Year: 1859

| tage, and tossed the murderous dagger away
| from him in sublime scorn and magnanmty
| and again had recourse to his less dangerous
| horse whip.


The crowd, however soon interposed to
separate the parties, and the singular drama
closed without loss of life, or serious Injury to
either of the combatants.


! A challenge necessarily followed Young
johnson selected short words as the weapon of
final umprage, aud once more displayed his
chivalrous generosity of soul, by disarming and
sparing his ruthless antagonist


His character as hero of the highest class
was now established beyond all possibility of
doubt or denial but to insure his immunity
from all future annoyance, or the necessity of
another appeal to the arbitrament of arms he
was careful to exhibit his matchleSS skill as
a marksman. In the pistol galleries of Little
Rock, he would ring the bell dozen times in
succession while not hunter from the White
Mountains could equal him with the rifle He
received no more calls to the perilous fields of
! honor and from that day the supremacy of
dueling declined in Arkansas. The democrats
now had au Achilles to pit against the whig
Hector, the famous and frey Tent holland the
Pe.e Milestone of the Devils Fork and Spirit
of the Times.


! There is, probably, more than sciolists deem
in hereditary blood and truly Bob Johnson
came of a chivalrous stock His grandfather
was celebrated as an unrivalled ranger in the
Indian wars of primitive Kentucky, and on the
same side he claimed as an uncle the renowned
conqueror of Tecumseh, that man who, like
English Nelson, of the Nile, never knew the
meaning of the word fear


Another uncle, the eloquent Christian
preacher, JJhn r. Johnson, of the Campbellite
church, possessed as great prowess but he de-
veloped it i'll a different way-in the most des-
perate theological duelS against all sorts of
clerical opponents, after the manner of Luther
in all of which he achieved the most distinguish
ed success


The father Of our hero also evinced remark
able frmnesS of the character, especially on
the bench, but his judicial station precIuded
the opportunity of physical manifestations. -
He was, besides, consummate scholar, and
one Of the most profound jurisconsuls in the
! United States.


As politician, Senator Johnson has q broad
sweep and comprehension of mind, blended with
the piercing sagacity of analytic talents But
he is not the master of eloquent dicton He
rarely speaks, 1nd when he does So it is always
to the poinL and with admirable common
sense, yet never with grandeur of language and
the rich glow ofSparkling Illustration. If fact,
the race of giant statesmen in America seems
now to be extinct All our orators talk if
they were tongue tied, or speak, like Dem
oStheneS may be imagined to have done when
extemporising on the sea shore by way of
practice-with pebbles in their mouths. They
have argument, information, and pretty details
in abundance-fuency without force, and
movement without momentum. They spend
their strength in the parrotry of endless com
monplace from the newspapers, without the
faculty of creating so much as a single new
phrase or idea They have no animation, no
celestial fire. and never exhibit those sublime
explosions Of original genius, which come aud
go with the power of sun-bursts, and all the
beauty of raiubows in the stormy atmosphere
of burning discussion. And so great is this
desert barrenneSs, that one is almost tempted
to adopt the European hypothesis as to the
actual degeneracy of the species in America,
were it not so amply refutcd 10y the glorious
achievements of American intellect in every
sphere of thought, save the waste of politics,
so dreary and unproductve.