Columbia democrat and star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1867, 1867-02-13
A REMARKABLE TRIO.
An EngIfShTnan's Idea Of Jack
SON, Lincoln, and Johnson.

|
of Three Presidents of the United States, y
which is just now exciting much attention
in this country The scope of the article
will be best understood by reference to its
opening paragraph which is as follows:
By a remarkable coincidence, the greatest
dangers and difficulties of the American
Union have always befallen it during the
incumbency of the Presidential Office by
men of humble origin, defective education
and unpolished manners. 1t has also hap
pened that these men have belied the fears
of the timid, and surpassed the expecta-
tions of the hopeful, by the extraordinary
ability they displayed and the combined
wisdom and audacity with which they steer
ed the ship of State through difficulties and
dangers which might have Overpowered the
craftsmanship of leaders with more cultivat-
ed minds and less resolute convictions
! These men were Andrew Jackson, who be-
gan life fatherless and penniless, glad to do
! the meanest chores about a farm for bare
subsistence Abraham Lincoln, bOatman
and splitter Of logs and Andrew johnson,
journeyman tailor in third-rate country
! town. jackson, throughout the whole of
! his long and brilliant career, never managed
to attain education enough to write a gram
matical sentence, and never read but one
book besides the Bible, and that was the
'Vicar of Wakefield" BY dint of innate
energy and indomitable will, he rose from
the lowest to the highest estate, and was
successively day-laborer, pedler, soldier, law
yer, shopkeeper, merchant, planter, judge,
| senator. general and President of the Re
public. Abraham Lincoln rose by similar
means to the same height, and was also la
borer, petty trader, lawyer, member of the
| House of Representatives, and President
Like jackson, he had few advantages of
education; read no books but law books and
the Bible, except Joe Miller's Jests' and
'4Esop's Fables He was blunt of speech
and ungainly in appearance; but by sheer
pertinacity of purpose and simple-minded
honesty he carried to victory the greatest
cause in which an American statesman was
ever engaged. Andrew johnson, who now
occupies the perilous seat left vacant for him
by the assassin's pistol, is man in every
way as remarkable as Jackson or Lincoln for
the stubborn and victorious viii which he
has displayed, for the natural gifts which
have enabled him to act a leading part in
the history of his country, and for the ire
mendous difficulty of the task which he has
to perform unless the light that now shines
so brilliantly is to be darkened before its
noon, and he, one of the greatest of the
Presidents, is to be remembered among the
least"
The author prefaces his idea Of Jackson
a man whose memory is revered by all true
Americans-by the remark that personal
and intellectual culture are of little or no
advantage to an American politician ;" and
that provided they have courage, a clear
purpose. and the gift of CAB, without which
latter all other gifts are of no avail, the pol
iticians of America have little need for schol-
arship. This has been more especially the
case during the last thirty-fve years, during
which the disruption of the Union has al
ways been more or less a question in dispute
to embitter controversy, and to force the
strongest minds to take up position either
for or against it. He says the first six |
Presidents of the United States were all /
statesmen by training and capacity, and gen /
tlemen by manners and cast of thought &; /
that none of them by his personal character |
inspired much popular affection, but all |
commanded respect for their talents and |
public services; and that with John Quincy
Adams, the sixth President, the line of gen
temen and scholars was interrupted, and /
with that of Andrew Jackson, the seventh, /
that of the iliterate pioneers and working |
men commenced. Having given his esti-
mate of the American politicians and Pres
idents, we now give this Englishman's idea
of jackson, Lincoln and johnson in his own |
language, not however, without protesting |
against the gross injustice of his judgment
upon the private character and habits of
this remarkable trio:
JACKSON,
the seventh President of the Republic |
profane swearer, drunkard, and a bully, !
yet brave soldier, an able commander, an /
upright magistrate, and, when in the high |
est place, a consummate statesman. He |
was accustomed to border life; he had |
fought the British in his early youth, the
wild Indians in his prime, and again, in ma
ture age, he had struggled against and de-
feated the British at New Orleans. In ad- |
dition to all this public battle, he had done |
an immensity of private fighting. He was
scarcely three months together out of a duel |
or a street brawl He had deliberately killed |
one man for speaking disrespectfully of his
wife had quarreled with his best friends,
and transformed them into his bitter enc
mics He was always armed and ready for