The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1866-09-19
The Presidents Western Tour.


old enough can remember President
Jackson's 1--WE donot say general; there
is only one General jackson known to
history now) trip TO the North, amid
! the joy of his partizans and the disgust
of his opponents, when he was tetcd all
the way, and made a Doctor at Cam
bridge; q circumstance which afforded
an excellent subject for Major Jack
Downings wit, but which sinks into
utter insignifcanco in comparison to
similar acts of ridiculous hattery on
the part of the Yankee nation towards
the Yankee Generals of to-day. 1t is
known that the venerable "hero OF
Hull's surrender" after the nomination
in 1913, left the Senate chamber for his
home in Michigan, passing a considera-
bic distance out of his way for the pur-
pose of trying to come to some under
standing with his dearly beloved friend
Martin Van Buren,, and making speeches
at every station on the political ques-
tons of the day, except when "the
noise and confusion prevented his be-
ing heard on these important subjects"
1t cannot have faded from the memory
of many of us how that model Presi-
Dental candidate and most approved
military commander, Winfield Scott,
made voyage to the West, during the
campaign of 1852, Ito locate military
hospitsr' and regale himself amid the
enthusiastic plaudits of his fellow-citi-
zens with "the rich Irish brogue and
the foreign accent of the German peo-
ple.'
| At later day Stephen A. Douglas,
the "sqnatter Sovereign" run Presiden-
tial "circuit- riding" into the ground by
parading in his own person his Presi-
Dental claims before the people of the
country, and discoursing of "the great
principle which underlies our RepubE-
can institutions Mr.. Lincoln, too, hay
ing failed to get the full benefit of his
trip to Washington previous to his in
auguration, by the necessity of dis
guising himself in D "Scotch plaid and
military cap" was abundantly compen-
stated by the magnitude and magnifi-
cence of the ceremonies which attended
his return to his home, to be buried
amongst his friends.
But all the journeys of all the Presi-
dents and Presidential candidates of
which we have any knowledge, sink
into utter insignificance in comparison
to the late tour of President johnson
to the Western States. Bent Oh maxi
ing the trip he sought for an excuse,
and finally found one which was as
lame as the location of the military
hospital that took General Scott to
Ohio in 1852. The laying of the cor
ner stone of the Douglas monument is
not such an event as could not be per-
formed without the presence of the
President Of the United States, nor
were the services OF the man to whose
honor it is to be erected, of such para
mount value as to call forth such a
mark of respect at the hands of the
Chief Magistrate Of the Republic. And
this fact no man knows better than
President johnson himself. For, when
that ambitious little individual, and
his Northern understrappers were
breaking up the Democratic party, for
tho purpose Of making him President
and corrupting the ancient principles
of the party Mr., Senator johnson
would not be seduced into his support
by the Irregular nominee" clap-trap of
his ctaque,trs, but joined the ranks of
those who put forth that peerless DEM
ocrat, John G. Breckenridge, as the cen
tire around which sound State Rights
party, for future purposes, could be
formed. Mr.. johnson saw no merits
in Senator Douglas until he died,
breathing out threatenings against the
Southern people, whose peculiar cham
pion he had ever protested to be, and
relieving the nVnotony of his dying
moments by holnolies on the s'glorious
Union," the "old fiag,n and other dis
| gushing Black Republican nonsense and
balderdasll.
This, however, is none of our bust
ness. If President johnson wanted to
goto the West, and if by SO doing, he
shall be enabled to strength his hands
in his war against the Radical party,
1--WE are abundalttly willing for him to
go, and don't care q farthing whether
the ostensible object of his visit was to
erect monument to Stephen or to at
tend the funeral of friedrich Douglas.
That he has made by it, and more, too,
than any other itinerant occupant Of
the White House, or aspirant thereto,
we have many reasons to believe. At
every place he has stopped he has been
received by such crowds as never be-
fore assembled to pay their respects to
any other individual, and. with an en-
thusiasm which must be gratifying ev-
licences Of the satisfaction Of the peo-
pic with the policy which guides him
| i'm the administration of the govern