Andrew Johnson.

HE early life of this man, so suddenly called upon to fill the office of chief magistrate of the United States, in the overwhelming grief which bore the nation to the earth in the sad death of Abraham Lincoln, was one of poverty and friendlessness. He was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, December 29, 1808. His parents, who were among the 'poor whites" of the South, were unable to give the boy the slightest advantages of an education, and, until the age of ten years, he was a ragged urchin about the streets of his native city, unable either to read or write. He was at this age apprenticed to a tailor and while he was learning his trade he learned to read, but he never attended school a day in his life. In 1826 he removed to Greenville, Tennessee, where he was married to a young lady of estimable character who became his teacher in the common English branches, reading to him while he worked at his trade of tailor, and teaching him in the evening. In 1828 he was elected one of the aldermen of Greenville, by the laboring classes, among whom he was a recognized leader, and in 1830 was made Mayor.

Mr. Johnson now became thoroughly identified with political life, being a Jacksonian Democrat, and as such, was elected to the State Legislature in 1835, and again in 1839. In 1841 Mr. Johnson was elected a State Senator, and in 1843 represented his district in the lower house of Congress, which latter position he retained for ten years. At the expiration of this period, in

1853, he was elected Governor of Tennessee, and re-elected in 1855. In the gubernatorial office, as in those positions of trust with which he had been heretofore honored, Mr. Johnson was a zealous defender of the rights of the sons of toil, and an active champion of their wants.

In 1857 Mr. Johnson was elected United States Senator for the term of six years, and here, as he had done in the House, he adopted, in general, the Democratic policy, which opposed a protective tariff, the United States Bank, and all plans for internal improvement by the National Government.

Mr. Johnson was born of the people, and grew up among the people; he never permitted a sneer at the workingman to pass unrebuked. Replying to one of the finest speakers in the United States Senate he said: "I do not forget that I am a mechanic; nor do I forget that Adam was a tailor and sewed figleaves, and that our Saviour was the son of a carpenter." On the question of slavery Mr. Johnson defined his position in the following words: "My position is, that Congress has no power to interfere with the subject of slavery; that it is an institution local in its character, and peculiar to the States where it exists, and no other power has the right to control it." He was a staunch Union man and opposed the ideas of secession in strongest terms. So pronounced was his opposition to the position taken by nearly every Southern Senator and Representative, that they finally denounced him as a traitor to the South. So bitter was the feeling against him that in 1861 he was burned in effigy in Memphis, Tennessee, and subsequently hooted at by the mobs, and even threatened with lynching. His home was invaded, his sick wife, with her child in her arms, was ruthlessly driven into the street, his slaves confiscated, and his house turned into a hospital and barracks by the Confederates.

In February, 1862, Mr. Johnson was appointed, by President Lincoln, Military Governor of Tennessee and, in the month following, he entered upon the duties of his office with headquarters at Nashville.

One of the first official acts, when the Mayor and city council of Nashville refused to obey his order to take the oath of allegiance to the United States government, was to send them all to the penitentiary; and the editor of the Nashville Banner, for uttering treasonable sentiments, was sent to keep them company, and his paper suppressed. He imprisoned five clergymen for preaching treason from their pulpits.

Shortly after the Confederate armies placed Nashville in a state of siege and General Buell, who was in command, determined to evacuate the city, Mr. Johnson said: "I am not a religious man, and have never pretended to be religious; but there is one thing about it, I do believe in Almighty God, and I believe also in the Bible, but I say d―n me if Nashville shall be surrendered."

The circumstances surrounding Mr. Johnson seem to have led him into sympathy with the Republican party, and he was elected Vice-President of the United States in November, 1864, with Abraham Lincoln as President. They were inaugurated on the fourth of March following, and soon the clouds of gloom which had so long hung over the land began to break, and on the ninth of April, 1865, the Rebel army, under General Lee, surrendered and joy reigned in the nation's heart. Five days later the bullet of the assassin ended the earthly life of President Lincoln, and in less than three hours after his death Andrew Johnson became President of the United States.

Very soon after the accession of Mr. Johnson to the Presidency it became apparent that the Executive and Congress were decidedly antagonistic on the question of the reorganization of the Southern States. The President held that the seceding. States had never been out of the Union, and that their acts of secession were absolutely void, while Congress maintained that, while the acts of secession were unconstitutional, yet these States had actually been out of the Union, and that to enable them to again resume their former status would require special legislation. Various other subjects arose from time to time

which served to increase the spirit of discord between the President and Congress, until the impeachment of the President was decided upon. The trial continued over two months and finally resulted in the President's acquittal, it requiring a two-thirds vote to convict and the vote standing thirty-four for impeachment and nineteen against.

His death occurred at the residence of his daughter, at Carter Station, Tennessee, July 27, 1875.

Ulysses S Grant.

HE life of Ulysses S. Grant is one of development, rather than of original prominence or promise. He was an energetic, honest, modest boy whose latent virtues and heroism the war developed. Point Pleasant, Ohio, was his birthplace, on April 29, 1822. He received a common school education at Georgetown, and at the age of seventeen entered the Military Academy, at West Point, where he was graduated in 1843. He then spent two years as a Lieutenant of Infantry at a military post in Missouri; afterwards participating in the Mexican war, where he earned the commission of Captain. In 1854 Captain Grant resigned his commission, married, and settled on a small farm near St. Louis, Missouri. In 1859 he entered into a partnership with his father in the leather business, which proved a paying venture.

When the Civil War broke out Captain Grant said to those about him in his home: "Uncle Sam educated me for the army; and though I have served him through one war, I do not feel that I have yet repaid the debt. I am still ready to discharge my obligations; I shall buckle on the sword, and see Uncle Sam through this war too." Ten days after the fall of Sumter he presented himself to Governor Yates at the head of a company of volunteers which he had organized. June 15, 1861, he received a commission as Colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. In August, 1861, he was promoted by President Lincoln to the rank of Brigadier-General, and assigned to