Weekly Trinity journal., 1864-02-20
LINCOLN AND JOHNSON.

To-day we hoist at the head of our columns,
the names of Abraham Lincoln, for President,
and Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, for Vice
President, subject to the decisioleI the National
Union Convention. In former number of the
JogRsAL we indicated our preference for Lincoln
and Butler. For the first we still retain our pre-,
ference, for the last we do not. High as he ranks
in the list of patriots and statesmen, We relin-
quish our preferences and concede that the nomi
nation for the second highest office within the
gift of the people should be rendered to one
whose qualities of craftsmanship are unsurpassed,
and whose patriotism is proved to be of the
truest kind.
When this rebellion sprang into existence, and
swept over the slave holding States like torna-
do, few could be found among the leading men
Of those States that had sufficient courage to
withstand the shock. Men who had always been
looked upon as conservative in principle to
whom the conservative men of the nation turned
as those who would be least likely to be nfu-
enced or biased by narrow-minded sectional pre-
were swept along with the rushing tide. To
John Bell, Robert Hutton, Henry s. Foote and
others who had fought notification and disunion
all their lives, and who by their lofty profession
of patriotism had gained the confidence of all
patriotic men North and South, we looked hope
fully to see the progress of secession stayed and
the cause of country vindicated, but in vain
Unsaithfnl sentinels, they fed at the first alarm
of danger. From leaders of the chivalry wing
of Democracy in the South we looked for nothing
but treason, knowing the extreme views they
had always entertained.
But when the hour arrived to test the patriot
ism of the true men of the South, Andrew John
son proved to be truest of the true. Cutting
loose from the shackles of party and the bigoted
ideas which defines mans allegiance to be due
TO the little spot where he first saw the light !;
disregarding the example set him by his former
political associates, and conquering every local
prejudice that urged him to join in the unhoIy
crusade Of rebellion, he placed himself at once
on the side of his country. In his place in the
Senate Of the United States, among the mount
ain ranges of his own State of Tennessee, in ev-
cry spot where his powerful influence could be
exerted, he was found teaching the weak in
faith the duty they owed to their country. Feal-
ty to the Constitution and laws of the nation
was the doctrine he advocated when the advo-
his life. With Brownlow, Maynard, Carter and
a few others, he urged the people of Tennessee
to remain steadfast to the Government. Not un-
til the last hope was crushed beneath the armed
legions Of rebellion did he abandon his post
driven from home because of devotion to his
country. To-day he stands before US a repre-
sentative of the true Union of the South.
And in that allegiance which he acknowledged
to the Government of the United States he has
never faltered. With him the question of ma
tionality overshadowed all others, and the ne
cessary measures which the Administration have
thought proper to make use of have received
his candid appreciation unlike the sycophantic
Copperheads of the North who cry Union when
they range themselves in opposition to every
measure of the Administration tending to that
result.
Such man is worthy of every honor. The
position which we have named is not only due to
him, but to the loyal men of the South, whose
representative he is. History will record the
sacrifices which that class has made in behalf of
their country let it not also record that their
country was ungrateful.