786 TELEGRAPHIC PROGRESS. 



TENNESSEE. 



T 



TELEGRAPHIC PROGRESS. A remark- 

 able improvement in telegraphy seems to have 

 been discovered simultaneously in Bavaria and 

 in the United States. The German inventor is 

 Herr Hencker, of Munich, and his " Electro- 

 magnetic Copying Apparatus," as he calls it, 

 has been already secured by a Frankfort bank- 

 ing firm. This apparatus, it is said, without 

 the aid of a telegraphist, can transmit writing 

 in different languages, signatures, portraits, 

 plans, etc., to any distance, with perfect re- 

 semblance to the original in all points. Among 

 other exploits of this wonderful invention it 

 telegraphed the opening speech of the Singers' 

 Festival, which took place lately, as printed, 

 surrounded by garlands of oak and laurel ; also 

 bills of exchange, Government dispatches in 

 cipher, messages in Greek and Hebrew letters, 

 an arrest-warrant with portrait of the person 

 " wanted," and a map as used by generals in 

 time of war, with the intended movements of 

 the troops marked out upon it. An impres- 

 sion of the object, writing, drawing, etc., is 

 taken in a prepared ink on a sort of silver 

 paper, which is rolled on a revolving cylinder 

 and forwarded to its destination without further 

 visible aid ! The American rival is Mr. Edison. 

 His discovery relates to that form of apparatus 

 known as the automatic or chemical telegraph, 

 in which signals are made and recorded by 

 causing the electricity to pass through paper, 

 the latter being saturated with a chemical sub- 

 stance which changes in color when the cur- 

 rent acts. In the ordinary working of this 

 form of telegraph the electricity is sent over 

 the line-wire by a key, in the usual manner, 

 and passes through a pen, stylus, or lever, 

 which has no movement, but simply rests upon 

 the paper, the latter being moved by a weight 

 or clock-work. No magnet and armature are 

 used. The salient feature in Mr. Edison's pres- 

 ent discovery is the production of motion and 

 of sound by the pen or stylus, without the in- 

 tervention of a magnet and armature. 



TENNESSEE. The movements of the po- 

 litical parties in this State were carried on 

 with unusual energy and excitement during 

 the year. 



The colored people met in State Convention 

 at Nashville, on the 28th of April. Delegations 

 from about twenty counties, situated in differ- 

 ent sections of the State, attended. A number 

 of colored speakers addressed the convention, 

 animated apparently by unfriendly feelings 

 toward the whites, even Republicans. They 

 charged the laws of the State with unjust dis- 

 criminations against their race, and urged the 

 negroes not to support, by their votes, the 

 nominee of whatever party who would not 

 pledge himself to advocate their cause, and aid 

 them in securing the attainment of the full 



measure of their rights as citizens of the United 

 States, politically and socially. They claimed, 

 in a special manner, the right of admission on 

 equal terms with the whites to all public places 

 of whatever nature ; insisting chiefly on their 

 children being admitted and taught in the pub- 

 lic schools, not separately, but with the white 

 children in the same schools. 



A series of resolutions was adopted asking 

 for the passage of the " civil-rights bill " be- 

 fore Congress, equal privileges with, whites in 

 all educational institutions, etc., and pledging 

 the convention to raise sufficient funds to se- 

 cure able counsel to obtain the release of one 

 of their color who had married a white woman 

 against the law of the State, and had been sent 

 to prison. 



The Democrats assembled in State Conven- 

 tion at Nashville, on August 19th. Before pro- 

 ceeding to action, a resolution for determining 

 the result of the ballot by a two-thirds vote 

 was offered, and, notwithstanding opposition, 

 adoped by a vote of above four yeas to one nay. 



Eleven candidates for the office of Governor 

 were put in nomination, and fourteen ballots 

 taken on them, without decisive result ; the 

 number of competitors, by the successive with- 

 drawal of names, steadily decreasing as the 

 number of ballots increased. At the fourteenth 

 ballot there remained two competitors only 

 James D. Porter, of Henry County, and James 

 E. Bailey, of Montgomery but neither of them 

 received a sufficiency of votes. The whole 

 number then cast was 948, of which Mr. Bailey 

 received 359 votes, Mr. Porter 589; necessary 

 to a choice, 632. It being then midnight, the 

 name of Mr. Bailey was withdrawn, and a 

 motion made that "James D. Porter be de- 

 clared the unanimous choice of the conven- 

 tion." The motion was put to the vote, and 

 carried amid great enthusiasm without a dis- 

 senting voice. The following platform was 

 unanimously adopted : 



The representatives of the Democratic and Con- 

 servative party of Tennessee, in convention assem- 

 bled, most cordially invite all good and true men, 

 who desire to increase the prosperity of the people 

 of the State, and preserve her honor untarnished, to 

 unite with us in carrying out the following princi- 

 ples, to wit : 



1. That all honest labor should bo protected, and 

 receive its just reward. 



2. That the burden of government should be borne 

 by the whole property of the country ; that all as- 

 sessments of taxes should be equal, uniform, and just, 

 and no improper discrimination should be made 

 against any species of property. 



3. That we favor a strict construction of the Con- 

 stitution of the United States, and insist that no 

 power should be exercised by the General Govern- 

 ment that is not clearly delegated or clearly implied 

 in the necessary exercise of the powers so delegated. 



4. That we oppose all monopolies, rings, and com- 

 binations formed for the oppression of the people ; 



