The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-23 00:00:00

The President.

If a ruler or a statesman is to be judged by the
measure of good be effects, it must be admitted that
President JOHNSON is a failure. The question ia
not whether his..policy was the best on which to
reconstruct the Union, for American citizens by the
thousand may have admirable ideas on the subject,
though few of these may ever see the light. A ruler
must be something more than a theorist. He must
do more than conceive excellent measures, for he is
_estimated not on what he conceives, but on what he
carries into effect. The men that are impregnated
with the most beautiful theories, are, as a rule, those
most unfit for the exercise of power. Most of us
start in life brimful of charming ideas for the rege-
neration of mankind, calculated, if practicable, to-
confer inestimable benefits on the human family, to
be discarded as we grow older, because with sorrow
we learn that they are not practicable. If the world
would only act on the principles inculcated by our
SAVIOUR in his Sermon on the Mount it would cease
to be an arena of grasping selfishness, of thieves,
cheats, cut-throats—and become a paradise. While
full of generous notions, and as yet untaught by
bitter experience, we wonder why statesmen
reject the beautiful and the good, in favour
of the hard, severe, and uncharitable mea-
sure. It is because the statesman has to
act as well as think ; and he is worse than
worthless if he reject the small modicum of good he
can practically carry into effect, in favour of mote
beautiful theories which will either in practice work
evil, or, being impracticable, cannot be brought
into operation. Even if satisfied that a measure
will work out a good result, it is the business of a
ruler, before he fixes his mind upon it, to ascertain
that the temper of those he governs will admit of.
its adoption. A man may be far iu advance of his
age, but he who aspires to rule the generation in
which he lives must bring his mind down to his own
times, or he will be able to effect little, if any,
good. It is as vain to rail against the stupidity of
the age as it is to fight against it. if he wishes to
indulge in the former he should retire to a hermit's
cell, and rail. But if be is a ruler and tries the
hitter, the chances arc that he will work unmixed
evil to himself, and to those over whom he has been
unfortunately placed. Mr. JOHNSON, while seated
in the President's chair, has tried both with a result
which can neither be satisfactory to himself nor to
any one else. Ile is an honest and determined
man, and his honesty of purpose, coupled with
his force of will, have been the effectual means
of placing him where he is. It is said to be easier
to make a fortune than to invest it to advantage
when male. And it is perhaps easier to rise to
power than juliciously to use that power when
attained. The very qualities to which Mr. JOHN-
SON iorhiasiteelrevaartiroivninagre
atth those wshuini.
ch
have indebtedmarredf
his utility

mit. The uncompromising determination of his
character was the worst element for a man placed
in his difficult position. He took an abstract view
of what was just and right, and in the recesses of
White House decided on carrying into effect the
measures his judgment conceived. In coining to
his conclusions he omitted the most material
elements from his calculation. He decided as a
ruler, as he would, had he been a mere leader of a
political section, and then bent his mind to sway
the country to his conclusions, and to force his
measures into practice. He misunderstood the
temper of the North, as well as his own influence
and power ; and he was wholly wanting in that
discrimination which tells a keen intellect by many
signs when he is on the wrong road. Had his con-
clusions been in unison with the ruling sentiment
of the nation he would probably have been a
useful and valued President. But, being op-
posed to that feeling, he became peculiarly
unfitted for his post. Had Mr. JOHNSON
been a man of tact, he would have accepted all
the good he could get, and exerted his great power
to turn every little stream into his own channel to
strengthen the tide of thought in the direction he
wished it to take. Thus, step by step, and little
by little, he might have led the nation towards his
own goal. His is an arm that might smite with a
sword through a bar of iron, but he has not the
delicate handling and dexterous stroke by which he
can sever by a scimitar a feather pillow. He made
just the mess that CCEUR DE LION would have made
had he tried to accomplish SALADIN'S feat : he has
injured the pillow and covered himself and all
around, with "fluff." Every successive step from the
moment that " his policy" became the ruling idea of
his mind to the present time has been a succession
of blunders. The grand idea in America is the re-
construction and the harmonious working of the
Union, and the man most anxious to see this hap-
pily accomplished is ANDREW JOHNSON ; yet AN-
DREW JOHNSON has been theinsurmountable obstacle
in the way. He has been desirous to obtain the
best terms for the South, but to his action is due
the stringent measures there brought into operation.
He has struggled up to the highest place, to have
his power wrested from him, and his name
denounced over the Union. Anxious to give peace
to a convulsed and distracted society, he has been
the fan which has blown into flames the dying
embers of contention. Elected to aid his prede-
cessor in carrying out a settled policy of the nation
he has endeavoured to give effect to the very
reverse, and so disastrously to his new friends that
they might well wonder whether his good-will was
not enmity cleverly disguised. The North made a
mistake in electing him to a place so near the
PRESIDENT'S seat, that, failing the incumbent, he
occupied it, and for this mistake th 6 North has paid
dearly. The South made a mistake in trusting to
tke influence and power of their new friend, and for
this mistake they also have paid dearly. Mr.
JOHNSON made a mistake in the principles he pro-
fessed before he became master in the White House,
and for this mistake lie, too, has paid dearly. His
career has been a chapter of errors, in which he
has deceived himself and everybody else, exacting
the heaviest toll from all his dupes. It is time that
the PRESIDENT should see the error of his ways,
and cease this duellism of the Government. Ile
must now be convinced that the North will not give
way ; that there is something more than mere
party feeling at the root of the national determina-
tion. Although it is late to retrieve the terrible
blunders that have marked his career as PRESIDENT,
yet-, it is better late than never. his term of office
is being rapidly wasted, like the Sessions of the
British Parliament in the vain fight over Reform,
and with the same result to each, in their opposi-
tion to the will of the people. If that opposition
delays a moderate measure, it but paves the way
for the introduction of a larger measure in the same
direction. As England has decided on Reform, so
have the United States decided on a Reconstruction
on the terms of the conquerors ; and Mr. JOHN-
SON'S opposition is more futile and far more dis-
astrous to the United States, than is the Tory
opposition
is)posi
tion to the extension of the franchise, to the
British Empire.—Ang/o-American 7lmes.