Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-05-02
OF wEAKLEY COUNTY.
rrEERIpeE TO BE PUT DOWN.

ETHERIDGE TO BE PUT DOWN.
Brownlow's Secretary Of State, Fletch-
err, in an address the other day in Will
hanson county, is reported to have held
this language:
Etheridge left Washington in August
last. declaring his purpose to take the
stump and urge thu overthrow OF the
State Government by force. In short,
Etheridge has done nothing but advocate
violence from the first dawn OF the pres
ent State Government down TO the
present time. By his nomination his
party have thrown down the gage OF
revolution.
Few men in America have greater
mower to influence the bad passions OF
bad men than Emerson Etheridge. Rea-
son is not his forte To prudence and
discretion he is stranger. Malignant
denunciations, bitter reproaches, infiam-
matory harangues, these are his favorite
and only weapons Now, this is the sort
of man the Conservatives have chosen to
canvass the State. Wherever he goes he
will address his appeals to the distran-
chised class. The subjugated will be
out to hear him-the ex-guerrilla will
he out to hear him-that class Of
men who are hardly restrained now from
violence will listen to his frantic dis.
courses. Wherever he goes he will be
followed and attended by violence. This
is indeed to be his business, his mission.
These outbreaks, which are inevitable,
will have to be met and put down, and
they will be put down. Does any man
suppose that Brownlow will stand idle
and see the flames of violence and sedi-
ton burning and spreading2 No, sir;
it will be his duty to extinguish the fre
wherever it breaks out, and he will not
be slow to do it. Now this is the trou-
BILE / have alluded to as only few weeks
ahead of US. | am no alarmist, for l
am not in the least alarmed. Sedition
will meet its fate, and Governor Brown
low will be elecled by 10000 or 10000
majority.
The nomination of Etheridge has sent
terror and dismay into the camp of the
Radicals His wonderful speaking power,
his great boldness and unmatched in
Auence over the popular mind, are well
known to Brownlow, and feared with
fear that bleaches paleness itself, and
sets his whole heart, soul and body to
quaking with an ague OF mortal fear.
The news of his nomination ran under
and around the tents of the enemy like
a bitter current of half-thawed water.
Gas, sometimes when burning most
noisily, suddenly fickers, sinks and
finally goes out, leaving all to darkness.
1.-THE cocks shrill clarion" sounding
from some barnyard heap in defiance of
q neighboring chicken is often cut
short by alarm in an unexpected quarter.
Life itself, lusty, rosy life, in the hight
of its power, pales into sallow death in
moment. The dearest hopes OF man,
whether of love, of fame, of power, OF
wealth, in the hour when nearest fruition,
are often dashed to the earth, and he who
cherished them reaps nothing but disaster
and ruin. But noisy gas, Pickering out
the cocks defiant note, cut short; rosy
life itself hurled down the dearest hopes
of man dashed to the earth, are not pro-
ductive of greater CONSERVATION and dis
may, than that produced upon the
Jacobin party by the nomination OF
Etheridge.
No man of their thin ranks will dare to
encounter his fiery valor on the theater
of debate. They have not a champion to
send after him, who would not be rem
dered so odious that his own friends
would be ashamed to recognize
him. This is well known, and has
been duly considered at Nashville
No attempt, it is believed, will be made
TO match him in debate But something
must be done, and what that something
is, the foregoing extract from Fletchers
speech, distinctly indicates. 1t is pre-
missed that Etheridge, by his franhc
discourses," will create " outbreaks on
the part of guerrillas and those who are
DISTINGUISHED. His attention, it is
thought, will be turned to them, and by
the pictures he will draw Of the wrongs
they endure, fire their indignations and
precipitate them into violence What
them To guard against such an emer-
geney, improvised for the occasion, the
tongue Of Etheridge must be tied, and
his mouth guarded with the bayOnets Of
Brownlow's rabble militia AHy at
tempt on his part to tell the people what
their rights are, and how, and by whom
they have been deprived of them, will
have to be met and put down" Brownlow
will not hesitate to do IT'D We tell Mr.
Fletcher that Brownlow ioiH hesitate TO
do IT, We tell him that Etheridge caH.
not be PUT dorm ezcepf By the military
forces oftLe United States, acting under
orders from the Presfdent through
Gen. Grant Even this would be a
stretch Of power, and vholly unlaWfp :