Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-03-23
THE MOUNTAIN HAs LARoREn

NE HAS LABORED.
Several days since the telegraph an
nounced that Johnson, the "orphan
Senator" from Tennessee, was sitting
up night after night with the only copy
OF the Constitution now in the land pre-
pairing a speech on the Louisiana ques-
ton that would open the eyes of the
nation. The orphan turned himself
loose on this wonderful production yes
terday at noon in the Senate, and the
nation opened It's optics on it this norn-
ing. 1t is singular what a wonderful
speech johnson can make after he has
wrestled all night long with the Constitu-
ton. But he can and will do so every
time he gets a chance. There is no mis-
taking one Of his speeches which he
worries out of the Constitution before
hand, for they are all twins
and look exactly alike; the same
execrable grammar, the same
insufersble egotism. His Grafton Of
yesterday is nothing but a repetition of
his Peabody Hotel harangue, with the
tribute to the cigar. box heroes Of Shelby
left ont. The burthen Of it is, what |
(Johnson) dun" when II was Presi-
dent" when Brownlov called upon Gen.
Thomas to dispense a Tennessee Legis-
lsture for not being sufficiently Radical
to suit him (Brownlow). But Johnson
don't say that he dun it" after the
Radicals had kicked him out of the
party for treachery; and what dun
when II removed Phil Sheridan from
command in New Orleans" on a certain
occasion. But the miserable old
wretch does not do what manly
honesty demanded be should by
acknowledging that he Johnson
alone is responsible for the bayonet-
ridden condition Of poor Louisiana
by rejecting the treaty which was made
and signed by General W. T. Sherman
and General Joseph E. Johnston, and
which placed the seeded States back
into the Union on honorable terms and
equal rights under the then new order
of things, allowing them to be repre-.
sented by their own people in Congress
and giving profound peace to the whole
country. May God blessthe country"
says A.. j., in this wonderful speech,
rolling up the whites Of his eyes to
heaven, after the name of the pious
Beecher, when the fact stands printed in
living letters on the pages Of history that
when Andrew johnson was first made
accidental President of the country
he took especial pains to keep God
from blessing it. He then throws
some high-born and statesmanlike
filings at Grant for gift taking" as if no
one else had even known of this weak.
ness in the Republican President before
he sat up hat night with the Constitu-
ton correcting this remarkable effort;
and suddenly run upon the information,
and he does so as coolly as if he himself
had not spent the whole Of his life to
the very present in taking all the
Offices from Alderman Of a village to
the Chief Magistracy of the Union that
he could get by any means, and at the
hands of any political party, with IN.
scrupulous impartiality. The telegraph
does not inform us as to how this won
derful speech impressed the listening
Senators, but we doubt not it was with
disgust; and most probably more than
one of the Liberal Republicans in that
body who has been against sustaining
the Kellogg government of Louisiana
has been driven. by this harangue to
favor it. The danger Of such a re-
suit is certainly greater than it was pre-
vious to the hour when the Tennessee
orphan took the floor.