New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-02-09
FOREVER AND EYER.

fairs. NAV come back to us q brisk ana lohy
juvenile gentleman in the farce. For some tiile
we have been benevOlently considering "ha1
Mr.. Andrew johnson could possibly do Win
himself after the Fourth of March, A. ID. 1869;
and an unpleasant suspicion, we admit, has oc-
casionally intruded itself upon Ills, that ne
meant nobly but rashly to follow the example
of the stern Cato, and after mispronounclng
valedictory speech. full of the finest sentiments
and the worst possible grammar, that ne
Knight his quietus make with bare Dodkln,"
i'm the little Darkroom of his Old law-oince'
IL treasures us to learn, upon the excellent
authority of The Nashville Banner, that Mr.
Johnson. like Mr. Mantilini, will probably con-
sent not to make "a demntion body" OF him.
SELF Why should heR According to Ihe Ban
ner he ais still possessed of great bodily and
mental vigor;" "aS much or more" says the
Nashville newspaper, Z" than when he was q
tailor by trade in the town of Greenyille,
" East Tennessee The gentle journalists
grammar ia rather uncertain, but never mind!
lie knows an extraordinary human being when
he sees him, and loyalty to lofty intellect
may well compensate for ignorance OF Lindley
Murray. How can we sufficiently thank him
for the information that the President " looks
as well as at any period Of his lifea"
This is statement from which it might
be argued that Mr.. Johnson was not,
even in the dewy morning of his ex-
istence, exactly an Adonis; but when we
consider how much the early efforts of her
genius contributed to the good looks of his
fellow men, we feel that it would be ungenerous
to criticse the proportions of one who, If not
lovely himself, had the art to make others APP
pear So To the "iron constitution " which Mr..
Johnson is fortunate enough to possess must
be added, in making up an estimate OF his
future career, the fact that he had also " a
great mind" and, moreover, "a Jealous and
aggressive mind" and, likewise, great ma
"tive powers of thought He is Ito continue
the Nashville catalogue of the A. JOhnsonian
perfections) can unrivaled and peerless orator."
"a man of destiny" and ga man who believes
"in himself" To crown all, he has absolute self
reliance and an undying faith in" Andrew John
SON. We agree with this generous eulogist.
His Excellency is vital in every part; if he
were not one of the deathless sort, he would
long ago have been annihilated; and if he had
suffered under the slightest propensity to COM
nit suicide, he would unquestionably have in
dulged it after his inaugural speech in the
Senate. Those who watched with curiosity
that singular episode, will easily believe that
if Mr.. Johnson then consented to live, and to
live in the public eye, he must have an irwin
chile repugnance TO dying under any circum
stances We assure all the Actuaries that Mr..
Johnson's life is an excellent life TO insure
against tel0 de Sc!
IL is the opinion Of the writer from whom
,Iat hoe
before him an incompatible number of years
of public usefulness, not as frightful exam
pie, fallen angel, beacon, warning, an
American Wolsey or Bonaparte, but as DEM
ocratic candidate for the guternatorial stool of |
Tennessee, or for " the Senatorial succession |
"after Mr.. Fowler" or for "a seat in the lower |
House or possibly for alderman of his ma
"tiye village AS he is one of the immortal |
mortas and bears a charmed life, he has, of
course, plenty of time before him and if we
were in his place, we think that we should be-
gin by reopening the shop with large assort-
ment of seasonable goods for gentlemen's
wear. After proper period devoted to the
habiliments of his friends and patrons, he
might reestablish the attorneys office, and sue |
as a lawyer those TO whom he had given credit |
IA n tailor Without marking all the stages of |
his new career, it is enough to suppose that IN |
the course Of century or so the places which |
have known him in Washington might know |
him once more; and thus leading kind of |
circular life, his career an epical palindrOme, |
he might go round and round, not so much q |
Moses as a Methuseah, until he should be
translated, or find repose, either in the museum
of some Barnum as yet very much unborn, or |
=. IS h. .,lo ~ no Sp.Ifh tan
Institute. A life prolonged in this way might |
be productive of all the benefits without many |
of the inconvenience of the Buddhist system of |
transmigraton-in fine, the President, favored |
above ordinary mortals, might be his own |
donkey his own mule, or his own crying |
crocodile. In Office he would be the safe
guard of the Republic, and out of office, its
ornaments and if, by a special interposition of |
Providence, the Nashville gentleman who has |
written Mr. Johnsons natural history, and as it |
were, recorded the exploits of our Hercules in |
his cradle, could be permitted to share these |
longeval privileges, weventure to say that two |
more wonderful objects than these would be |
never crawlcd through the mud during the pre-
Biblical nights of our most interesting planet. |
Such pair would render megatheriums and |
mastodons as cheap and common as our CO.
temporary cats and dogs
For ourselves, we will not deny that we
have read these predictions of the Nashville |
newspaper with uncommon gratitude. 1t con-
soles us to think that future ages will see Mr.. |
Johnson, and be able to judge for themselves |
whether the compliments which he has SO often |
received from THE TRIBUNE were empty or
deserved. We have lively faith that what |
he is now, he will be, if living, ten thousand |