The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-08-05
DEATH OF ASDREw JOHNSON.

Dispatches Of last night anDounce the
sudden dealt, in Eastern Tennessee, of
Hon. Andrew Johnson. Very certainly, a
few mcnths ago, there was not living
man seemingly sturdier, stronger or brswH-
ier than the ex- President He was the very
impersonation of fixed indurated physical
and mental strength and endurance. His
his shoulders broad and slightly rounded
By a tailor's training, his skin brnnzed,
and from his great gray eyer, be-
meath shaggy brows, there CLEANED,
when the massive machinery of his
intellect was set in motion, lambent
light that fascinated those whom he adj
dressed. His body, in fact, was of the
same mould with his intellect. 1t was
strong, rugged, muscular, but devoid OF
cOmeliness. Mr.. johnson never uttered a
sentence that was remembered for its beau
ty, and yet few living men have exerted
greater power as orators over the multitude.
Of rhetoric he knew absolutely nothing,
and nothing of the arts of defamation. His
voice was unmusical and his face by no means
attractive; but there was magical power in
the strong good sense that distinguished
all his utterances and made him master of
the multitude. When we add to this source
of power the fact that he was deemed
singularly honest AID truthful by those who
knew him best, and that profound earnest
ness characterized his speeches, we may
comprehend the source of that unvarying
good fortune which elevated the unlettered
tailor of Greenville to the Presidency of the
United States. He was born in North Car
olina. His parents were wretchedly poor,
and though the story comes down to us
that his mother was a rude woman
of extraordinary genius, his father was
worthless. He came lad to Eastern Ten
ncssee; was welded, when hardly grown,
to woman who taught him to read and
write. We have seen men, now distin-
guished in letters and in professional life,
who were educated at Greenville, and who,
while Johnson was making their clothes,
were constantly subjected by him to 9ues-
tionings that little concerned the tailor as
such. He became, after time, member
of college debating club, and soon made
his mark in that body. But his intellectual
training was his own unaided work. 1t
began when be became an alderman,
and ended when he breathed no more. He
was tireless student, and was perhaps as
! thoroughly versed in English and American
history as any statesman of modern times.
| His illustrations of modern American facts
were all drawn from these sources. He had
profound admiration for Burke and the
great men who shone with him in undimmed
lustre one hundred years ago, and from
their lives and deeds Andrew johnson drew
the loftiest inspirations of his genius.
| He was member of the Legislature of
Tennessee, for many years member of the
lower house of Congress, and there
distinguished as the father of the
homestead bill. He was twice Governor
! of Tennessee, twice chosen United States
Senator, then made Vice-President, and be-
came President by the death of Abraham
Lincoln. His career from that day forth is
too freshly remembered to require recital at
our hands. He was sixty-six years of age.
1t may not be improper to add that Gen. w.
B. Bate will worthily succeed Mr.. johnson
in the Senate of the United States.