The National tribune., 1889-03-14
A TRUE FRIEND GONE.

n
The veterans of the country, as well as the
people of his District, have sustained severe
loss in the death of Hon. R. w. Townshend,
Representative from Illinois, which occurred
in Washington last Saturday morning.
Mr.. Townshend was one of those men
whom nature fashions at their birth for her
best purposes. His good qualities-and no
man had more-were not the result of train
ing and calculation, but were inherent, spon-
taneous, strong and irrepressible. He did
good because he liked to do good, and with
outany reference to the benefits he was likely
to derive from it. He was strong, faithful,
helpful, cordially sympathetic, because all
the impulses of his nature were that way,
| and it came as instinctively to him as it
does to other men to be arrogant, or avarici-
Gus, or vain. He never wearied in his
work for others, because his soul was in it,
and the labor and trouble seemed light, be-
cause of the love he had for it.
1t is not strange that such a man should
have troops of friends It is not strange
that every man who came within the infu-
ence of his warm, magnetic personality
should become at once an admirer and friend.
There was so much sincerity, genuineness
and high manhood about him that the most
| oaSDaI ooo1,;r4ouoo oo-15 ,oL f,;I n ha -, :
pressed by, and those who knew him
longest and most intimately were his most
ardent friends. Higher praise than this can
not be given any man.
To the veterans Mr.. Townshend was par
ticularly devoted. The warmest corner in
his heart was occupied by the men who gave
themselves to save the country, and no de-
mand that they could make upon his time
or his ability to serve them ever failed to
bring cordial response. He was always
ready to do everything that lay in his power
for them and theirs, and seemed to forget
| fatigue when laboring to advance their in
terests. His vote and his voice were always
for any measure which was even remotely
in their interests.
Mr.. Townshend was born in Prince
Georges County, Nd, in 1910, and came to
Washington in 1850. He was at first en-
ployed in bookstore, but subsequently
became page in the Senate While in this
capacity he gained the friendship of Hon. S.
S. Marshall, Representative from Illinois,
and a prominent Democratic politician.
Judge Marshall persuaded him to go back to
Illinois with him, where he studied law, was
admitted to the bar, and advanced rapidly
| in his profession and in politics. When
Judge Marshall decided to retire from poll
tics, he designated young Townshend as his
successor, and he was elected to Congress in
1876. He has been reelected continuously
ever since, his election to the 51st Congress
last Fall being the seventh time he was
chosen by his constituents to represent
them. His strong natural abilities being
thus reinforced by long experience in legisla-
ton, he became one of the foremost men in
the House. His fellow-members were all
deeply attached to him, and his sudden
death cast gloom over every one.
In 1862, shortly after his admission to the
bar, Mr.. Townshend married Miss Pool, the
daughter of wealthy merchant of Shaw
neetown, H., who survives him, together
with a son and daughter.