempt to take
from the blacks the franchise bestowed
upon them by the last Legislature. At
least the most intelligent of their num-
Der have said so to me. All they ask Is
that they, too, shall have voice in
making the laws under which they live,
so that legislation shall not be exclu-
sively system of expensive oppression
for the benefit of u minority.


In this demand they should be sec
onded by the Judgment of candid men,
as they are by the policy of Congress,
in dealing with the other rebel States.
I was informed to-day by an influential
citizen of this place, that hundreds of
men, against whose loyalty there eau
not he shadow of suspicion, have been
denied registration, and consequently
aisffanchised for no other reason than
their declared opposition to Brownlow,
and the names OF several Union soldiers
who had been treated in this way were
mentioned to me. There is no appeal
from the register. He is appointed by
Brownlow, and if he refuses to put your
name on the books you have no redress.
1t is worse than the NapOleonic SYSTEM
for under that man could vote as he
pleased, only it was intimated that if
he voted against Napoleon he'd be shot.


THE NEGROES. 4,


lhere are, should judge, several
thousand negroes living in and about
Chattanooga. Many of them are en-
ployed as laborers on Government work;
others are hired to the farmers, and
some are engaged in the discussion Of
political topics at the street corners.
Here, as elsewhere throughout the State,
the colored vote is an object of solici-
tude for each of the contending parties,
and the @. E. ID. Of the canvass is which
party is the better friend ofthe African
race. D.


The Radicals have the advantage,
and will doubtless get most Of the votes.
The Freedmen's Bureau is being used In
their interest with effect. The negroes
are given to understand Il at tho Radi-
cal partylis in favor of confscation,