Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-10-07
THOU ART TIE MAN

The friends Of Andy johnson either
deny that he was responsible for the
murder of Mrs. Surratt or insist that
she was guilty and hung in accordance
with law. Andy is preached up to be a
sound constitutional lawyer, having the
Constitution in his possession as heir
loom handed down TO him from the men
of l776. Being sound on the Constitu-
ton and all its provisions, and having
studied it until he has become part and
marcel of the instrument itself, it seems
strange that when the bloodthirsty At
torney General Speed, on demand, fur
nished al opinion that Mrs. Surratt and
other civilians could be tried legally by
a military commission; that Andy did
not know that the Constitution, which he
pirates about, did net permit SO illegal
proceeding. And yet the Sufreme Court
has long since decided that civilians could
not be tried by military commissions,
and all such trials we're 'unconstitu-
tional, the results murders and the par
Elephants murderers. In very bad taste
have parties processing to be Catholics
rushed into print through the columns
of the Avalanche, and in defense OF Mr..
johnson ON the Surratt question. In
this they have permitted their partisan
zeal to drag their religion into the mire
of filthy politics. One of these incon-
siderate partisans, in this mornings
Avalanche, exultingly says: Tell us
the name of the Catholic priest who re-
vealed the secrets told him by Mrs. Sur
raft in the sacred and secret tribunal OF
the Confessional" 1t is needless to in
form this partisan that no priest did that
thing, but that Mrs. Surratt, while Death
on the scaffold sat grimly before
her and her murderers yelled and
clamored for her innocent blood,
asserted her innocence, and this asser-
ton was repeated and believed in by
the clergyman who attended her in her
dying moments. Since the issue has
been made by the followers Of the ex-
President, it is well enough to ventilate
his record On the Surratt question. In
1866, two weeks after the strangling Of
Mrs. Surratt, an editorial appeared in
the Freeman's Journal and Catholic
Register, of New York (which journal
is eonfessedly the leading Catholic organ
in the United States, which contained
the most ferocious and terrible attack
on Andy Johnson, charging him with
the murder in language not to be mis-
understood. The same editorial was re-
published in the same paper in 1867.
Within the past few days another
editorial on the same subject has ap-
reared in the Freeman's Journal and
Catholic Register, from which we take
the following:
Andrew johnson, of Tennessee, for
SOME time, by Lincoln's murder, Presi
dent Of the United States, was her head
hangman. He is nov asking the people
of Tennessee to elect him Congress
man at large" for that State The gal
liant people of Tennessee, so many Of
whom are readers Of the Freeman's
Journal, have been calling TO bis mind
his atrocious conduct ia causing the
hanging of the innocent widow, Mrs.
Surratt. Her blood, like Abel's against
Cain, is calliag 70 Heaven from out OF the
ground. He says she. was defended by
the ablest counsel. The fact was that
Mr.. Reverdy johnson. after appearing
for her, abandoned the case. on the
ground that the military commission Sit
ting to condemn her would not lister 10
law ia the easel Andy johnson seeks
10 shelter himself behind the opinion Of
his then Attorney General-Speed-who
was in the plot for her assassination.
We have been asked from Tennessee
whether It was true that Archbishop
Spalding had asked. aud been denied,
leave TO visit herr This is not true.
The Archbishop Of Baltimore had no
need 10 see her. She had her own
chosen spiritual advisers, during the few
troubled and distracted hours that
passed between her sentence and her
murder. But what IL true is, that Arch
bishop spalding. standing in his proper
religious character. equally DESTROYS to
gain Justice and TO do good to al asked
earnestly ct President Andy johnson,
thst a few days might be given 20 Mrs;
Surratt, TO prepare Der for the decreed
execution. And il Is equally true that