Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1872-06-22
Hon. J. ID. & Atkins and EmersO
EtheFidgc.

! D1SA1 III w = NAO AAOA DLAANHN AAAeAA
our personal regard for him, great
as it is, affects our judgment of his
ability, at this juncture, to serve the
people with usefulness and distinc-
| ton. General Atkins, in dRte6sI-
lam times, was q Democrat. He
| was neutrality-suspicious. his old Wing
oppOnents.regarded him as bitter
one-but many of them will attest
| that he bore the triumphs of his
party with modesty, and submitted
to its reverses without complaint.
His name has been identified with
the Democratic party for score of
| years; and during all this time his
commanding powers caused to. be as
signed a leadership in the most
memorable and exciting campaigns
in the annals of the State His name
| will long be honoraby associated
| with those traditions which now con-
| stitute the chief boast i'll the old DEM
ocratic party. Since the war, Gene
raj Atkins has devoted himself
mainly to rural pursuits and to
! books. Though never indifferent
to public affairs, he has so deported
himself as to win the good opinion
of those against whom he was ar
rayed during the war. lie knew all
that was implied in accepting the
situation" and his voice has been
heard only in counselling modera-
tion- Quick to perceive how slow
ly communities emerge from the de-
moTalizatiOn of civil war, and rea-
LIKING the importance of material
advancement in promoting the
growth of public morals, he has set
an example of temperance, industry
and obedience to the law. General
Atkins is now in the prime of life.
Thoroughly educated, and always
a student, he has long since emerged
from the purlieus of mere politics
to that higher plane which should
be occupied by statesmen alone
His rare natural powers as debater
have been tried and tested in histO-
ric campaigns; they have caused him
to rank among the foremost orators
of the State. The people of West
Tennessee will never forget the con-
test between General Atkins and
Emerson Etheridge. for it assumed
a national Importance on account of
the talent and popularity of the as
pirants. The district was closely
contested. Etheridege's friends
chung to him with an idolatrous de-
VOtiOn. Atkins infused into his fol-
lowers much of his own ardent and
enthusiastic nature, and if money
could then, as now, control
elections, a million of dollars would
have been laVished in the canvas by
the respective friends of the two
candidates. AS a speaker, Atkins
at once makes his way to the heart.
He throws his whole soul into every
sentence, and his impetuous spirit
often seems to chafe and fret in its
conscienciOusness to convince. But
when he opens his great intellect
upon an audience, it is fountain OF
living waters. The current of grand
and imprisoned thought rolls on
like the eternal thunder of Niagara.
Once aroused, every fibre of his fra
gile and nervous frame seems quiy-
ering with intense excitement. No
man speaks with more mesmeric ar
dor. He has huge apparatus for
thinking, and he thinks deeply,
earnestly on every subject which he
attempts, and thoroughly imbues
his mind with his theme before he
appears on the rostrum. His elo-
quence is not only adapted to move
the multitude, but to interest the
intellectual few, who are capable of
receiving and digestiug sound logic,
deep philosophy, and huge masses
of thought. If he has not schoolea
his own he has studied the hearts of
other men, and no one understands
all the enemies of human feeling
and sympathy. Indeed the majesty
of his mind is only equalled by the
| tranScendent noblencss of his heart.
We regard General Atkins as one OF
the ablest men in Tennessee, and
his popularity and usefulness is
needed and will be transferred to the
Congress of the United States.
To describe Emerson Etheridge,
General Atkins old rival, but now
enthusiastic friend, is like gliding
refined gold, or painting the lilly
lie alone furnishes his own parallel.
Indeed, Etheridge may be compared
to that monster the prophet saw in
his vision, and which had eyes all
over. He commands words like .
magician, and thoughts like an en-
peror. The mind of some intellect
ual giants seem TO be stagant re-
seryoir, and the eXhaustless treas
ures slumbCr fathOms down in their
native beds. The intellect of all
such are as bright as diamonds, but
the precious wealth seems to be hid
den in quartz rock, i'll deep noun
tain gorges, OF pent up in dark and
| sUbterranean caverns, from which
IL can be extracted only by dint of
pick-aXc and mattock, or some
slow and labOriOus process. But
the intellectual riches of Emerson
| Etheridgc's mind arc boarded up in
| rouleaux of coin, and come into the
world stamped and prepared for i'm
mediate use. While others are sink
ing their shafts by slow and tedious
boring, Etheridge smites the rock
with his magic rod, and streams of
! living water, fed by currents which
| have their sources on the mountain
/ submits, gush forth. Etheridge
| can be compared to a numbering
wagon, provided the wagon be fill
ed with gold. His craniHm is well
stored with sound, dry fuel, and he
/ knows how to light has own fires
/ In a word, he is one of those Titans
| who, in public speeches or in con-
versatiOn, are always tumbling
| down massive fragments of Urignali-
| ty, thus causing much foaming and
! splashing in the stagnant streams of
mems thoughts and prejudices.-
Etheridge has, uuquestiOnably, one
the brightest intellects that ever
| famed and flashed in the American
| Union. He,is a walking encyclopedias
Of politics, religion and literature,
and in discussing any of these sub
ject> he can impart knowledge, for
! tify all his positions by q logic that
cannot bc overturned, while con-
StautIy bringing new things out of
Old, developing fresh beauties, and
exposing hidden absurdities. His
thoughts arc not only classic and
sparkling. but compact and solid.
1t is not surprising that . contest
betW cen two such men as we have
thus described should produce such
a profound interest throughout the
country. But the issues that engen-
dcrCd the conflict have passed away,
and Atkins and Etheridge are sworn
friends and boon companions. Never
were two men more alike. while
they widely differ in many particu-
lars, They We're both poor boys,
and are self-u4de men Neither
literally educated, each the proiec-
u b. /. Z