Walker was of ardent temperament, great abilities, strong will, intense application, and was soon, at the Bar, among the first lawyers in the State.  He wanted the softness and genial qualities of Quitman, but was superior to him mentally; and in prompt, decisive action his was the stronger character, and controlled.  Quitman, being intimately associated with the leading men of the party supporting Mr. Adams, had adopted their opinions and politics; Walker was an ardent supporter of Jackson, and claimed to be the first man who brought forward his name for the Presidency, when he was a citizen of Pennsylvania.  Soon after the election of General Jackson, Quitman, displeased with Mr. Clay, abandoned his Whig associates, and united himself with the Democratic party, and from that time until his death was a devoted Democratic partisan.  These two men exercised, perhaps, more influence in the State than any others of their day.

Robert H. Adams and William B. Griffith, who were considered the ablest members of the Bar in the State, died young, and in the opening of their political career.  Adams was a man of remarkable ability.  He was a native of East Tennessee, and was a mechanic, with limited education, and without one single advantage save his talents.  He came a stranger to Natchez, and in a few years was eminent in his profession, and intellectually one of the first men in the State—­a man of fine appearance, with large head, and intellectual features.  He was sent by the city of Natchez to the Legislature of the State, and such was the impression upon the members of his great abilities, that they, at the ensuing session, elected him to the United States Senate.  He served but one session, but made, in that short period, a high reputation with the first minds of the nation.  Returning home, he resumed his profession; and, after severe fatigue during the heated period of summer, he imprudently drank too freely of ice-water, and died from its effects.

There was, at this time, no man of more promise in all the country.  He was but thirty-eight years of age, and, without patronage or patrimony, had risen from the cooper’s shop to a distinguished position in the Senate of the United States.

Griffith preceded him to the grave one or two years, a victim of yellow fever.

Quitman and Walker came now prominently before the people.  They resided in Natchez, and there was a strong prejudice in the east and the north of the State against the people of that city and the County of Adams.  There were quite a number of families, in the city and county, of large fortunes.  These were exclusive in their associations.  With one or two exceptions they belonged to the Whig party, but none of them aspired to political preferment.