Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-08-25
THE SENATORIAL QUESTION.
Views of OVERWHELMINGLY of ahe
Tennessee Press-RhO shall Succeed

In Tennessee Press-HhO shall sueee
Fowler?
- To the Editors Of the Union and American
y MURFREEsBoRo, Aug. Gas the sen
torship seems to be such an all.absorbi
topic just now, desire to present some !
y Elections, and mention name in connectit
N with that position, which name will an
mate the countenance Of many poor wi
a ow and mother, and make the heart
many poor Confederate soldier lhrob vii
delight. Look at his noble position durir
the war Refusing all positions, both
: the Federal and Confederate cause, sayin,
8 Il cannot take Office against my kinsmal
nor will take it with them, as my cor
q science tells me they are premature. | low
. my country, and shall do all in my powe
to alleviate the distressed on both sides.
And his voice was ever heard for the IN
, fortunate; even when Federal general
, were threatening him with imprisonment
his voice was then only the more loud ii
favor OF sparing the poor Confederate VIII,
might be forced home to procure clothing
and to take care of his starving family
And while such men as Payne, Millroy anc
Dodge were numbering such Confederate
In cold blood, Cooper-the noble Edmund
Cooper-was the only friend of those op-
pressed and maltreated Confederate SOL
dlers; ably, boldly defending them, even
when his own life was threatened by those
tyrants above mentioned. There certainly is
honor due this noble-hearted man, and
evers man who loves honor and wishes me lit
to receive its true reward, is anxious to
extend 10 Edmund Cooper. Look at him
In Congress, and challenge the world to
shew his superior. Who, like him, for The
hrst time ever forced his way, and by the
force ofintellect 30 impressed himself upon
congress and the nation He passed at
once iht) the arena and showed himself a
champion for the right upon all subjects
| be Is now man that would reflect honor
on our State, and the people of his own
| redeemed Tennessee would be honored by
such representative in the United States
Senate as Edmund Cooper, of Bedford.
ALPHA.
From the Clarksville Chronicle, Aug. q.
The individual aspirations and politi~
cal fortunes of Mr.. Etheridge and Mr..
johnson are questions in which those
gentlemen are much more deeply inter-
ested than the people of Tennessee.
There never has been, and we think we
are safe in assuming that there never
will be, period in the history of our
State, when the Legislature will be at
loss to find men willing to represent the
State in the United States Senate, with
a long catalogue of what is usually
termed, in parsisan parlance, ''claims" to
the position. If we were a member of
the Legislature, there are many, very
many things which our hands would find
to do, before taking up the comparatively
unimportant work of electing q United
States Senator, and it would not grieye
US at all if the press of more important
duties should make it impossible for us
to reach the case of either johnson or
Etheridge on the calendar; and if it were
required Of US to make an entire new
party in order to accommodate either
OF the gentlemen, we should cer~
tainly postpone the whole thing to |
more convenient season. Neither
johnson nor Etheridge broke the |
manacles that bound the people
Of Tennessee. Etheridge made a can
Vass, two years ago, marked by great \
holiness and ability. Wegive him credit /
for his good intentions, and honor him |
for the fearless manner in which he de> |
nounced our oppressors. But, Judging by |
results, that canvass did US no good. |
Every blow he struck had the effect to /
weld the links in our chains, and every |
gun he fired, to close up the ranks of our
enemies. Mr.. johnson, during his ad-
ministration, was in durance vile himself, |
watched by his enemies as "a lions i
whelp that gnawed, and yet might break
his chain" Every effort made to free
himself, and to free US, resulted in closer
and reinforcement of |
the guard around us. 1t was only after
the pressure of Etheridge and johnson
was taken from the Radical party that its
forces found leisure to struggle, and the
the solid mass an opportunity to disinte
CRATE. Finding no longer an enemy in /
its front, the Radical party in Tennessee
broke into factions, and the result was, |
the race between Senter and Stokes, and |
the consequent redemption Of our people. |
Brownlow refused to enfranchise the /
people, because he knew they would vote |
against him. Senter enfranchised them |
because he knew they would vote for |
him. The infamous franchise law proved |
a two>edged sword In the hands of |
Brownlow, it was welded to the destruc-
ton of public hberty-in the hands of /
Senter, to sever the cords that bound /
the people. Both Brownlow and
Senter were actuated by the same
motive, TO wit, a seat in the /
gubernatorial chair. And we regard |
the franchise law, framed with Internal
cunning by the enemies of the people, as
affording a striking illustration of the
declaration Of Scripture "Surely the
wrath of man shall praise thee; the res
mainder of wrath shall thou restrain
We have no particular objections to urge
against either johnson or Etheridge, so
far as their course since the war is con-
cerned, but we earnestly insist that the
matutinal hymn of our deliverance from
Radical bondage should be inscribed to
neither of those distinguished gentlemen.
and we enter our caVeat against signaling
our roca nt redemption by a sQuabble over
their respective merits.
From the Jackson Wing, Aug q.
We very much fear that the intern,
perate discussion of the senatorial ques-
ton, before the meeting of the Legisla.
ture, will find that body assembling,
very much more divided than the people
were pending the late election.
In some quarters, the claims of ex-
President johnson are urged with con-
siderable vehemence, while in others,
those of Emerson Etheridge, Bale Pey-
ton and Ed. Cooper, are presented with
a great deal of earnestness. We are not
in the least disposed to enter the lists as
the friend or advocate of any of them 1t
is no disparagement to any Of the rest of
the aspirants, to say that Mr.. johnson is
Q man with more talent than any of
them, and that other things being equal,
he ought to be elected. But then, very
grave doubt arises as to whether other
things are equal For ourself, if we were
to occupy a seat in the Legislature
which, letus say by way parenthesis,
nothing could induce us to dove should
wait till we had time to compare notes
with our fellOw-members, before we
should become the champion Of any one.
Etheridge, Peyton and Cooper are all
good men-above the average-we /
should not be grieved to see either of
them occupy the seat in the Senate now
held by Mr.. Fowler. What we wish to
say is that it will be piece of folly for
the people of Tennessee, who have Just
achieved a signal political deliverance,
if they suffer that victory to be obscured |
by an unworthy wrangle among the VIC
tors for place and power, or endanger it
by thrusting personal ambition into the
nlaces Hhara nothing but the unrest |