The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1865-10-18
President johnson and the
Southern Delegation.

"A delegation of Southern gentlemen from
the States Of Georgia, Alabama, Mlssls.
| ,sippi, Florida, Arkansas, Virgipia,,and Ten!
bessee, numbering about sixty persons in all
waited on President johnson on the IL til
inst, aud were received by him moi Only
courleously but cordially. They expressed
their confidence in his purposes and intea-
tions, their reliance on his. wisdom and
Craftsmanship, and assured him that his
policy would be earnestly sustained BY the
entire South. tsf
The Presidents reply was we'll calcula.
ted to give hope and courage to the friends
Of that section, and we hail it aslanother IN.
dication' that radicalism is held in check by
The Executive, and that the days Of san.
culinary fauatieism are numbered. 1t VIII
send a thrill Of dismay through the .mobs Of
o0icious shoulder straps and ruffianly Jour-
nalists. who thought to recommend them
selves to the authorities by out Heroding
Herod, and it will be as. an electric shocl,
to the spectators and harpies who looked
upon the South as their natural prey, and
who oyerspread it like a.eIoud as soon as
the disarmament of the people made it
safe to venture. The South is not going to
be given over to them bound baud and
foot. 1t is very evident that Andy John
son does not intend tito be football for
New England, or for The ianatict of any
section Of the country. Day by day his
course shows this more clearly, for day by
.day it DIVORCES more and more from the
radicals. Little did they imagine when
placing the name Of Andrew Johnson on the
Presidential ticket, torender second dose
of Lincoln less nnpalatabie to the iDemoc.
racy that they were signing and sealing their
own death warrant, and raising up a break
water against the rushing food OF North.
.ernfanaticism. They forgot, for what in
the light OF the present we may almost calD
one providentiai moment, that Andrew
johnson was a Southern man, with the in.
eradicabe instincts, habits of thought, sec
tional pride, and sectional prejudice Of a
Southern man, and the result is, that, just
in the nick of time, when most to be desired
and least hoped for, when the President by
their own action, has been metamorphiscd
into an autocrat, when from q symbol he has
become the imprisohatiqn Of power, when
his word is law and his decree as formula.
bic as the ukase of a Russian Gar, a South
ern man is President truly,
There's divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough hew them how we may.
It does not fall to the lot of every man to-
save his country. Thousands who would,
gladly,gtasp the opportunity even at the
sacrifice Of life, have died without being able
. to prove their devotion, and thousands upon
thousands have. given their lives for the
same object, but unavailiugly. Blessed
above ordinary mortality is he who having.
the power to protect does not suffer it to lie
idle. P.esident johnson can, il he will, save
his native South from the lmpIacable foes
who long to tramp!e her under their feet
and we think he will.
|. 1t is well that in this crisis q Southern
man holds the helm. for, il q. people groan.
ing. under the yoke can feel consolation in
the idea thai their tyrants are still at least
"lSl Cu 'ui ylliSu, now must lney prOtecLl0n
accorded to the, South by the President be
enhanced BY The, remembrance that it is a
Southern man that grants it, and that they
are indebted to one Of their own section for
every mitigation Of the penalties incurred by.
failure and insisted on by the upappeasable
hostility of Northern Radicals and Aboli.
tionists. 400 9 So a
At the present moment Andrew johnson
holds the future Of this country in his hands.
He. can if he will attach the South to the
Union. smooth down the bitterness Of the
last four years. and gain for himself name
in history scarcely second to that of Wash.
lngton. The loftiest and nobest ambition
could not desire a hetier opportunity than
he has now. If equal to it, the future will
speak of him as a patriot and a statesman,
as the shield of the South, as the successful
leader Of iorlorn hope, as the man who
single handed and alone opposed the com.
pact mass of fana ties who were entrencbed
In the; Cabinet, and who held possession of
the strong places of the Government, as the
man who saved his country from unutterab|e
horrors that darken the annals of st. Do.
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