followed up by a discovery in 1775, three years before Great Britain's discovery; and this was followed up again by landing at the mouth of the Columbia River in 1792, the year of Captain Gray's first discovery. Then came the exploration of Lewis and Clarke in 1806, then the settlement of Astoria in 1810, and in 1819 the purchase by this Government of all the title Spain had to this Oregon Territory (Great Britain stood by, and did not dispute that purchase being made); and in 1824 the United States transferred a portion of this territory to Russia, fixing the line of 54° 40′ as the boundary between the two governments. In 1825 Great Britain negotiated with Russia for a portion of the same territory; and now upon the north of that line, she holds absolute possession, derived from Russia, which latter power had derived her power from the United States, the United States having purchased from Spain all her title in 1819. I consider Great Britain as estopped from objecting to our title. She holds the territory north of 54° 40′, under the same title that we hold the territory south of it.

"A great deal has been said in this debate about the British lion and the American eagle. Let the British lion growl, let him assume a menacing attitude, if he is so inclined. He will be closely watched in the distance, from Oregon's lofty peak of Mount St. Helen's, which lifts its proud and majestic form fifteen thousand feet above the ocean-level, by the American eagle, with talons more terrible than the glittering spear of Mars; with an eye that does not wince, though coming in contact with the sun's brightest rays. If that same British lion shall approach, if he shall dare make a hostile foot-print on our shore, then will the armor-bearer of Jove descend from his lofty position, and uttering a scream of bolder defiance than ever was heard from him before, he will strike terror to the heart of the forest-monarch, and force him, cowering and roaring, dastardly to retreat, with blood dripping from his mane, from a soil he has dared to pollute by his impious tread. We will not 'track him around the globe,' in the language of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Hunter), but we will drive him forever from this continent."

CHAPTER IV.

MR. JOHNSON TWICE ELECTED GOVERNOR-THE HERMITAGE-GOVERNOR JOHNSON IN CONGRESS-HIS EFFORTS AGAINST THE LAND KINGS-HOMESTEADS FOR THE PEOPLE-SPIRITED RECORD.

MR.

R. JOHNSON'S first Congressional period was mainly satisfactory to the constituency he represented. He had grown greatly in the esteem of the more radical members of the Democratic party, and especially in the North. His Democracy was always, indeed, of a too wide and rugged character to be quite congenial to the people of his section; and, perhaps, out of East Tennessee he never would have met with such remarkable success. Leaving out of consideration his origin and his leveling democracy, however, he was by no means lacking in those elements which a leader of any kind in the South was universally required to possess. At the head of these qualities was then placed personal bravery, and no Southerner ever had occasion to think that Andrew Johnson did not reach the legal standard in this respect.

Threats of assassination had been carried to his ears long before he gained the highest office he hoped from his State, but he never swerved from his course on account of them. He never courted difficulty or

danger, and he never avoided it. It is said that on one occasion when he went to speak he laid a pistol on the stand before him, and delivered himself in this way:

"FELLOW-CITIZENS,-It is proper when freemen assemble for the discussion of important public interests, that every thing should be done decently and in order. I have been informed that part of the business to be transacted on the present occasion is the assassination of the individual who now has the honor of addressing you. I beg respectfully to propose that this be the first business in order. Therefore, if any man has come here to-night for the purpose indicated, I do not say to him, Let him speak, but, Let him shoot."

Then, after coolly waiting a few moments, with his hand on his pistol, he proceeded without disturbance in his speech. A writer says on this point:—

"At any time during the last fifty years a man could hardly be a governor of Tennessee without being physically brave; still less could he climb to that position from a tailor's shop-board. In Tennessee the passions of men were hot, and, where arguments failed, there were not wanting ruffians to threaten the pistol and the bowieknife. All that will be changed now; but when Andrew Johnson was on the stump there, he saw more men with than without pistols in their breast-pockets, and knives in their boots or parallel to their backbones. It was after Andrew Johnson was born that Andrew Jackson had his bloody affray with Thomas H. Benton in a public place of Nashville.

"When we were at Nashville, seven years ago, anecdotes of the coolness and courage of Governor Johnson were among the current coin of conversation. One

gentleman, a political opponent of the Governor, an eyewitness of the occurrence, told us that a placard was posted in the town one morning announcing, in the well-known language of old Tennessee, that Andy Johnson was to be shot on sight.' Friends of the Governor assembled at his house, desirous to form a body-guard to escort him to the State-house. 'No,' said he; 'gentlemen, if I am to be shot at, I want no man to be in the way of the bullet.' He walked alone, and with his usual deliberation, through the streets to his official apartments on Capitol Hill."

In May, 1853, the Democrats met in convention at Nashville, to nominate a candidate for governor. Johnson desired this nomination, and although he never had much skill in the management of, or faith in, political conventions, it was pretty fairly understood that he should be the nominee.

Andrew Ewing was his principal opponent before the convention. Johnson was not present, and the opposition against him appeared at the outset unexpectedly strong. His opponents artfully secured the adoption of the two-thirds rule to nominate, hoping in that way to defeat him. At the end of the first day's work his friends discovered that he lacked a few votes under this arrangement, and the case seemed hopeless. Johnson had himself written to Mr. Ewing as his friend to withdraw his name from the convention if at any time he saw the harmony of the party required that step. Mr. Ewing was present, and was quietly favoring the nomination of Johnson. But before the adjournment one of his own supporters gave notice that on the next day he should move that Andrew Ewing be declared the nominee.

George W. Jones, of Lincoln County, who was present as a looker-on, seeing the course his friend's case was taking, and believing that his defeat in the convention would be equivalent to the defeat of the party at the polls, determined to present an objection which would disarm the anti-Johnson faction. Andrew Ewing, it was plain, was the only man who could decide the action of the convention. Ewing had really committed himself to Johnson, and was bound in good faith, at least, to stand out of his way. As the convention adjourned for the night Mr. Jones expressed his opinion that a mistake was about to be committed; that East Tennessee had been promised the governorship; that Johnson was the only man who could make the race with success at that time, and that Mr. Ewing, while being acceptable to the party, could not accept the nomination if presented to him. There were honorable reasons which led him to that conclusion. The next morning, as he expected, Mr. Ewing called on him for his advice about his course before the convention that day. Jones told him of Johnson's advantages in the field, and reminded him of the fact that Johnson depended upon his (Ewing's) standing by him in the convention, as was well understood between them.

Mr. Ewing accordingly honorably appeared before the convention, and, after stating that he could not accept the nomination, moved the nomination of Andrew Johnson. His friends not being prepared for this turn in affairs followed his advice, and Johnson was made the nominee of the party.