The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-09-15
saeFIIleea and saaeEInEI...
from a'e 7oleda Blade qf Wednesdqy.


InRsmuch as President Johnson new
er fails to ask his audience this ques-
ton: ''Who has sacrificed or suffered
more for his country than the humble
individual before you 2Y it NAV be
profitable to review the acts of this par
ucular Apostle, and the how, when
and where he suffered in the cause of
his country.
In 1860 Andrew Johnson voted for
John Q. Breckinridge for President-he
was active against Douglas and Lin
coin, and was, consequently, expected
to secede from the Senate as did the
other Breekinridge Democrats of the
Southern States. He did not do it,
however, but hung to his seat, to fight,
as he said, for slavery inside of the
Union. He drew his pay and mileage
promptly, which must have lacerated.
his tender soul. Acute as We're the
suherings he endured during this PEE
rlod, there were several distinguished
Tennesseeans who would nave gladly
relieved him. -
The war progressed. The Federal ar
mics won the victories of Mil Springs,
Rowing Green, Forts Henry and Dom
elson, Shiloh, DC, and had Tennessee
pretty much cleaned OF rebels. Presi-
dent Lincoln had use for a Military
Governor of TENNESSEE, and Andrew
Johnson was appointed. The position
was a soul -harrowing one-one involv-
ing suffering of mind and body; but it
had some pleasant features. For in
stance; the Governor held the rank and
drew the pay of a Brigadier-he had
his choice of the mansions of Nashville
for his reSidence-he had Federal SOL
diers to wait upon him and execute his
orders, reasonable or otherwise-th
life and liberty of every citizen of the
place was in his hands-he could in
dulge in his propensity for speech
making to his hearts content, for when
other audiences failed him, he could
order ont regiment of negro soldiers
and harangue them. The position was
one of sacrifice, no doubt, but u thous-
and Brigadiers would each have given
an eye for it.
His next sacrifice was the acceptance
of the Vice. Presidency ut the hands of
the Unionists in '64. He was elected to
the second office in the gift of the peo-
l'ple as reward for his Uniontsm, and
in March he relinquished his Briga-
dtership to make the new sacrifice. He
suffered all the way from Nashville to
Washington. At Cincinnati he was
overcome, with anguish we suppose,
and at atWashinBton, as will be Femem-
his load of suffering. As terrible as
was the suffering incident to the new
position, Hannibal Hamlin was, we re-
member, quite put out because he was
not allowed to shoulder it. A great
many men have been willing to martyr
themselves in this manner. Finally
Booth made him President, all in con-
sequence, of course, of his Unionism.
This position is the height of the ambi-
ton of American politicians, and many
of the greatest intellectS of the country
have spent their lives intrfgueing for it,
but he achievedit at two leaps, and his
espousal of Unionism was the spring
board which hoisted him,
We have mapped his sufferiugs and
sacrifices tolerably full, we think,
Heavy as were his burdens, acute as
were his sufferings, and bitter. as was
his anguish, we would be perfectly
willing to contract to find at least five
men in every school district in the
United States who would be willing to
go through them all, and who would
also give bonds never to refer to them
afterward.
To be,serious, his talk on this head
is the meanest kind of humbug. He
has been honored beyond his deserts,
paid beyond his service,-in short, the
Unionism which he vaunts as a sacri-
hce, was all that saved him from politi-
cal DEATH Had he follnwedi his inn
pulses, and gonethrough with Breck-
inridge, he would have been with him
in Canada-he deserted him and is
President. IF he counts his four years
divorce from that class of politicians a
sacrifice, he can console himself, for
his trials are over. He is going back to
them as fast as he can-indeed, he is
with them now. fPity the sorrows of
a poor old. man. leo,dsa 6s.lf