Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1861-04-05


DSA. AS the time is near at hand when some one
must be chosen to represent this county in the next
General Assembly, and its session bids fair to be
the most important one yet held in the State, the
people ought to be casting about for the man for the
OCCASION Apart from the important business of re-
districting the State, no foresee the grave
questions that may arise in reference to our Federal
relations. We are adrif upon sea OF uncertainty,
and wise heads, stern wills and patriotic hearts are
demanded for the occasion. Incompetent legisla-
tors have been the curse of our whole political
system, and the cause of the crying evils which
threaten its total destruction; and the remedy-if
to be found at alllies in the substitution of pru-
dent vigilance for that criminal indifference, on the
part of the people, which has long characterized
their choice of men for the most responsible posi-
tons under our system of Government From
President down to Constable the same fatal mistake
has been made. Is he honest is he capable are
questions deemed not worth asking and, instead,
the only inquiry has been-to what party does the
candidate belong? The consequence is, that the
Government ha been most corruptlv administered,
and instead of government of the people, we have
had government of party scarcely more national
than the present sectional Administration and GER
tainly not less proscrpive of the minority or in
tolerant of an honest difference of opinion.
Tennessee, as an integral part of great system,
is as little to blame any State for the melanchol-
ly failure of our institutions nevertheless, her
skirts are not clear, and in common with all the
Others, she must share the common blame as well
as the consequences of the unfortunate disregard
the planes dictates of prudence. Craftsmanship is
the result of experience acting upon mind natu-
rally strong and well stored with knowledge Of hui
man nature-the wants Of societY-the rights Of
man, and as no one has ever yet mastered the art
of government it will at once be seen how rare
statesmen must be, and how utterly impossible it is
to find even the approximate qualifications OF
craftsmanship in every who aspires to the posi-
ton of a legislator. Under government like ours
or, indeed, any other, it not be expected that
every office will he filled by a man with quail
iications adequate to its most perfect administra-
tom but by the necessary vigilance the people can
better guard their rights and promote their inter
ests than they have heretofore done under the lead
of political jobbers and the foolish policy of rota
ton in office. There is nothing that should more
particularly engage the attention of the people thar
the proper administration of their government vel
it seems to be the least of their cares and they
evince far mere soiciude, and manifest more wis
dom in the choice Of an overseer or the selection o
horse, than in the choice of any Oficer-from the
lowest to the highest Is it any wonder. then, that
corruption abounds, in every department, and wis
dom, in none? Is it any wonder that the masses
are contaminated by example in high places, and
that the government is tumblng to pieces from
sheer rottenness2 1t would be reversing the order
of cause and effect were it otherwise.
We throw out these suggestions because auothe
election sat'hand, and with faint hope that tn
people may be aroused to the contemplation Of thei
duties as citi2cnsof free government, and induced
to forego all party predilections-any and ever,
consideration that may tend to turn them ava,
from faithful discharge of their high and impor
tant trusts, They have been mere partizans, am
the dupcs of dcmagogucs long enough--let then
eradicate the ignohe feeling free themselves iron
The humiliating bondage and, ms freemen, resoly
that their agents, in whatever capacity, shall Ia
honest and capable. Had this policy been pursue
from the beginning down to the present date, not
single star, H. our political armament, would hav
shot from its sphere, and an would have been peace
. prosperity and progress.
s Co.
b B,ay" For the 10th and lth volumes Of the "Ne,
4 American Cyclopedis' we are indebted to the agen
Mr., Merrill, who is distributing them at the drug
= store uf Thomas & Brother. These volumes ar
b the worthy successors of those that have gon