TENNESSEE. 



the several courts of our State. We do not ask for 

 the privileges, wishing to shun the obligations im- 

 posed upon us by them. 



Beyond ordering five hundred copies of the 

 petition to be printed, a motion for which was 

 carried by a vote of 41 to 10, no definite action 

 was taken in the matter. 



An act was passed on the 9th of June, ap- 

 portioning the representation of the State in 

 the United States Congress. On the 12th the 

 Governor issued a proclamation, ordering the 

 election of a full delegation of members of Con- 

 gress in the eight districts of the State, and for 

 members of the Legislature where there were 

 vacancies, to be held on the 3d of August, and 

 enjoining on the sheriffs and judges of elections 

 a strict enforcement of the provisions and re- 

 strictions of the franchise act, which made it 

 the duty of the county court clerk in each 

 county to open and keep a registration of voters, 

 and to furnish certificates of registration, with- 

 out presenting which to the judges at the polls 

 no person was entitled to vote. The restric- 

 tions of the franchise law were such as to ex- 

 clude a large number of citizens from the right 

 of suffrage. It was claimed to be unconstitu- 

 tional, and met with much opposition, espe- 

 cially in Middle and Western Tennessee. Mr. 

 William Sale, a citizen of Memphis, who had 

 never participated in the war, called on the 

 county clerk and requested that his name might 

 be registered ; and on this being refused, on the 

 ground that he would not undertake to prove 

 that he had been " publicly known to have en- 

 tertained loyal sentiments from the outbreak 

 of the rebellion in 1861," he filed a petition be- 

 fore the Hon. William M. Smith, Judge of the 

 Common Law and Chancery Court of Memphis, 

 praying for a mandamus to compel the county 

 clerk to issue the required certificate. The 

 cause was tried on the 28th of June, and Judge 

 Smith on the morning of the 29th rendered a 

 decision sustaining the franchise law as valid 

 and constitutional, refusing the mandamus and 

 dismissing the petition. On the 14th of July 

 Governor Brownlow published an " address," 

 in which, after arguing in favor of the consti- 

 tutionality of the law, he continued : 



Having said this much by way of friendly explana- 

 tion, I come to the principal object of this address, 

 and that is, that this important law is already set at 

 naught in many local cities by the retnissness of those 

 whose official duty it is to execute it, to announce 

 that it will be enforced on the day of election as far 

 as the civil and military authorities can enforce it ; 

 and all elections effected by illegal votes will be an- 

 nulled, and if necessary the officers elected will be 

 ' an-ested. The civil and military authorities under- 

 stand each other, and will act in harmony. The 

 commander of the Military Division of Tennessee will 

 aid tho civil authorities in all instances when the 

 powers of the latter are inadequate to protect the 

 ballot-box from fraudulent voting, or remove county 

 officers in behalf of the State, no matter by whom 

 elected. This step, so likely to become necessary, is 

 much to be regretted, and clerks and judges of elec- 

 tion yet have time to correct much they have done ; 

 and the hope is expressed that many of them will do 

 BO and save their respect. 



It was to this address that President Johnson 

 alluded in the following despatch : 



WASHINGTON, Thursday, July 20, 1865. 

 Hon. W, G. Brownlow ; 



I hope and have no doubt you will see that the re- 

 cent amendments to the Constitution of the State as 

 adopted bv the people, and all the laws passed by the 

 last Legislature in pursuance thereof, are fairly exe- 

 cuted, and that all illegal votes in the approaching 

 election be excluded from the polls, and the election 

 for members of Congress be legally and fairly con- 

 ducted. When and wherever it becomes necessary 

 to employ force for the execution of the laws and the 

 protection of the ballot-box from violence and fraud, 

 you are authorized to call upon Maj.-Gen. Thomas 

 for sufficient military force to sustain the civil au- 

 thorities of the State. I have received your recent 

 address to the people, and think it well-timed, and 

 hope it will do much good in reconciling^ the opposi- 

 tion to the amendment to the Constitution and the 

 laws passed by the last Legislature. The law must 

 be executed and the civil authority sustained. In 

 your efforts to do this, if necessary, Gen. Thomas 

 will afford a sufficient military force. You are at 

 liberty to make what use you think proper of this 

 despatch. ANDREW JOHNSON, 



President of the United States. 



On the 18th the Governor issued another 

 proclamation, declaring the act to limit the 

 elective franchise the supreme law of the land ; 

 denouncing as rebels all who should unite for 

 the purpose of defeating its execution ; declaring 

 that no person would be permitted to be a can- 

 didate until he had taken and subscribed the 

 required oath ; calling upon the civil authorities 

 throughout the State " to arrest and bring to 

 justice all persons who, under pretence of being 

 candidates for Congress or other office, are 

 travelling over the State denouncing and nulli- 

 fying the Constitution and laws of the land, 

 and spreading sedition and a spirit of rebellion ; " 

 and, finally, commanding all clerks of county 

 courts and judges of elections faithfully to per- 

 form the duties imposed on them under penalty 

 of being held to a strict account. Notwith- 

 standing all the Governor's precautions, con- 

 siderable irregularities crept into the modes of 

 registration, and after the election he issued a 

 proclamation calling upon the county clerks and 

 sheriffs for information as to the manner in 

 which the certificates were granted and the 

 oaths administered. The results of this inquiry 

 he embodied in a message to the Legislature, 

 which assembled in October. The certificates, 

 he said, seemed to have been granted in five 

 different ways, as follows : 



1. When the applicant was known to the clerk to 

 be of publicly known Union sentiments. 



2. Upon proof by witness that the applicant came 

 within the provisions of the "act to limit the elective 

 franchise." 



3. Upon the oath of the applicant alone, that he 

 came within some provision of the law. 



4. The production of an oath of allegiance or am- 

 nesty, taken at some time by the applicant. 



5. Where the applicant was certified or vouched 

 for by some official, either civil or military. 



The third, fourth, and fifth of these modes he 

 decided to be illegal, and threw out the vote of 

 twenty-nine counties. The entire vote of the 

 State was 61*783; when the votes illegally 



