The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-08-28
THE JOHNSON PARTY.

From The atlantic Monthly for September.
The President of the United States
has so singular combination of de-
ftactS for the office of n constitutional
the opportunity to misrule the nation
only by visitation of Providence. In
sincere as well as stubborn, cunning as
well as unreasonable, vain as we'll as
ill-tempered, greedy of popularity as
well rs arbitrary in disposition, Yeer-
ing in his mind as well as fixed in his
will, he unites in his character the
seemingly opposite qualities of dema-
gogue and autocrat, and converts the
Presidential chair into a stump or a
throne, according as the impulse seizes
him to Caiole or to command. Doubt
less much of the evil developed in him
is due to his misfortune in having been
lifted by events to n position which he
lacked the elevation and breadth of in
telligence adequately to fill. He was
cursed with the possession of a power
and authority which no man of narrow
mind, bitter prejudices, and inordinate
Self-estimatiOn can exercise without de-
praving himself as well as injuring the
nation. Egotistic to the point of men,
tai disease, he resented the direct and
manly opposition of statesmen to his
opinions and moods as personal af-
front, and descended to the last degree
of littlenesS in a political leader-that of
DtlIbNlIlH Ills pul Oy--lD OIuCE W RTbIllH
his spite. He of course became the prey
of intriguers and sycophants of per-
sons who understand the art of man
aging minds which are at once arbitrary
and weak, by allowing them to retain
unity of will amid the most palpable
inconsistencies of opinion, so that in
constancy to principle shall not weaken
force of purpose, nor the emphasis be
at all abated with which they may
bless to-day what yesterday they
cursed. Thus the abhorrer of traitors
has become their tool. Thus the de-
nouncer of COpperheads has now sunk
into dependence on their support. Thus
the imposer of conditions of reconstruc-
ton has now become the foremost
friend of the unconditional return of
the rebel States. Thus the furious
Union Republican, whose harangues
against his political opponents almost
scared his political friends by their vio-
lence, has now become the shameless
betrayer of the people who trusted him.
appeared supremely conscious, in his
own mind, of playing an independent,
consistent, and especially a con-
scientious part.
Indeed, Mr.. Johnson's character
would be imperfectly described if some
attention were not paid to his conscience,
the purity of which is favorite sub
ject of his own discourse, and the per-
versity of which is the wonder of the
rest of mankind. AS public man, his
real position is similar to that of a
commander of an army who should
pass over to the ranks of the enemy he
was commissioned to fight, and then
plead his individual convictions of
duty as justification of his treachery.
In truth, Mr.. Johnson's conscience is,
like his understanding, a mere form OF
expression of his will. The will of or
dinary men is addressed through their
understanding and conscience. MFR.
JUhnson's understanding and con-
science can be addressed only through
his will. He puts intellectual prinCi-
pies and the moral law in the possessive
case; thinks he pays them compli-
ment and adds to their authority when
he makes them the adjuncts of his pet
ted pronoun "my;" and things to him
are reasonable and right, not from any
quality inherent in themselves, but be-
cause they are made so by his determi-
nations. Indeed, he sees hardly any
thing as it is, but almost everything as
colored by his own dominant egotism.
Thus he is never weary of asserting
that the people are on his side; yet this
method of learning the wishes of the
people is to sCrutinize his own, and,
when acting out his own passionate
impulses, he ever insists that he is
obeying public sentiment. OF all the
wilIful men who, by strange chance,
have found themselves at the head of n
constitutional government, he most re-
sembles the last Stuart king of Eng
land, James II; and the likeness is in
creased from the circumstance that the
American James has, in his supple and
plausible Secretary of State, one fully
competent to play the part of Sunder-
land.
The party which, under the ironical
designation of the National Union par
ty, now proposes to take the policy and
character of Mr.. Johnson under its
charge, is composed chiefly of Demo-
Gratis defeated at the polls, and Demo
The few apostate Republicans who have
Joined it's ranks, while seeming to lead
it's organization, are of small account.
Its great strength is in its Southern
Supporters, and, if it comes into pow
er, it must obey rebel direction. By