The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1866-09-06
Andrew Johnson.

From the Atlantic Monthly for September.
The President of the United States has so
singular combination of defects for the
,ffice of constitutional magistrate that he
could have obtained the opportunity to mis-
rule the nation only by visitation of Prov
| idence. lusiucere as well as stubborn cum
| hing as well as unreasonable, vain as well
IS ilI-tempered, greedy of popularity as well
Is arbitrary in disposition, veering in his
| mind as well as fixed III his will, he unites
| II his character the seemingly opposite quail
Ties of dcmagogue and autocrat, aud con
verts the Presidential chair into a stump or
throne, according as the impulse seizes him
| To caiOle or to command. Doubtless much
IF the evil developed in him is due to to his
misfortune in having been lifted by events
to position which he lacked the elevation
tnd breadth of intelligence adequately to
| ill. He was cursed with the possession of
a power and authority which no man of uar
row mind, bitter prejudices, and inordinate
| self estimation can exercise without deprav
lug himself as well as injuring the nation
| Egotistic to the point of mental disease, he
resented the direct and manly opposition OF
statesmen to his opinions aud moods as a
personal affrout, and d, seconded to the last
degree of ittleness in political leader
that of betraying his party, i'll order to graf
| ify his spite. He of course became the prey
Of intriguers and sycophants of persons
who understand the art of managing minds
which are at once arbitrary and weak, by
allowing them to retain unity of will amid
the mos. palpabe Inconsistencies of opinion,
so that INCONSISTENCY to principle shall not
| pf l,a nos iS
| he at all abated with which they may bless
to DAY what yesterday they cursed. Thus
the abhorrer of traitors has now become
their tool. Thus the denouncer of copper
heads has now sunk into, dependence on
their support. Thus the imposer of condi-
lions of reconstruction has now
! become the foremost friend of the uncondi-
toned return of the rebel States Thus the
furious Union Republican, whose harangues
against his political opponents almost scared
his political friends by their violence, has
now become the shameless betrayer Of the
people who trusted him. And III all these
changes of base he has appeared supremacy
conscious, i'll bis own mind, of playing an in
dependent 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 subject of his own dis
course, and the peryersity of which is the
wonder Of the rest of mankind, As a pub
lie m an, 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 justifca
ton of his treachery. In truth, Mr. John
sons conscience is, like his understanding
a mere form Of expression of his will The
will of ordinary men is addressed through
their understanding and conscience. Mr.
Johnson's understanding and conscience
can be addressed only through his will. He
puts intellectual principles and the moral
law in the possessive case, thinks he pays
them compliment and adds to their author
ity when he makes them the adjuncts of
his petted pronoun =" my; !" and things to
him are reasonable and right, not from any
quality inherent in themselves but because
they are made so by his determinations
Indeed, he sees hardly anything as it is, bat
almost everything as coIored by his own
dominant egotisn. Thus he is never weary
of asserting that the people are on his side,
yet his method Of learning the wishes of the
people is to scrutinize his own, and, when
acting out his own passionate impulses, ne
ever insists that he is obeyiug pubic seuti
meut.