Year: 1876




pend the salient parts of the document,


and nearly all that portion bearing on


the State debt:


1t was your privilege to re erect and


re- establish the fabric Of the State gov


eminent, which had been pulled down


by secession Democracy; to sustain and


maintain The honor and the good name


Of Tennessee by punctually paying the


interest which had accrusd upon her


bonds and to establish the b5st system


OF free public instruction which the


State has ever had; and you did all this


in spite Of every obstacle which the se


cessiOn Democracy could throw in your


pathway. / will not trespass on your


time in discussing all the questions of


State and national policy which may


arise in the coming contest. The lesd-


ing issue in the Bext election in Ten


nessee is the disposition to be made of


our State debt. The question must now


be settled whether We will pay that debt
or Tepudiate it, and on this issue I beg


your indulgence, while l give st length
expression to my opinions, and will con-


fine my remarks in this letter to that
single issue, because 1t overshadows sll
Others in our State election. | hope
you will take an unequiyOcal position
IN the platform OF principles you adopt,
in favor of maintaining the credit and
honor of Tennessee. II there is one
word which every citizen Of Tennessee
should unite in abhorring, it is the sim
lister word "repudiation." liquidation
is disease which sffects the vital Or
gsns Of the Eody polite. Its diagnosis
is moral turpitude, aud its prognosis is
political death. A State which voIun-
tarily steals the money of its creditors,
puts itself in the position of peniten-
tiary convict, who can never eradicate
the stain of his Incarceration by any
subsequent act of his life. So the dis
honor of the State casts its shadow upon
all OF her children. Every honest Ten
nessean will be held responsible for the
acts Of those who place their State in
dishonest attitude. People outside of
the State, who hold our bonds, csnnet
draw the line OF demsTcstion between
those Of Us who wish to pay the States
debt and those who prevent US from do
ing it. The rate Of reputation is do
M estic affair in which we must appor.
ton the individual share OF iniamy
among ourselves. With the OutsiGe
world the case is simply 'shon-
est boDdholders VS. the STATE
OF Tennessee 1 have too long
loved the fair fame OF Tennessee to be
willing at this late day to see it imper-
lied by q lack OF good faith. The noble
old commonwealth whose integrity was
never doubted when repudiation lifted
its brazen front in Pennsylvania, or
when Jeff Davis led Mississippi into the
same putrid slough, from the slime ard
stink Of which that unfortunate State
has never yet escaped, cannot now be
permitted TO follow such unfortunate ex-
amples. A State which has given three
Presidents TO the republic, and whose
citizens have shared in their honors and
a State whose citizens have
their lives on every battlefield
OF the republic, justly winning for it the
SOu6riQltet of 1.-THE Volunteer State, "and
whose sons have ever felt proud of the
name OF TennesseaD, cannot afford to
sllOw thieves spawn to breed, like ale
wives in the SUD, till all the waters
swarm with them and they check the
good chips progress. Does any man
suppose tnat a national career will here.
siter be open to a Tennessean If the
State should repudiate? No; the doors
OF honest men will be closed against US,
and wherever we should go we should
be pointed st as ''repudiators." The peo-
pie Of the United States know that we
have had the benefit Of the money, and
have sufficient resources to meet all of
our obligations il We have but the dis
position to do so. "Larcenous lakes,H
''rogues' railroads." and 'fthieves' turn
pixies" are precisely the sort of public
works we shall have to chow for the
money we borrowed to build our works
Of internal improvements. These are
our assets for which the turnpike bonds
were issued in 1885, and most Of the rail-
road bonds under the act of 1872. We
have many hundreds of miles OF turn
pike and railroad running through pOr-
tiODs of cur State, which they have de-
veloped from state Of wilderness to one
of prosperity, connecting towns and
cities that owe their existence to them,
and increasing the wealth and populs-
tion of the regions trayersed in an Un-
degree. In ten years the
value Of property in Tennessee, under
the impetus thus given, more than doub-
led in value. The results of this system
are aptly and truthfully epitOmizad in
an excellent article OF the Clarksville
Tobacco Leaf, a leading Democratic
journal Of the State, edited by an ex-
rebel soldier. The creation Of the State
debt was no political matter, and its
payment must be no political matter.
The main question in the coming cam
psign in Tennessee is one of integrity.
We want only honest men elected to
the legislature, who will see to it that
the State credit Is put firmly on
its feet again, so that a Ten.
nessesn may again lift up his
head and go into dc ant society with
out blushjng. l would rather vote for
an honest Democrat than for dishonest
and warn all repudistOrs
who Uish to steal their way into the leg
islsture by sppeal to party, that on this
question in East Tennessee we know no
party but the party Of honest men. l
am confident in the belief that the great
mass OF the Republicans of Tennessee
are in favor Of the payment Of all OF the
States Indebtedness in letter and spirit,
and, likewise, the better element OF the
Democratic party, and for the good fame
Of TenBesste hope that the MISSES Of
that party are Of like faith. No Repub-
licsn thief shall cram himself down our
thrOats in East Tennessee with the
clamOr OF national Issues, SO If there be
any Of that sort Of cattle looking for
kIElCIlhbuNs auluOBlbu lu6Il LlbL VIC
will find them out in East Tennessee
and treat them accordingly, while the
Democratic thief knows exactly what to
expect from US without further admoni-
ton. In this contest, am for the honor
Of Tennessee. II to maintain this we
are compelled to make sacrifices, let US
make the sacrifices. WHAT are men
worth who cannot make sacrifices in
support Of principle, and especially OF
that principle, which from the begin
ming OF time to this day stands undis-
puted above all lothers-iategrity? II ian
honest man is the nOblest work of God"
go an honest State is but q combina-
tiou of honest men, every one Of whom
shares in that nobility. Let the Tweeds
and the Bslknsps Tevel In the magnifi-
cence Of their stolen gains, to find their
way at last to perditon ViG the peniten.
tisry; let shoddy aristocracy exhibit it's
women in the costume of harlots, and
"fiunkeyism" triumph fer the nonce IN
yellow plush and patent leather-who
would not rather be the plundeTed than


The pluudereT? Who would not rather


walk erect in the consciousness Of integ-