The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-04-28
Ex-PaEsIDENr JOHNSON.
His Speech at Knoxville, Tenn.

Ex-President Johnson's speech a
Knoxville, as published in full, is
mastery vindication of his W off
cial conduct, and a scathing review O
the adverse policy forced upon the
country. Throughout his career he
maintained an unsupported integrity,
he was unapproachable by the cor
rupt, his hands were unstained by
brides or presents-the preservation
Of the Constitution and the true inter.
ests of the country occupied all his
thoughts and were the objects of his
perpetual care.
Had he taken the other course, and
drifted in the current of venality-
had he received brides under the name
of presents and bestowed offices and
jobs upon the givers-had he coop
Grated with the plunderers of the
treasury and concurred in the evil
measures outside the Constitution, he
would have retired with boundless
wealth, glorifed by the Radical lead
ers, to be handed over with them to
the future historian as examples of the
immortality, selfshness and corruption
produced by civil commotion.
We regret that we have not room
for the whole speech, but give the fol-
lowing extracts:
DEBT AND TAXES.
When you look at the history of
this government in the last eight
years, it has made strides that are
alarming. Look at the debt, look at
the expressions, look at the taxes.
Think when you are talking about
billions it is not millions. How long
is this state of things to continue?
One word in this connection. Your
debt is now in round numbers, three
billions of dollars, so far as the Ma
tional Government is concerned. How
much it is at home now, God only
knows. / know where the State was
when 1 left it as your Governor. l
know you had a school fund. l"Where
Is it now Pr Yes, where is it now ?
Echo answers, where? [Applause]
1t was a large school fund, and in a
very short time it could have been in
creased so as to be sufficient to edu-
cate all the children in the country.
Your debt was about sixteen millions,
snd your State was in a prosperous
Where is the debt now?
Look at the State taxes, and look at
the taxes of the Federal Government,
and we find that the Federal Govern
collects from the people to pay
interest-S150, O0o. 1000 per annum-I
three times as much as was once nee
essary to defray the expenses of the
Federal Government. You collect
e150,000,000, to be paid in gold and
silver to the bondholders of this ma
ton. That is one of the fruits of what
is coming upon us. Black men will
this. While they have
been giving you freedom, as they pre-
tend, and DISTINGUISHING white people,
the other hhaa2d thev have been
making white men and black men
together. The only difference
now is that all are slaves, while a part
only were slaves before. Now you
have to toll on, white and black, to
pay one hundred and fifty millions per
annum to the bondholders of this coun-
try, who never shed drop of blood 10
save it. I would to God there was
no power, or in other words, the Gov
eminent had not the credit to borrow
money to carry on war. If the people
had to be called on for money before
the war began, we would have no
war. We used to talk about the ne
gro aristocracy of the South, and we
were terribly alarmed at it. The es-
value of the labor under the
slave system was three hundred mil
lion dollars. But now all this has dis
appeared. The negro has been freed,
but let me tell you the bill of sale has
been transferred to other men, and
you have got to work to pay it. If
the debt is fixed upon the people, let
me eli you it has got to come from
your toll and the peoples toll to pay
the one hundred and fifty millions ev-
cry year to the bondholders of the
Did they buy it2 No, not
from anybody. Did they loan the
Government geld and sIverf Ne,
not a dollar. They loaned their cred
It. Where is the soldier or officer,
Is the man who sold his herses
or wagons to the Government during
the war that received gold and silver
in payment? He received deprecia-
ted currency. Now, the interest must
be paid in gold and silver, extorted
from the sweat and toll of the peo-
pie.
RADICAL PHILANTHROPY.
A while ago 1 asked you what these
people can do for you. ["That is
what we want to know."1 Why there
was a colored man came to me in
Washington that wanted a subscrip-
ton to sustain his newspaper; l was
pretty hard pressed for money, but
gave nina twenty five dollars. He
went then to Mr.. Sumner, told his
tale, and Sumner said that was a
question he hadn't much to do with
that, what he did was upon general
principles. Derisive cheers. Anoth-
er colored man came to me and asked
me to subscribe to sustain a college
fer colored men. l told him / could
not subscribe to every thing, but gave
$3.50. He went among some of the
Simon Pures of the North, and l
don't think he got money enough to
pay his expenses. Laughter. In
Charleston, the most ultra city in the
Union, they wanted to buy the Ma
rine Hospital, large, & ~capacious, well
adapted for a school. Ar Episcopal
ian preacher, a very clever gentleman,
came to me in Washington to ask me
to help him in purchasing the build
ing. I told him that 1 didn't know /;
that IL was not in my State. but i