Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-04-08
TENNESSEE POLITICS.
What a Bohemian Has TO Say About
ga Strange Combinations
From the Cincinnati Commercial.

9AEAA8C OA1lDAMAEAOu
From the Cincinnati Commercial.
strange Skey note" has been struck in East
Tennessee, and goes sounding through the
State. 1t is grayely proposed to unite the
johnson party and the Republican party
for a fight against the common enemy-tLe
BOurbOns. The basis Of this union Is to
be this ticket: For Governor, Horace May
nard; for United States Senator, Andrew
johnson. The alliance is to be only tenn
pOrary, and when these distinguished men
are put into the respective positions, the
partnership is TO be dissolved bv mutual
consent, unless it should appear best to
keep it up as a permanent Bourbon fighter.
However, the main thing is to get a Repub-
liean Governor, upon the part Of the Re
publicans, and put A. j. into the United
States Senate upon the part of the johnson
men.
If the Johnson men and Republicans
would come together there is not a doubt
Of their power to swept the State. Divided
they can do nothing, but united they would
be in the majority fifteen or twenty thou
sand. Whether they can put aside ancient
prejudices and party h~umbuggery enough
to form IN alliance is another question.
The Radicals would have to feelthemSelves
in a desperate condition before they could
be brought to swallow such a dose as An
drew johnson, and the Johnson men could
not force down Maynard without making
faces worse than a Niger swallowing live
eelS. But when sore defeat awaits either
of these parties if they go to battle sepa-
rately, and when they can triumph an
along the line by uniting, it seems foolish
not to unite. Still, the ancient prejudiees
of the old hulkS Of organizations survive
wonderfully, and it may be asking too
much of the p~arty-bOund masses that they
throw them overheard fOI the sake Of
victory.
So far as Maynard M johnson are con-
cerned, they would, no doubt, be in
favor of the arrangement if they could see
nothing G~ishOnOrable in it, and there is
certainly nothing ~dishOnOrable in two par
ties uniting to relieve one party. The
thing has been done frequently; and if moth
ing more wicked happens in parties, we
should be thankful. Maynard and Johnson
10 not hate each other. They are not as
afiectiOnate, one to the other, as Damon
and Pythias Of old, but they are respectful,
and each acknowledges the ability of the
other. \ union Of the two parties, of
which each is the leader, with a prospect
that the result of the union would be the
elevation of each to coveted positions,
would not awaken a hostile feeling within
them. Quite the contrary; they would
meet at the boundary line and smoke the
pipe of peace, "buryins the dead past that
we hear so much about. There is much in
the life of each that they would like TO bury
if the arrangement could be made, and the
dirt over the sepulchre packed down well.
Maynard has a keen ambition TO be Gov
ernOr of Tennessee He looks forward to
il as a graceful rounding up Of his long
and successful career. To De merely \
Congressman does not fill the measure of
his ambition. 1t is quite a common thing
to be a Congressman, and not immensely
honorable. Maynard has been in Congress
for some fifteen years, and now he longs
for something higher and nObler. He
wants TO be Governor. He would make a
good Governor. He would preside over
the "grand old volunteer State (see
Fourth of July o~ratiOns) with becoming
solemnity and dignity. He could not
vote to raise his own salary, which is his
weak point, Gall great men have weak
pOintS,) and would, therefore, be harmless.
He would make a digni6ed and upright
figure-head for the State government, and
his messages would be able and pleasant to
read. BE would now and then pardon a
convict out of the penitentiary, and give
him a sort of a Sunday school lecture.
But he would never pardon a man who
used a knife or a pistol 20 take the life OF q
fellOw-man. He would let them hang
every time,for he is opposed to the halfciy-
ilized-nO. heatheniSh-custOm they have
of cutting and shooting. He would also
be the friend of the temperance people, Ono
Insignificant number nOw) for he is d
temperance man, and never touches liquor.
Looking at the prospect in all points Of
view, it is clear that there might a worse
Governor arise than Horace Maynard.
As for Andrew johnson We know that he
is the leader of a party Of forty thousand
voters, and that he wants to 90 to the Sen
ate. His voters aud the Republicans, if
they would form an alliance, could control
the politics Of Tennessee as etlectually as
the Republicans control Massachusetts.
Why should they not unite and take com
plete control of the 'machine?7 When
victory is within such easy reach why not 90
forth and pluck it? No harm could come
from sending johnson to the Senate. His
integrity has never been questioned, even
by his worst enemies. Throughout his
long public career he never stole anything.
never entered into any sort of a cOmbina-
lAOu " onAAu4C HO PCORANf ANhCA fNNN1 "
increase his own pay and never accepted a
present while in Office. The example Of
such a man is needed in Washington. If
he had been in the Senate last year he
would have saved three millions of dollars
to the people by defeating the passage Of
that infamous back pay steal. 1t passedby
a majority of only two or three, and ne
would have put Tennessee on record
against it instead OF for it. There was a
time in the history of that Ubiquitous
measure when the change of one Senator
would have defeated it.
The people are oppressed with debt and
taxes. The Sheriff and ~tax-gatherer 90
hand in hand over the country, and every
other man owes more than he ean pay. At
such times there is q universal desire 10 put
men in Office who believe in low salaries
and retrenchment. johnson, all his life,
has been the advocate of these, and Therein
is his strength with the tOiling masses.
Perhaps. after all, TO secure his election
the johnson men may be willing TO unite
with the Republicans, and the Republicans
to secure the election of Maynard, may be
willing to unite with the johnson party.
Stranger things have happened.
But l would not be understood as prOph-
esying anything or advocating anything.
Politics are in such q strange twist here
that nobody can tell what will happen, and
l know a few who don't care. II. Y. r.
DIR. Sehenek's Standard Remedies.