The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-05-26
President JOhnson-A Liberal EHglIsh
Estimate.
The London Spectator, Of May 6,

Ceedeu \ bFanAm Lincoln. me puoliC
in this country, has been deceived as
much by the formal utterance Of Mr.,
johnson when accepting the Prcslden-
CT. rs By the accident which threw such
Iidicule over his inaugurahon 10 the
subordinate Office. This IS no feeble
ruler. sure to be a tool in the hands Of
his Secretaries, or the parties around
him, any more than il is drunken
rough elevsted by su accident, and IN
capable Of an Idea, bat g strong, SELF
reliant man, accustomed to rule, and
to rule in g revolution, with a policy as
distinct as that OF the oldest European
statesman, and Will which, be that
policy wise or rash, will assUre1ly make
resistance 70 it a most dangerous task
There is no single point Ia politics
which it is so important to EaGLshmen
IN understand as the character OF The
American President they cen not AZ
ford q second mistake such 90 thatcOn'
mitted about Mr. Lincoln, and we have
passed hours in studying the speeches
and acts of Mr johnson as Governor
of Tennessee. The more we have read
the more strongly has the conclusion
grown on US. that the new American
President is one Of the most individual
men on the continent-a ruler WHO,
whatever else he may DO OF leave uI-
done, viii most assuredly rule; who
win borrow knowledge, but VIII accept
advice only when It harmonizes with
his own preconceiyed convictions.
JOHNSON AND JACKSON.
ga Quaker" says Sam Slick, "who
dissents from Quakerism, must have a
pretty stiff upper lip, and a man who,
born a Southerner, raised himself into
the idol of slave owning Democrats,
and then, convinced that slavery
was an evil, flung himself down from
his position, down to the very bottom,
a homeless, landless, friendless man,
and then fought his way back to the
very top rs chief of the anti slavery
Democrats, is not the man to be ''guid-
ed by softer 20 iticians. Andrew
johnson, unless We mistake utterly al
the indications Of his life, is simply
Andrew Jackson over again, sud va
are not conscious, whether Mr. johnson
has not recognized his resemblance to
that prototype, aud modelled himsel:
TO make the resemblance visible. he
is always talking of him, always quo
ting him, and the accidental analogy OF
careers must frequently have struck
him. Like jackson, Mr. johnson was
born in the Carolinss, a poor, II not =
'mean" white-he says, Il picked cot
ton as an apprentice, and picked
twice as much as any slave '-and, IKE
him, emirrated to T-nnessee, and there
became the idol Of the Democracy
Like him, too, he contracted, apparent
ly through the force Of an Imagination
which requires strong ideas to STIR It,
d passion tor the Union, and therefore
A resolution to deiend IL tall times, by
all means, le sal and lawless cqully
| Had jackson been encountered, as ne
was threatened, with a Shareholder RI
volt, he would, we can hardly doubt
| have passed, as Mr. johnson has done,
| onward from resisting shareholders, 10
| sn iron determination that slavery
| should end-end, IS the new President
| gays NOW, uncondiuonally forever -
so that no State shall have the power
TO re,establish It Oa that point Jhese
is in Mr.. Johnson's mind no possibility
of truce or compromise.
Not to pursue the external analogy
it appears certain that internally, ~
heart and brain, Mr.. johnson IS dem
ocrat-we use thewoTd IN its Eughsh
sense-of the Jackson type, a d-mc
crat, that is, with 3 tendency toward
equality as well as freedom, restless
ness under law, a disposition 20 acs 4
| emergencies with revolutionary energy
or violence. His mind has none OF Ia
bias towards legality which his life as
LAWYER had impressed upon Mr I'm
coin. none of that desire for moda,a
ton, Is in itself q good, which SO dis
tiuguished that great man. ''a IN
contrary he places the wll OF the pes
pIe above the law IS distinctly % eve
Dsnton did. "What, said he 70 N
people OF Tennessee in January, whe
already elected Nice-Presldent. and a
he remarked, placed above % -doubl.
2 dealing and demagoguism what Far
, governments2 They come from tL
peop!e; YOU are the people, hence yo
3 can do no wrong d" 1t Is sufficient d
g fence" he continued, TO a charge
e over-stepping the laws, 70 be sure thl
, YOU have saved the Republic. Ih
peopIe must sometimes take the Ia
into their hands, and do desperate a.
!, irregular acts to save the lie Of %
= ton" Indeed, he preferred IN d
. meIgencies, irregular acts for peTm
nent changes in the law leit he though
uppleasanU memories, which were be
z ter avoided by temporary and eXphc
! ac.s, utteTances Of the viii Of the pc
pie, "which can make and unmal
e law" which, obviously, in Mr. johnson
6 mind, is law, provided always that
10 accents the Union That, or IN 9th
:. words, sahls rsi pu5Ecg is as supreme
object in his mind rs ever 1t was IN O
y mind of Roman patrlcian or I
/ risian Septembriseri
.y There is nothing we know Of IN tn;
: which Euglishmen can blame. We al
should do strong acts, if the life OF q
ie nation required them; we, also, indee
did do them when only the future o
"a | dependency was IN question But {
= tendency Of Mr.. Johnson's mind IS
!, do them when il Is possible 70 dispeu
a. with them, 10 prefer strong measures
q. legal means, IS the switter and mo
- direct road Thus. he rejected Dir L
"a coins plans of emancipaung Tor seryi
IN to the Union, as too tsrdy aud inc0l
- plete, and hurried back 10 TennesE
In to secure permanent, uncompensat
a. emancipation by constitution
= change To secure il, he had slmos 3
% overturn society, by system OF q
oaths, but he thought that the "am'
gency warranted that "despera,
remedy. and he succeeded IN MS
m sign. A convention, composed Of To-
men. abolished slavery forever
10 even this was too SLOW for the afro
~ wined Governor While the discuss
s@ was still going on, he stood one eva
es- ing on the steps Of the State Cgpu
and there uttered these renarka
words: COlored men Of Nashville
aw You have all heard Of the PresideI
al, proclamation, BY which he aBno1n.
= 20 the world that the slaves IN a la
norton of the seeded States w
'el- thepceforlh and forever iree. For
Iey tain reasons, which seemed wise 20
ed President. the benefits OF that proc
!, nation did not extend 70 you o. "
= native State. Many OF you conssqu5
te- lv were left in bondage The tasku
art ter's scourge was not yet broken,
be the fetiers still CALLED your limbs g
~ dually this iniquity has been pas
awsy. but the hour has cou1e when
nav last vestige of it must be rem5y
ms Consequently, I too, without rcicre
III 20 the President or any other per-
-, have a PROCLAMATION 10 make, &
- standing here upon the steps Of
hs- Capitol, with the pass history Of
me State to witness, the present c0Ddil
as 70 guide, and It's future 70 encour
sbt me, l, Andrew Johnson DO hereby
- claim freedom, full, broad aud unc
Po ditionaL 70 every man IN Tennessee
ietr Notan.an 10 be guided that, "a.
a man Of Jacobin instincts, who. @
satisfied that = cause j. that ot
'ou people, strives 20 carry 10 without /
did by intense VIII, snd, If nece&s-y
vii the exertion OF that popglsr severe
~, that rnsjcstyof mere voltoai wl
laws human and divine were alike