Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-01-12
DAVID ATCHISON.

The New York Times presents the following
true picture OF this iavoritc of the Administration
the third member Of the firm Of Pierce, Doug
las, Atchison, andStringGellow
Comparative physiology has no difficulty in
classifying such characters as that Of the cX-Ircsi-
dent Cf the Senate. lie belongs to a species ia
milan to all residents in the West. They are
found in every Gar-room, and turn up inevitably at
political meetings or the County Court. They are
usually small lawyers, Of Democratic professions
and vile habits; affecting vulgaTity Of dress, man
|ners, and association, in order to rid themselves Of
any suspicious of aristocIatic pretension, against
which the u.ihcwn and unkempt soul Of the rrai-
RE have an inplacable prejudice. They may lie
seen lettering from their log Offices to The black
smith shop, Or the 'squirc's, or the tavern, stock
ingless, shoes down at heel, c%oatless, a hugo quid
OF tobacco i'll the check. or Il cigar flaming from
one corner Of the mouth. They may he heard
staggering and clustering wherever I. lazy village
audience can be gathered together, unsparing in
profanity, and as ready with Il blow or n bowie
knife as with the tongue. Their practice is more
extensive at the bnr-rUom and the barrel, than as
Oarristers. They take the Gnly daily paper re-
cciyed in the town, and are on hand to read it,
when the mail arrives, to an a|dmiTing audience,
who accept the text and the running commentary
of the village politician with equal dociiity. They
can talk, and are, therefore, delegates to all sorts
of conventions; they can quarrel, and are, there
fore, the men to stump n District, or the State, as
ulSputantS Nestcrn-Wlse, were opposing candl-
dates hunt for votes in couples. The only capital
needed for entire success in the trade is impudence
yolubility, blackguardism, profanity, drunkenness,
icrocity. and the reverse Of any picture reprcsen.
tative OF a gentleman; and so qua flied, the from
tier lawyer and politician is a rising man.
And such n man is this Atchison--a poor speci
men Of the class, however, because, wholly void of
that talent which is not one Of its rarest charnc-
teristics. We can recall no record of any public
man so destitute of merit as his. Noisy and brawl-
ing in the lobby, lie has been notcless for anything
wise or well-said in the Senate Chamber. The
Congressional Globe would have helped his fame
by leaving blanks after each recurrence of his
name. His presence indeed is a perpetual tribute
to the long-sufcrinS of the Senate. 1t has exre-
rience Of small men. Petit, OK Indiana, has been
there, small in name and kind; Norris, Of New
Hampshire, was there. Men have been there
like Jarnegin, Of Tennessee, whose luckless vote
on the Tariff killed him and it-whose good name
has been sold for nothing; blockheads and bullies
have been there, like Borland.-a human extract
of both; and mean men have been there, like that
Pennsylvania statesman whose devotion to rail
road speculation contributed to the loss Of Kansas
and Nebraska to freedom. But the history of the
Senate records no instance where it has enjoyed
the society and sweet counsel Of n member so
thoroughly accomplished in l%t.le. mean, stupid,
rufianly attributes, as this frontier pettifoggcr.