Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1875-08-07
"One right worthy
To lift up her rusted shield
Aud TO plant again the pine tree
In her banners scattered field"

Resolved, That to her-of whom he
so often spake in grateful words and
to whom he gave the credit Of teach
ing him the way to climb from low de-
gree to high position his venerable
and bereaved wife, we offer cur tender
est sympathy and sincerest coincidence
May the high estimate in which her
deceased husbands memory is held,
by his countrymen serve, to assuage
grief nothing can cure, and tighten
somewhat hours of future life made
dark by his absence.
AS the committee --~~~ ratirir~ Fol
Jas. +. Bailey was called to the stand.
He said:
We are gathered here to consider
the life, character, and public services,
and to do honor to the memory of him,
VINO RggI Eminent. Beginning life in
obscure position, of humble parentagc
he reached early manhood without be-
ing able to read or to write. He ac-
quired the rudiments of an English
education, knowledge of the great
statesmen, and more than this he
learned to know the people among
whom he lived. He learned, more
than all else, to rely upon himself.
Such was the spirit that animated him,
such his physical, intellectual and
moral courage, that whenever he Was
convinced of the propriety of his course
he followed Its neutrality-suspicious..
He had learned to rely upon himself
in the struggle of life Because he had
learned this lesson he troa with steady
and unwearying step the rugged path
upward, until he had filled all the
places-the highest and the lowest in
the gift OF the people. There is a
lesson We may well learn from his re-
markable life. Although we may
sometimes believe other governments
more stable. and possessing advantages
over ours, and sometimes contrast ours
unfavOrably, especially with the land
whence we borrowed orr institutions
and our laws, in no other country, I'M
der no other government could We have
witnessed the scene presented in our
country to-day-that man Of obscure
birth, of humble origin, one who has
contending for every footing and strug-
CLING to maintain every vantage gained,
fought his own way to the very sum
NIT, should be mourned by whole
people. Where else in this wide world,
could this grand spectacle have been
presented? From the humble hut to
the tailor's bench, and calledfrom his
lowly vocation to fill one after another,
places of trust and honor, from the
Legislature to Congress, to the Guber-
Material chair, placed by the confidence
of the people, in the Senate, and called
to preside over forty millions ofpeopie.
In no other country save this, could
We have witnessed Andrew johnson,
the tailor, and Abraham Lincoln, the
rail splitter, executing the combined
will OF the people, at the head of a great
nation, clothed with all the power and
all the honors, and burdened with all
the responsibilities of their great Office.
He was j remarkable man. | did
not agree with many of his views.
was not one of his supporters. He
was wonderfully formed for leadership.
The only man who, ever approached
him in Tennessee in that respect was
Andrew Jackson.
He was not only self-reliant and con-
slant In his purpose, under the most
trying circumstances, but he had
another quality, in old times, and
hope stlll common to the SOuth-he
was honest. Although corruption was
rife while he was President. although
peculation ruled the hour. and Credits
1UO6i[ier were organized at the very
capital, his hands were never soiled
And although he was pursued by the
party which elevated him to power
although he was impeached and every
effort made to drag him down from his
high place aud blast his fair reputa-
ton, yet no one ever dared to breathe
word of personal reproach, or dared
impugn his private character. He had
studied public ethics at the feet of
Grundy, Jackson, Polk, Clay and
Bell.
Col. Bailey spoke of his earnest
effort at the close of the war to restore
constitutional government and frazer
nal relations. He said the people were
beginning to see each other as they
did twenty years ago, and we are be-
ginning to reach the point he attempt
ed to reach. He failed, but not for
want Of earnest effort, and we should
not forget that he made the effort, nor
forget that the coming triumph of the
constitution, was contributed to by the
struggle he made. He had scarcely
taken his seat in the hour of his tn
umph, and the last hostile note had
Just ceased to resound. and he had
hardly sounded the alarum of new
struggles when he was stricken down. I
1t is meet that We should gather to do
him honor, and if he had faults let us