Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-08-08

- lcoS WhtI1 llO AIEumehl Il DsdIN
lshment, no seduction or threat cOult
change. Unmoved by fear or favor, b.
held on the even tenor of his way. Ia
different alike to the opposition Of enc
mics and friends, Indifferent to the na
ture or magnitude OF obstacles, he LOOKED
and pressed only and ever forward. Tn,
words fail" and compromiseu wer,
not in the meager lexicon Of his youth
and never found place in the more vO
luminous lexicon Of his mstuTeT years
\ character impelled by such tremeu
, dOus motive power must always
make itself felt. Few men have had il
, in such degree, and in such perpetual
. activity as Mr.. Johnson; yet it is the
motive power Of all characters that i'm.
press themselves, either for evil or fol
good, upon the world. What influence
character thus impelled will exert
must depend, Of course, upon the intel.
lectual ability embraced in it and the
moral nature which directs its energy.
10 the careers which must be made sue
ceSsful by conflict of mind with mind
ana man with man, mere brain power,
without the broad basis of strong and
determined character, counts for but lit
tie. Pure intellect may be potential IN
the closet; may embalm itself for poster
lty In books may make itself famous
IN the dreams Of poetry, the investiga-
tions OF science and the meditations OF
philosophy, though linked with feeble
Will, and vscIllatiDg purpose, and shrink
ing timidity; but
"In the worlds broad field of battle,
| In the bivouac OF life"
SUCCESS and honor wait only upon those
whom nature has fitted to
- be heroes IA the strife"
| To such, the intellect which God has
given them counts for all that it is
worth. For such, imagination throws
| its silken vest over the coat Of mail, and
baogs its waving plume upon the
helmet Of steel. For such, eloQuence
becomes the herald, and reason the pom
derOus battle-aX. For such, wit fills her
culver with barbed shafts, and the swift
javelin of keen retort is furnished ready
to their hand. For such, all the powers
they may possess go to make up q pan
Oply; and, according to the measure Of
the endowment send them forth more
or leSs thoroughly armed and equipped
for the fray. But as well might the
wasted invalid, however brilliant his
mind and rich his intellectual stores,
have sought with his nerveIess arm to
break lance in the ancient tOurnay, as
the man of nerveless character and
weakly resolution, whatever may be his
mental furnishing, think to win renown
in the rude encounters Of liie's sharp
warfare
The stern Joy that warriors feel
In foemen worthy OF their steel"
is not the joy for those who have only
brain to fit them for the conflict. Whist
was the measure Of Mr.. Johnson's intel. |
lectual ability we need not now discuss. !
All the way down, from the highest
rank Of statesman, to the character of
agitatOr and demagogue, his friends and |
his enemies have assigned his place. |
Let history decide. No doubt InteIlects !
as great, in weak characters, have gone
through the world unknown. Perhaps |
lesser ones, by intrigue and chicanery |
and fslsehOOd, have made more impos- |
ing show. The estimate Of Mr.. John |
sons mind will always be made in view |
OF the question as to what would have |
been the effect upon it of early educs- |
tional advantages. 1t may be that cul- |
ture and training would have made him |
incomparably stronger; or il may be |
that they would have been the DeIilah |
to the unkempt and untOnsured locks in |
which lay his strength. We have seen |
that he had those elements Of propulsion |
and continuity which gave to his in
tellect, conditioned Rs it was, its |
fullest development. UnQuestiOnabiy |
he was ambitious. He could not |
have been otherwise. Had tbst |
ambition been the accumulation OF |
wealth, who can limit the golden store |
which those fifty years Of work would |
have piled up? He sought aggrandize.
ment and plsce and power. Had he
sought them for bad ends, and used |
them for base purposes, who can esti-
mate the balefnl influence Of that half
century Of successful achievements?
But here we recognize his honesty and
his patriotism; and thank God that such
wonderful energies have been welded
by integrity, and made subservient to |
-ove Of country. The egotism and the
which were characteristic
Of the man, were the natural products
Of his honesty. He urged himself SIS q
part OF his argument. So thoroughly
did he identify himself with the ends for
which he lsbored, that it grew into his
convictions that he was a necessary in
,trument for the accomplishment of
hose ends, and that the desired good
,ousd only come al his hands. So he
VAS to himself, and he sought to be to
)thers, the living representative and iu-
eparable cohcomitant of the benefac- .
ion which he strove to secure. Such
'gOtism is not weakness. Such self as
ertion is not prompted by vanity. It
nay be error. 1t may be misconCeptiOn.
But it is the companion OF conscious
trength and the product Of honest, sim
lie, single-eyed, earnest conviction. {
This was not the cOUrtly man, skilled in
ocial ways and schoOled into the seem.
ng Of considerate self-sbnegati0n. This |
vas not the man of boOkish resources
nd external aids. But he was the ear '
lest, unpublished, self-sbsOrbed, and, 81
ecessity, self reliant man. He started !
q life with the one only idea of strug- /
le, and he was distTustful of Others be- {
suse struggle involved the idea that his J
and was against every man and every |
lan's hand was against him. When
e came to be leader and to know that q
theirs looked to him for guidance and c
the position still involved fer q
i'm the idea of combat, and divided L
lankind into the two classes, SIS l said |
I those whom he was to fight and those [
'hOm he was to fight for. He had found Z
imself sufficient unto himself ir |
ne beginning, and as the field Z
rev wider, and the prizes greater, and {
10 foes more formidable, and the Look |
rs-on more numerous, he still leaned :
My on himself. To mis- mind, conflict C
as the normal and Necessary condition '
associated men. His thinking never a
,st the trace of the soil from which he c
1rung. Ingrsined ss part Of his char. v
with the very fibeTs d
his nstuTe-weTe the circumstances d
his earlier life. His peOple-the peo- q
Ie whom he bved, for whom he toiled P
nd to whom he appesled-were the d
asses, from whom he proudly claimed ID
Is origin. Between those masses and c
le more favored few he predicated what Il L
g thought natural antagOnism. To L
in government was the shield OF the v
eople in this autagonism; to him the y
institution was the peoples safeguard u
ysinst the government when adminis-
sred by that more favored class. Hence. "
lere was sometimes, perhaps, q sort Of :,
rim QuixOtism in the zeal with q
'hich he set his lance in rest against CHI d
leias which his own prejudice created. v
Lis mind was eminently practical. No q
ieslity gave it wings; no specula ion ?
,ught 10 fathOm for its unknown depths. p
lis life Tesds Ike romance; but never L
50 the hero Of romance less romantic. /.
lis statesmsnship took the hard facts 81
humanity and government rs it un- y
e-stOod them, and dealt with men I
ithuut reference to any ideal of their d
lssible future. 1t was not in him to q
"
Men, my brothers; men, the workers, ever d
Teaplng something new,
lst which they have done but earnest OF the 8
things that they shall do" .
1t was not for him to rec, with the v
pet Il
The vision OF the world and all 8
wonder that would be. a