it would be a violent eruption or a peaceful change through constitutional means, no one could foresee. In the great crowd which gathered at the Capitol to hear the inaugural address, there was noticed by the press reporters a number of distinguished Southern leaders. This in itself was considered a harbinger of the coming storm. The address proved disappointing to all. It was expected that the Governor would give some intimation of the policy he intended to pursue, but he simply expressed his appreciation of the office to which he had been elevated, and his desire to see peace and prosperity restored to the State.
There was little of interest in the character or career of the new Governor. He was born in Granger County in 1833. His father, William F. Senter, had represented the Second Congressional District in the Twenty-eighth Congress. Although Governor Senter had been chosen Speaker of the Radical Senate he had never shown himself an extreme partisan. He had even been a member of the secession Legislature of 1861; but Congress had relieved him of his political disabilities on the 22d of December, 1868. It was therefore with a hopeful expectancy that the people of Tennessee hailed his advent into the office of Governor.
But before Governor Senter could make any change in the administration, the State was plunged into a heated campaign to elect his successor. He was entitled by the Constitution to serve out Brownlow's unexpired term, but only a few months remained of that. His aspirations naturally went beyond his brief pro tem. term, and he, therefore, announced his intention of becoming a candidate subject to the approval of the Union party.
A new candidate soon appeared in the person of W. B. Stokes. Mr. Stokes was the Representative of the Third District in Congress. His record had been somewhat similar to that of Governor Senter. At the beginning of the war he had identified himself with the secession move-
