Year: 1875

Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth presi-
dent of the United States, is dead. No man
OF his time was more thoroughly hated or
more bitterly abused, and no man was ever


mora completely forgiven by bis enemies.
The nation will bend with honest admira-
ton and sincere regret over the bier Of the
man whom its representatives impeached.


Elsewhere the story of his life is
told, and from the bold and startling record
of his career, the character of the man
may be read distinctly. And first, let it be
said that johnson and his life were pecu-


lisrly American-racy Of the soil. In the
story of Lincoln himself there is not more
of strange romance, and in the character Of
Lincoln thore was not more vividly ex-
emplified a type of strong native
manhood. The two presidents were
different in many things, but in the
rare good fortune, by which they both ad-


vanced from poverty and ignorance to the
control of great nation they were alike.
Perhaps Johnson's ruling passion was


mbition, which is great virtue under repub-


lican institutions so long as it aims at the
acquisition of power and glory within


the law and by legitimate means,
but is willing to suffer obloquy
and failure rather than trsnsgress


the law. 1t was this intense ambition


which first led Johnson to seek for educa-


ton, learning to read when tailor's sp-


prentice, acquiring writing and knowledge


OF arithmetic from hiswife, afterwards ming
ling in debate with the students ofGreenville


College, and finally plunging into political


strife. Such gallant struggle upward Is good
to contemplate; and the peculisrity of
the advance is that 1t is made,


not by crime or grand achieve
ment, as In the case of a Napoleon


or Cromwell, but by gradual and natural


growth. No wonder that the late president


was proud of his career and fond of allud-
ing to it! He might well have adopted the


words of Burke as his own, "Nitor in adUer-


sam is the motto for a man like me ~
Not less remarkable than his praise


worthy ambition, were Johnson's courage


and confidence. His life was one long strife,


and he never blenched from any opposition
or showed the white feather either before
physical force or moral influence. He en-


tered political life against dominant fac


ton in Greensville, Tennessee, in 1928, and


won his first promotion as alderman.


He carried his seat In the legislature
by the same intrepidity in 1884. In the
celebrated canvass for the governorshlp in
1855 he stepped into his first meeting with a
pistol in his hand, and at later
day, when he had breasted the


tide of secession in the United
States Senate, and returned home to an an


gry constituency, he met mob that came


to lynch him with the same ion-like


audacity. His celebrated speech on


the 22d of February, 1866, from


balcony in Washington, was one of the


boldest, not to say rashest. acts politician


ever committed, and the pluck with which


he braved the angry masses of his own
party in his tour throughout the North was


unprecedented. Any one who ever saw his


sturdy figure and fine face as he stood before


an adverse mob, hurting defiance at Them
in clear tones, must remember the


scene with a thrill of admiration for


the mans moral and physical courage.
Nearly allied to Johnson's courage was
his steadfastness in his convictions. His
education had beer narrow, but the princi-


Piles which he acquired he "grappled to his


soul with hooks Of steel" His devotion TO


the constitution became a by-word In


days of bitter partisan strife, but it


was asserted with the same vehemence


in his last speech as it had been for
years before. His belief In the Union was
not less fervent, and his adherence to these
fundamental ideas made him true to the ma


ton, where abler, and perhaps better men


were led astray. He could not be tempted


into secession, and he could not be bullied


into it: and he bore, without fiinching, the


hardest trial man can endure-the
desertion of his friends and neigh


bors and an alliance with their


enemies for a mere abstract principle
Partly, as the result OF his convictions, and
partly as the effect of his emotional nature,
his patriotism was one of his strongest SEN


timents. 1t was active, noisy, elusive, but
i r..-o or,d no arfnl- a great river hrn=