Year: 1875

-,


ms meeting me at the door with two CHR


oren hanging to each leg. He now lives ii


more imposing brick, surrounded by shad


ana shrubbery, where his half dozen chill
dren romp and play, and where he enjoys
degree OF happiness that the honors of th
senate can add little to. Judge Key is not
man OF great ability. He is not johnson,
sumner, or Conkling. But he Is an able
upright, honest man. one who will among
tue CHOSEN great OF the Nationy do abundant
credit TO bis state and himself. / have not
Deen IN tennessee nor seen a Tennesseean
lu Two months, but can imagine thas the
verdict of each citizen OF the state will be
when he hears of it. "Hell done: Kew il 3
good man." And ne is. The party news
papers, or some of them, in the north, will
ne sure to mention that he was an officer in
the southern army, and comment unfavor-
ably upon that, adding his name to the five
dozen and one who have been elected TO
congress, and work themselves into fear
that the ex-Cop federates are about to take
the country. Now, IL representative msn
are selected in the South, this can not be
avoided. The great mass of them went into
me army, and nineteen out OF twenty of the
leading men of the south.


THE REPRESENTATIVE MEN


are ex-Confederates. Until this generation
passes swsy-the Southern people being al
lowed TO send to Washington whom they
choose-I don't see how this is to beavoided
nor do see any harm in it, or anything to
make political capital or comment upon. 1t
is better that than the Southern people
should be sulky and disloyal, refusing to
take any part In the government and yield
ing but tardy obedience to force. If we are
not to be one governmant and one people
:" in all that the name implies" each state
represented by such representative men as
the people choose TO send, what was the use
OF the vast outlay of blood and money to
maintain 1t as one government? The south
ern soldiers are passing away, the genera
ton that took part in the war is disappear
ing IKE snow upon the hills, and TO see
them, IN their day, taking an active inter-
est in the government again, so far from be-
ing anything to complain about, is one OF
the hopeful signs of the times. Looking
back to the years of the war, recalling the
names of lthe southern leaders and army
oiheers, we lind them being gathered with
the silent majority so rapidly, that probably
the coming congress will contain more OF
this class than any other session of the fu-
ture. Another point worth remembering is
that the war has been over upwards of ten
years, and Col. Key is the first ex-Confeder-
ate tnat has been sent to the Senate from
tennessee. OF Union men there have
been fve-Patterson, Fowler, Brownlow,
Johnson and Cooper. When we re-
nect that the proportion of Union men to
Contederates in Tennessee was only about
one to five, it cannot be claimed that the
Confederates have crowded themselves for
ward to the extent that their numbers would
justify. Even in congress, from Tennessee,
there have been more Union men than ex-
rebels, Notwithstanding they outnumber the
Union men five to one. Judge Key is not
believe, communicate an any Church, but
has profound respect Tor the great truths of
Christianity, and in his daily walk tracks
closely the Christian course / have never
heard him swear an oath, and he is net. in
any sense, profane or vulgar mOuthed
man. He has a high sens of Justice and right
in addition to his knowledge of law
and his


DECISIONS ON THE BENCH


usually give satisfaction and stand the
scrutiny of the supreme court. In Marion
county, after the war, there was large
number OF damage suits instituted by
Union men against their rebel neighbors
for false Imprisonment, loss of property and
the like. A southern ex-soldier was held
to be liable in damage for anything that
bis command did to union man or bis
property. Orders from his superiors did
not protect him. He was lett with the bag
to bold after the coufederacy collapsed.
These suits dragged their slow length along
for wears. The ex-rebels, stripped of all
but their fenceless lands, lawed





save these. They had. indeed, 10 fight two
wars, one on the battlefield and the other
in the courts, and between the two their
condition was pitiable and forlorn. After
good deal oflawing and haggling, and ILL
feeling and expenses, all the cases were
finally submitted to Mr.. Key, on the south
ern side, and Richard Henderson, Esq, on
the Union side, in arbitration Their award
was final, and as it did not please either
party, we have the strongest possible testi-
mony that they performed their duty consci-
entiously and well. Judge Key has always
been hard-money man, and we have rea-
son to believe that the intlationists will gain
nothing by his advent to Congress.
Still he is not contractionist,
nor in favor of rush to specie
payment, when it will have to be
done over the ruin of the business interests.
Ho favors more middle course between
contraction and expansion, until the coun-
try recovers from the losses of the war, and
can resume specie payment without crash on
crash. This hasty sketch is written from
memory. That is, it is the result of my in
tercourse with Judge Key and his neighbors
and friends, extending back nearly ten
years. Many Of the facts j have from his
own lips as we would be thrown together
from time To time, particularly on the JAS
per Branch Railroad, which makes eight
miles an hour, and gives every facility for
the exchange OF observations. l have not
seen Judge Key for two months, and with
this ne has my congratulations and the wish
that he may live long and prosper.





The New York Sun says: The clothing
frm of Bsrnum Bros, of 269 Canal street,
the alleged fraudulent contractors, has ut
terly disappeared. Not long after the dis
covery that they had charged Qusrtermsster
Slack Sc, 900 for marine clothing that had
not been made, Charles Bsrnum sailed from
New Ysrk in the steamer Providence, osten-
sibly TO keep an appointment with Mr..
Higgins of Boston, who ones held the contract
of making clothing for the marine corps.
| 1t was said that some of the other passengers
heard him in the night complaining OF ieel-
| ing unwell. Certainly the next morning he
could not be found. His coat and satchel
were in his stateroom, and he had evidently
either fallen or jumped overheard in the