The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1869-03-18
The Farewell Address.

The farewell address of the retiring
President is document which will, in all
probability, obtain for itself a more can
did and impartial criticism in the future
than there is reason to expect for it in the
present. Still, amid the discredit which
the Republican party has brought upon
itself-the justice of which even its organs
are constrained to admit-there are many
who will read the utterances of Mr.. John
son with a patience that, considering the
feelings which they but recently enter
tanned toward him, will be surprising to
themselves OF one thing there can be
no doubt: Taking the period included be-
tween the time when the first motion was
made for impeachment and the present,
Mr.. Johnson has greatly and justly risen,
and Congress greatly and Justly fallen In
the esteem of the people of the United
States; and, in proportion as confidence In
the one has increased, confidence in the
other has diminished.
No chief magistrate, certainly of the
United States, has ever occupied his place
under circumstances more disheartenlng
than those by (which Mr.. Johnson has
been surrounded Nothing was wanting
when he acceded to the Presidential office
but conformity to the will of the majority
III SOuSICSS " HeifC lIldQC IliIu ehC AoOA VI
the Republican party. So that he would
have used it for the aggrandizement of
the party and the perpetuation Of its
power, there was no authority, constitu-
tional or otherwise, which it would not
have thrust into his hands. 1t would have
been as liberal to endow him with iliegl
innate as it became resOlute to deprive
him of his legitimate functions; and 1t
would have bowed TO him, with more
than eastern ceremony of reverence, as the
formal sovereign, so, that he had submit
ted to be its actual slave. Willingly,
by his own act, singly and without a
party to support him, he refused to be-
come the implement to carry out the
measures and minister to the ambition of
the Congressional majority, and for that
offense during the remainder of his term
he became the victim of a persecution as
intense and INSCRIPTIONS as it was illegal
and unjust.
Norman certainly of the present age has
been slandered and Vilificd as Mr. Johnson
has been slandered and vilifed. Il is
difficult to say whether the abuse which
for three years was poured upon him by
the press, and by the leaders and orators
of the Republican party, was most remark
able for its cOpiousness, its malignity, its
falsity, or its ingenuity Every indignity
which a party holding absolute power in
the state could devise; every falsehood
which a party heated beyond the bounds
of respect for truth and decency by rage,
f.naticism and ambition could invent were
employed TO divest him of his influence
and to degrade him in the eyes of the
world. Could he have consented to en-
bark in the cause of the Radical leaders
and abet their designs, his path would
have been paved with gold and his bed
piled with roses. He would have been
tlattered as copiOusly as he has been SLAM
dered; even his weaknesses would have
borne the aspect of virtues DER the
magic influence of Radical rha Jric and
he would have had such an assurance as
party organs can afford that he was second
only to Washington.
The stand of Mr. J ohnson in favor of the
Constitution was, to all appearance, taken
as deliberately as it was resOlutely main
tanned. There are many reasons to be-
lieve that he felt constitutional liberty to
be in danger, and that, not without dis
tinct conception of its consequences to
himself be resolved to do what lay in his
power for its preservation. Whatever
may be said of his abilities or of his per-
sonal character, no impartial man can
review the history of his administration
without giving him credit for degree of
moral courage such as mere statesmen do
not often exhibit. He may have mis-
judged; he might, perhaps, have been
more efficien, had he been more polite
but for answering endurance and rigid
adhesion to what he believed to be right,
we may search in vain for his parallel.
st. Paul took credit to himself that he
had on an occasion fought with beasts at
Ephesus. What was the official life of
Mr.. Johnson but one continued struggle
with men heated to the brutal degree
with rage and bent upon his destruction i?
1t was due from Mr.. Johnson to him
self that he should address the people OF
the United States at the close of his official
career. With no party to stand up in his
defense with no multitude of organs to
sing his praises or excuse his errors, he
was manifestly entitled to his day and his
hearing, and it must be confessed that he
chose well the time for making his appeal
While the subject would have a more CO.
pious exposition, it will be generally felt
that his arraignment of the Radical party
is as just as it is emphatic and severe
The revolution which has already taken
place in public opinion, touching the rel
alive merits of his antagonists and him
self, will give it a force which at no for
mer period it could have possessed II
contains solemn truths upon which the
people of this country, if they value their
freedom and desire the restoration of the
Government to its former symmetry and
purity, will do well to reflect Missouri
Republican.