Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1866-12-27
VOL. XXXIII.

however, he had the ln5llhcls, II hOt tuo
ducation, Of gentleman was no rowdy'
no drunkard, no profane sweareri but
plain, honest, quiet, quaint, good man, with
no strong will, but with a very strong sense
Of duty. jackson cared little either for
free trade OF protection, but he cared very
much for the Union. In like manner,
Abraham Lincoln cared very little for the
negro and his freedom, though he disliked
slavery but he cared greatly, and with his
whole heart and soul, for the Union. Weak
and irresolute as to the means 10 be pur-
sued, he was steady and faithful to the end
in view. Sometimes doubtful Of the result,
he was never doubtful Of his duty. In
his character there was no malice, no an
mostly, no drTiere penses. To his mind the
South did not appear as it did 10 some OF
the people about him-a wicked rebel, 10
be scourged, TO be decimated, TO be exter-
minated If need were bnt beloved broth
er who had gone astray, and 10 be brought
back into the right path by concession OF
all points that did not involve the one great
and fundamental principle Of the integrity
of the republic. In the darkest days Of the
deadly struggle, when few Northern men
veutured 70 hope forultimate success-when
the best attainable boundary between North
aud South was almost the only result that
the clearest headed and most sanguine men
anticipated-Mr. Lincoln, half despairing,
half hopeful, but wholly resolute, saw moth
ing for il except, to use his own homely
phraseology, to keep pegging away" trust
ing 70 Providence to shape the ends, how
ever man might rough-hew them. He
would let the South maintain slavery with
out extending it into new regions, until the
Southern people were wise enough to let 1t
20, provided only that the South would re-
main in the Union. He would excuse
everything, forgive everything, condone
everything, If Il would but rehoist the
starry banner of the reunited republic.
Even when the fierce passions engendered
by the struggle grew fercer and more en-
venomed, and permeated all classes and
ranks Of the people down to the women and
children, he was calm, equable, patient,
and merciful as before. He admitted the
strong logic Of the Southern arguments for
secession, without admiring it. He felt, per-
haps that the treason Of Jefferson Davis,
like that Of George Washington, might be
justified by success, and so cease to be trea-
son. He was a border man himself, and
knew what theSouthern people were-what
hot blood, what determination, what enthu-
siasm, what heroism, was in them; and
never despised the foe that in his heart, II
all the truth was known, he loved rather
than hated, and whom, most certainly, he
admired for many noble qualities. Pushed
on and backed up by the will Of the people,
without any will Of his own, except the
willingness to restore the Union at any
price, he marched from dogma to dogma,
from doctrine to doctrine, from principle
to principle, by external rather than by in
! ternal impulses, and with a sad heart that
! he should have to do even under the pres
/ sure Of overpowering State necessity, any.
| thing inconsistent with the constitution
/ which Washington and Jefferson had made
/ and which Abraham Lincoln had sworn to
uphold. Andrew Jackson put down nulli.
! fcation Abraham Lincoln did not put
| down secession. What one did by force o.
| his own will, the other did by the force o.
the will Of the people. The one was tn,
fiery horse, acting by his own yolitiOn
/ the other was but the inert carriage drawn
| by the stalwart muscle of the crowd. Jack
son did well, but Lincoln did better. Jack
son accomplished less than he intended
! but Lincoln far more than he hoped, or tha
| at the outset Of his career, he even dreamed
| Of That he who would merely circumscribC
slavery within its existing limits, and who
was e0nscientiously Of opinion that if every
negro in America left America and wen
back 10 the native Africa of his fathers anC
grandfathers, il would be better for Ameri
| ca and better for the negro, should by the
stroke Of his pen-by the war power, and
| contrary to the spirit and letter of the con
stitution-abolish slavery, was a resul
Of the struggle that, in the frs
two years of its fury, he was the last mai
in the Union TO imagine. Yet 80 1t was
The weak man became strong by the IRE
sistible strength of events. In Jackson's tim
the love Of the Union in the North was bu
latent feeling; in Lincoln's it was an ire
sistible force, and, lashed into fury by th
passions Of the war, would have preferre
the utter desolation of the Southern State
their conversion into the original wilder
ness, and the determination or bauishmer
Of their whole population-rather than 81
them, bv their own eXertions or the aid Of
foreign state, erected into az independeI
Confederacy. This good and merciful ma
was good and merciful to the end. Eve
when the South was on the point of collapi
/ --hHEll It's idHA ilobN VI folNlBA ACSo 5iAA1AN
had long since died away-when its armit
were reduced to the minimum of hope
! ! well as Of numbers-when, in mingled priC
and despair, it refused TO arm the negroe
preferring conquest by its white brothe
2 to independence to be purchased by the al
Of black soldiers-Mr. Lincoln was read
4 and anxious TO grant honorable terms
surrender. In the flush Of victory the
was much that he could have done that T
otheT man could have attempted. i
, could have issued a general amnesty
[ could have declared the Union restored
, fact and in theory, on the sole conditiC
that his military proclamation for the alb
= lition Of slavery should be adopted by evei
Southern State as the basis Of a legal enaC
ment But this great and happy result W
A MOTTO be attained. The pistol of fanat
deprived the Southern people of a frien
/ and the Northern people man after the
= own hearts, who, through good and i'll fc
s tune, had fought their fight with humbl
I a contrite, and an honest spirit, and Civ,
+ the victories for which they had hunger,
e and thirsted for four miserable years.
q JOHNSON.