Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-03-06
INTERVIEW WITH EX-PRES=
aDEAT JOHNSON.
what EEe Proposes TO DO, and what EEe
Thinks OF the Troubles Coming
Upon Grant.
Correspondence Cincinnati Commercial. ]
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WAsHINGToN, February 2S 1869.
What does President johnson think
of snd expect Of Gen. GrantN To an
swer this question, il hss bead Necessary
/ to dedsct from The sWGrEs who literally
! bUZz round Seventeenth and q streets,
and iaii in with these who follow on to-
ward the White II use. During several
| days psst have been privileged 10 OBJ
! tain several Informal and quiet inter-
views with President johnson. BY 8
| competition, tCo, which can be under
stood, his personal friends and admirers
| have been careful to show their regard at
this time when stteation is significant
6nd cannot be selfish. Therefore has the
daily condition Of the White House re-
! ception rooms been recently condition
| of Jam, and therefore has it been as due
/ to courtesy to make visits brie', as it has
| been due to friendship to make them
/ frequent. What follows is consequently
really the thread Of talk running through
several calls and conversations, which
| for purposes OF directness and condensa-
| ton are treated as one.
Correspondent" observe, Mr.. Pres
| ideHt, that the papers have laid out for
! you q busy, aud, by inference, q bril-
| iiantly successful programme in Tennes-
see, upon your retirement from the Ex
| ecutive Office. know nothing to sus-
| tain or refute these statements. but am
sure that the actual power and the re-
| tribu!ive significance OF your presence in
| the Senate would rejoice the hearts of ali
/ your friends in both parties. Then, too,
as if to oYertggn thia hope, it has been
stated that you will go to Europe in the
spriag, where, as you know, such re-
| oeptiOn would be accorded you as few
other men have ever received"
| The Pfesident-"I have no disposi-
| ton, indeed my temperament, physical
strength and habits, almost forbid me to
sink into idleness at the close Of my
| term, and there is nueh to be done in
the country, and much in Tennessee es-
/ pecislly, to enlist my s0licitude and my
| efforts, ! have no plan personal to my
| self tor the future | can truly say that
| have no further mbitions TO realize, and
| l certainly have no desire to retaliste on
any the Sights or the burdens which
| have been imposed on me. l will un-
/ doubtedly exert myself to restore the
! sway of the Constitution Of the country,
and particularly over my State, but as
| to any special line on which may work,
! that will be wholly controlled by eifcum-
| stances. As TO going to Europe, too, that
| is entirely in doubt After ! retire from
| this place, private business will detain
me. in Washington for few days, then
family and myself will go to Tennessee,
and it depends just on them whether we
! visit Europe or not. Nothing is deter
| mined, and we will be governed by cir
cumstSness. As to returning to tbs
! Senate, | am free to say that think
| there is great need there and large OF
portBnity there for any nsn governed
solely by principle. A Senator should
have profound convictions OF bis own,
and unbending moral and physical cour
age, too, to maintain them. For such
men there is crying necessity Ia the
! Senate, and such me1 could not only in
time bring back the sway of the C9I sti-
| tuition, but would make their mark as
benefsctors Of the country upon the his
| tory of the future. In many respects I
| think thSt a SeastoE Of the United
States mas the highest opportunities Of
/ any officer IN our Government, for
while In q sense he represents State, in
! q larger and better sense he represents
| the country as 3 whole. BY his longer
| tenure Of office he survives the petty,
stermy issues which biennially change
| the House, to 9 degree, and by his more
expanded representation he can and
| should rise to the plane OF craftsmanship
and tolerance. When l remember my
| first entrance into Congress, recall as
cotemporsries Clay, Webster, Wright,
Calhoun, Benton, Douglas, Clayton and
| Hayne, and such men as being yet above
even the average OF their times, yet
raised by attraction that average to
near level with themselves. think that
it is more than 8 coincidence that the
evil which sffiict this country have
dated from and have continued along
with the deterioration Of the character
of Congress, Individually and cOlleeti lely
considered. Small men brought on great
evils and great evils have continued
small men. The dawn OF better times
will be slgnalized by the advent of better
men,"
Correspondent" ar. President, have