Nashville Union And Dispatch

Soldiers' Seymour and Blair Club -

Meeting Last Night - A Noble Talk from Gen. Dawson.

The meeting in their new hall in the fourth story of the Union And Dispatch block last night, was largely attended. President Cahill in the chair. In the absence of the Secretary, A. Robertson, was appointed Secretary pro tem. Constitution and by-laws of the Club were read and adopted. The Secretary having arrived, the minutes of previous meeting were read and unanimously adopted. President Cahill made a short address, after which the meeting was addressed by Gen. A. R. Z. Dawson, a gallant soldier of the Federal army, as follows:

FELLOW-SOLDIERS: There are many things I can do much better than making a speech. It is very seldom I have attempted to address any of you in my life. When I am talking to men who have periled their lives on many of the blood-stained battle plains of our land, I am talking to men who, when they speak, speak in earnest. I am not a party man. True, I had my preference in politics in years gone by. But now politics have become something so corrupt, that men must examine carefully and see what is right, what is going to subserve the interest of the people and of the country, without looking to political matters. If we find our party right and the other wrong, we should support the right and forsake the wrong. I consider the United States of America as my country. I was a soldier of the Northern army and served for the United States government. I believe that you of the South were sincere in fighting on the other side, and I believe that you were mistaken. And I also believe that there lives no true Federal soldier who does not believe that you fought in good faith. [Applause.] I think there is no man in whose bosom throbs love for the Union of our fathers, no man who desires to show to the old world that a great and glorious republic can and will exist, to-day, that cannot with a clear conscience welcome the men who laid down their arms and declared their allegiance for the United States government. I never was a Democrat before; never in my life have voted that ticket. There are two tickets presented to me to-day, and I am asked to vote for one of them. One of them is headed by Gen. U. S. Grant, the other by Horatio Seymour, of New York. I challenge any Federal or Confederate soldier to show one instance of mistreating prisoners at the front. Cowards are always tyrants, and the cowards mistreated the prisoners. Brave men never did. [Applause.] Under the laws of the State of Tennessee the majority of the Confederate soldiers cannot vote in the election. I trust, however, that you will have the right. I am willing that they should vote after submitting as peacefully as you have to persecution and to the laws of the Legislature of the State. I am willing to say that such true conduct was never shown in the world. [Great applause.] We have in our midst a great many men who are injuring the chances of the election of Seymour and Blair. Those men are not the men that fought for the Federal or Confederate cause; they are the men who stayed at home during the war. They are a revolutionary party in every sense of the word. In the State of Tennessee we cannot expect to look to carry the State for Seymour and Blair, unless the franchise law is repealed; but we can set an example that will make great majorities in the Northern States. Every loyal man that is killed (?) in the Press and Times is two hundred and fifty by the time it reaches the city of Cincinnati. [Gentlemen, I have not been able to speak as I wish. All I have to say to you is, that we must conduct ourselves as soldiers. We know too well the "boys in gray" whom we met, and know what they are made of.] [Great applause.]

The Committee on Constitution and By-Laws was discharged. Motion to elect five Vice Presidents prevailed, and resulted in the following selections: Geo. A. R. Z. Dawson, Major Tompkins, Robt. McKenzie, Claiborne Murray and Terry Cahal. A Sergeant-at-Arms was elected. Col. Jno. Frizzell offered the following resolution, which was carried without a dissenting voice, in the midst of loud cheering:

Resolved, That while we deprecate and despise the miserable and contemptible despotism which the party in power in Tennessee has imposed upon a majority of the white people of the State; that while we believe the franchise law of Tennessee to be not only oppressive and unjust, but also unconstitutional and consequently void, still we can but feel that our best interests as a people demand that everybody in the State shall strictly obey the law until it shall be legally abrogated, and that any attempt at forcible resistance, or any violation of laws, would be, in our opinion, improper and impolitic, and we pledge ourselves to do all in our power to prevent any such result.