Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-09-17

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more prominent position in the minds
Of the party controlling the Govern
ment than any other considerations,
andif personally obnoxious to them,
he is powerless to accomplish any
good or carry any measure, without
saying an unkind word of Mr.. John
son, it may he affirmed with great
certainty that he could serve the peO-
pie of Tennessee less than any man
whom the State could send, it would
afford him an opportunity, perhaps,
of vindieating himself from a great
wrong, a wrong which the judgments
of all cOnsiderate men will hereafter
condemn, and as to which history
Will vindicate him more successfully
than he can himself. In the mean
time, Tennessee is vitality interested
in three of the greatest measures now
agitating the public mind. The
Southern Pacific Railroad, the Mis-
sissippi levees, and direct trade with
Europe from Norfolk or some other
Southern seaport. Mr.. Johnson
would be utterly powerless to aid
either of them.
Again, by ali the rules of fairness,
West Tennessee is entitled to the
Senator. Though nominally elected
from West Tennessee, the late Gov.
Jones, as is well known, was a Mid
die Tennessee man, was the cheice of
that portion of the State, and was in
fact elected in opposition to the wishes
of West Tennessee; Sc that West Ten
nessee has in fact never been repre-
scented in the Senate Of the United
States, East Tennessee is now Over-
loaded with honOrs. She has the out
going Senator-GoV. BrownlOW-for a
long term, and the Governor of the
State. If the people of the whole
State are TO be served by her Senators,
and not the individual, eX-President
| Johnson, surely East Tennessee is
out of the question. In West
Tennessee the name of the
Hon. Emerson Etheridge has
been prominently mentioned in con-
nection with the Senatorship. Many
of the same objections applicable to
MI. Johnson apply to him. However
Objectionable to a great many pennes-
seeans, Gov. Brownlow is one of her
Senators, and as such, it would be i'm
possible that he and Mr.. Etheridge
could ever harmOnize. The canvass
of 1867 is too recent, and, on the part
of Mr.. Etheridge, too bitter to admit
any probability of such an event. Mr..
Etheridge also canvassed the State in
1868. His speeches during those two
years made him prominently ObnoX-
iOus to the Administration party, and,
if elected, he would go to Washington
with a deep-rOOted prejudice against
him.
But why send Mr.. Etheridge to
Washington as Senator? Perhaps no
man in Tennessee is more VIGOROUSLY
known than the "HOn. EN-" No
personal unkindness prompts this ex-
preston, but personal candor will
compel any one who knows him
10 admit that he is totally wanting
in the elements. that should make up
a Senator. At the hastings, in the
courthouse square of a country town,
he is inimitable and potential, but
without personal dignity. The jokes,
anecdotes and g~estioulatiOns that
amuse the crowd at a stump speaking
would be sadly out of place in the
United States Senate, and if deprived
of these embellishments the Hon. En-.
would only be poor chanticleer with
his gay feathers stripped OFF.
Mr.. Etheridge has been q great deal
in public life, and to do him justice,
has been as consistent as most public
men, but his record does not point to
a single measure of public interest
that he ever originated or carried
through. mall his public life he has
contented himself by simply going
with his party. To-day, inTennessee,
Mr.. Etheridge has no party. At
Washington he would have neither
personal or party influence, and like
Mr.. Johnson, would be pOwerless
70 serve the State. 1t is not
the purpose of the article to make
war upon any man. 1t proposes sim
ply to direct public inquiry to the fact
whether there is not some man in
West Tennessee with capacity to
serve the State with honor, and who
would go to Washington with the con-
fidence Of the people of the State
without having made himself person
ally obnoxious to that party which
controls the affairs of the Govern
ment by so large a majority that it is
impossible to carry through Congress
any Of the great measures in which
Tennessee is so much interested with
out the aid of that party. i e