Norfolk day book. [volume] (Norfolk and Portsmouth Va.) 1868-1880, 1869-10-26
TUESDAY, MORNING, Oct. &c, 1869.
THE TENNESSEE SENATOR.

The order of new men in the South
seemssto be gaining strength rapidly
and it appears in most ali cases that
good able men are brought forward. In
the case Of the members of the Virgins
Legislature and their election of United
States Senators, together with the Con-
gsessneu elected by the people of this
State we have mostly new men, that is
men whose political record is clean and
uuobjectionable. The record Of these
man is such that the extra loyalists'
cannot 60 before the country with a
plea for their rejection from position,
aor can the radical Southern element
object to them if reason and common
sense enter at all into the consideration
Of the subject. They are Conservative
men, taken from the ranks of thar class
whom the people design to use to. squeloh
radicalism from both sections.
In taking such men for rulers here
after, Virginia has led off. and Tennessee
has followed, Andy Johnson the agi.
tasor, the great Andy johnson man,
who thought that all the Southern
leaders should be hung in order to
make treason odous," and who year
hsfore last split With General Grant
because be would not allow him an op-
postupity to hang Gen. R. e. Lee, aad
who has since determined to run in on
the Southern .creduhty, has lately come
to grief through the carrying out of this
programme III Tennessee. The Hon.
Henry Cooper, q gentleman Of con-
siderable talent and political sagacity
onsted Andy from the comfortable posi-.
lion Of the United States Senator from
that State, position which Andy and
his friends would have bet largely on
his securing. The World speaks of Mr..
Cooper as follows:
The successor to Senator Joseph S.
Fowler on the 14th Of March, 1871, will
be- Henry Cooper, at present member
of the State Senate of Tennessee. Mr..
Cooper is a native of Maury County and
IS nearly so years old. He removed to
Bedford County when a young man and
for several years represen ted the district
in which that county is situated, in the
lower branch Of the Legislature. During
the late war be was strong, though not
violent, Union man, and received from
Governor Andrew johnson the appoint
nent of Judge in one of the State
courts. During his term on the bench
ne sought several times to resign but his
resignation was not accepted and Gov
srnor Brownlow, III a message to the
Legislature, referred to him as one Of
the purest and most upright members
Of the State Judiciary and, though OPP
posed to him politically, earnestly pro-
tested against his retirement. In 1856,
however, he accepted chair in the
faculty of the Cumberland University,
at Lebanon, He was chosen to the State
Senate SIS Senter Conservative at the
recent election, beating his Radical op-
ponent by q large majority. Judge
Cooper has been regarded in Tennessee
as one of the rising statesmen of the
Southwest, and is very widely esteemed
for his eminent abilities and spotless
character. He is personal friend of
ex-President johnson, and has voted for
him for Senator in every ballot. His
brother, Edward Cooper, lately men,
Der of Congress and now a State Senator
was, for some time, Mr.. Johnson's
private secretary. The new Senator is
a man of small stature, with a good
personal presence and an extremely
aHable manner. It has been supposed
that he was unambitious of the homo,
now thrust upon him, for he is modest
and somewhat difident, and has not
permitted his friends to canvass for him
az candidate. He seems to have been
taken up at the last moment by the
combined opposition of ex-Confederates
and extreme Radicals as the only man
capable of defeating Andrew Johnson
and his election was probably as unex-
pected to him 80 it is to the country al
large.
Mr.. Cooper is Que of the ablest lawyers
10 Tennessee. He was one Of Military
Governor Johnson's appointees to the
judiciary, and was commended for integ.
rity as an officer by Governor Brownlow
in message to the Legislature. lie
gave decision in the Sherbrooke-Rid'
ley case, now pending in the United
States Supreme Court, that our fran
chise ia unconstitutional. On retiring
from the bench he became Professor al
the Lebanon Law School, and after
regainiug that position removed tc
Nashville.
---$ o. So
RA-It is said that Presby teriar