Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-01-29
The Party lash,

The Party Lash.
In the American of the Goth inst.
is a severe criticism on Mr.. Buchan-
an, who, on the twenty-eighth ballot,
voted for Hon. Horace Maynard for
United States Senator. Among 9th
er things we extract the following:
OF the pale. trembling fl znre when
| arose yesterday in Couver ton, hail
| shrinking from it's own conceived
| treason, we have nothing t. say, ex-
celt that there is yer time t pause be-
fore the deed is done. O The VIOLA
ton of the trust there is much to say
We know the mise rabie excuses made
by those who are ashamed of the trea.
son they would profit by. When 3
man runs as a d smocrat he owes
duty to the Democrats who elected
him. Ii he received Republican votes
1t was as Democrat. No man ever
deludes himself on his point. The
trust is trust until the duty ia done;
then he may change his politics and
accept new trust if he will.
Such expositions of representa-
tive's duties and obligations are an
insult to an intelligent public, and
disgrace to the author who penned
them. To confne the exercise of
mans judgment while acting under
his official oath as the representative
of a county, and in a matter affect
ing the State and nation at large,
within so narrow a rut of blind par
tisanship, makes an independent
mind shudder. It is such narrow
views that have brought about so
much bitterness and blindness in the
political world. The rule laid down
by the American is by no means the
measure of representative duty to
his constituents. 1t cannot be con-
fined within any such narrow limits.
Mr.. Buchanan is not only the &C
credited representative of the
Democrats of Lawrence county.
He is, at the same time,
the legal and sworn representative
of the qualified voters of Lawrence
county, whether they be high-tax or
low-tax Democrats, Republicans or
Greenbackers. The election of a
United States Senator is no local
matter. The entire people of the
State are equally concerned in having
fit representative in the Senate;
and a Senator when elected repre-
sents the people of the State, and
not solely and purely the Democrats,
who elected him, If such were the
measure of their responsibility,
minority has no rights that major
ity is bound to respect. Other things
being equal, representative elected
as Democrat ought to vote for q
Democrat; but, to lay down rule
that robs man of all independence
and makes him the galley-slave of a
caucus or a newspaper, is carrying
party tyranny beyond the limits
of any honest and indepen~
dent mans endurance. Such
dictation ought not to be submitted
to. It makes intelligent representa-
tives mere puppets in the hands Of
INSCRIPTIONS and grasping politi-
clans, and allows them no freedom of
thought or action. Taking the
American at it's own announcement
of political duties-and its denuncia-
ton of Mr.. Buchanan is very wide
of the mark-it must remember
that there are Democrats high-tax,
and Democrats low-tax, and the gulf
between them is wide and impassa-
BILE. Strictly applying the rule laid
/ hu 10
Buchanan applied it to himself), and
we find no fault in him. He was
elected by the low-tax Democrats,
and was personally pledged never
to vote for a high-tax Democrat.
Therefore, he 'owed a duty to the
Democrats who elected him, and GER
tainly as between high-tax Democrats,
whom he was pledged expressly
never to vote for, and Republicans,
whom he was not pledged to vote
against, he had the right to exercise
his own judgment as to who he
thought would best serve the State,
Mr.. Maynard OR Mr.. Bailey. He
was certainly under no greater obi
cation to high-tax Democrats than
he was to Republicans, all of whom,
if any, voted for him as low-tax
Democrat. We opine that the secret
of the Americans flashing is that Mr..
Buchanan was not a Bailey Demo-
crat, and it merely seeks cover under
general terms, and a very narrow
and contracted and .pernicious view
of Mr.. Buchnan's official obligations,
to make him feel the party lash, and
particularly the power of the Ameri-
can to use it. We very much Dope
cate the fact that any such political
heresy should find utterance in a pape,
of the admitted influence and ability
of the American.
The sooner such party shackles
are shaken of, and men are allowed
!, some liberty and some conscience in
exercising their duties as the people s
servants, the better it will be for the
country. Such teaching, when prac.
tically applied, makes slaves of the
minority, and has no foundation in
anything aside from the Democratic
theory and practice that "to the
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