Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-01-13

ILLS ToSulG udGlOua1 u0uOCIdCy WAS
left without a leader, without rudder
or compass; and to-day the party |
stands off from land, terror-stricken
almost, awaiting the birth or advent
of some intrepid hero to grasp the
helm and save it from utter destruc.
ton. This is the condition of the
national democracy. It is by no
mean encouraging.
Let us come nearer home. len
nessee democracy has now more than
forty aspiring men, either OF whom
is willing and anxious to ''stand
sponsor" for the good and bad deeds
Of the party, if he can only secure
the right. What is that right?
Office. What Office? Not governor,
to be sure, for that question is
settled for two years at least, and
Alvin Hawkins holds the reins. Not
comptroller, for that is non-political.
Not treasurer, for that, too, is not
the place leader likes to fill; nor
even yet secretary of state, for he
is merely a governors clerk, as it
were. What then? Why, United
States senator, of course; a great
office; a place in the most dignitied
body of men that sits upon earth
higher than any Legislative assembly
in the world. You can count upon
your fingers forty men in the Ten
nessee democracy who are losing
sleep Of nights because the night
mare of senatorial ambition has
seized upon them, and the scramble
is going to be one to disgust the in
dependent men who have heretofore
acted with the party, and cause them
to consider whether it is not better
to cut loose from such an organiza-
ton, where all are leaders and but
few are left to follow. And now [
come to the point in this communi~
cation-the idea which inspired it.
There is growing sentiment in
the south in favor of breaking up the
old party lines and igatures, and
adopting liberal, progressive policy,
and of giving to the administration
of Gen. Garfield the cordial support
of the southern people.
That the independent, liberal pol
icy is going to prevail is shown in
the state of Georgia, where, with her
10000 democratic majority, Gov. Joe
Brown, who was an ardent supporter
elected to succeed i G6F Eaa56iHfA}RH"Tt iig
senate, and in Alabama, where
Pugh, one of the most advanced
and progressive Independent think
ers in the south, is elected to fill the
place recently occupied by Senators
Houston and Pryor. When such
men as these go to the senate the
omen is good. [ have been thinking,
and there are hundreds of democrats
who hold the same view, that the
best thing Tennessee could do just
now in order to place her in the line
of the states which are taking this
forward step is to elect a very
able, wise and well~matured senator,
and as the leaders of Tennessee
democracy are all aspirants, and but
few of them capable, about the best
thing the independent democrats in
the legislature can do is to cast their
ballots for Hon. Morace Maynard.
There is not a man in the world who
will question his honesty, his purity,
the unrightness of his character or
his transcendant abilities. There
was time when Mr.. Maynard was
Objectionable to all democrats, but
his age has softened the asperities of
his nature and banished any preju-
dices he might have entertained.
His long experience in public life,
and the various stations he has filed,
have given him a knowledge of our
system that but few men ever attain.
He has come to that period by rea-
son of his close connection with pub
lie affairs during the past twenty
years.
When men lose sight of the mere
things which attach to Office, and
pass on into that higher and better
plane of politics which we are taught
to know is statesmanship-a period
when all effort is directed to the
wiping out of sectional lines and a
cementing of the broken fragments
of country into one grand, har
monious whole. In point of public
experience, coupled with deep rea-
soning power and power of forcible
expression, Mr.. Maynard stands to-
day without peer in the United
States. What he is, is what there
is of man who carved it for him
self. He is known throughout the
union, and no man in Tennessee
would command anything like an
equal degree of attention in the
senate chamber. His sound financial
views, his experience in thepostofice
department, and his long term of
service in Congress, all conspire to
pre-eminently fit him for the place
to be filed. He is an old man now,
and with his well-matured, well>
settled and super-excellent mind, his
election would be a credit to the
state, and give Tennessee some con-
sideration at the hands of the