The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1875-02-05

result indicates q muQdIed condition
of political sentiment in Tennessee. And
yet can not regard the matter from
your point Of view. There is lesson
in the shifting fortunes Of this remarka-
BILE man which may be read advantage
ously. There is inherent strength, if
not intrinsic worth, in the character of
man who, after sinking out of sight
covered with obloquy, net only rises TO
the surface, but resumes his position as
myself to regret Andrew Johnson's re-
turn 10 Congress, and l will endeavor
briefly to tell you why.
First, remember with lively graft
tude his brave devotion to the Govern
ment and Union from the beginning to
the end of the rebellion. When other
Southern Senators advocated secession
and threatened disunion, Andaew John
son rebuked and denounced them
When the overt act of rebellion was
committed, he pronounced treason a
crime invoking the punishment due to
traitors.
l was a good deal with Vice Presi-
dent johnson in company with the la;e
Preston King Immediately after the as
sassination Of President Lincoln. l
know that his first solicitude was to as
certain and carry out the policy of Mr..
Lincoln. / know that he went to the
White House with that determination.
He inherited the political hostilities
which had already assumed formidable
proportions in the Senate against Mr..
Lincoln, but unfortunately he did not
inherit Mr.. Lincoln's temper or tact.
When, before President johnson had
uttered one syllable, or had done one act
subjecting him TO the just censure of
Republicans, he was assailed by Senators
Summer, Wade, Chandler, &C., and de-
nounced in leading Republican journals.
At that crisis l had anxions interviews
with him, and while lie did not conceal
his sense of the injustice of these assaults,
he avowed and reiterated his de-
termination TO Eight the question out in
the Republican party" Subsequently,
on several occasions, / had earnest con-
versations with him in relation to his
views and policies, and am free to say
that left him on those occasions with
high sense of his ability and wisdom,
and with unwavering confidence in his
integrity and patriotism. And yet that
wise man-for such, under the guidance
of judgment and reason, he really was
during the progress Of events was 5ereft
Of both, and became the victim of pas
sion and unreason. met him at Alba
ny while swinging round the circle, !"
and endeavored in a brief interview to
show him that men, in popular sense,
were like flies, and that more of them
could be caught with honey than with
vinegar. In other words, suggested
that, when during his tour he was called
upon by his constituents for speeches,
instead of hitting out with his right
and left" againts Congress, Congress not
being there to reply, he would find OBJ
jects and works of improvement and
progress to admire and commend, in
which his audience would be interested.
urged that speeches consisting of orator
Choate's "glittering generalities" would
prove more acceptable TO his hearers, far
safer for himself than all the anathemas
he could illuminate against his enemies.
But he was aggressive and belligerent
to degree that rendered him insensibie
to considerations of prudence and COM
mon sense qualities, which, under other
auspices, were marked traits in his char
acte:,. And thus he proceeded on his
evil mission through many States, deal
ing blows right and left, which neither
hit nor harmed any body but himself and
his friends. His speeches strongly re-
minded me of the dog in ''Dombey and
Son." who was forever "barking round
the corner at an enemy he had never
seen."
Returning TO Washington, the spirit
of antagonism intensified; he became the
victim of delusion which provoked
and precipitated his impeachment
And yet when his trial came nothing was
proved to require or justify his convic-
tion. He was impeached as men are
not unfrequently indicted-upon a gen.
eral bat vague popular idea that they
have been guilty of something and ought
to be punished. And so President John
son, serving out his accidental term, ex-
asperating his enemies and mortifying
his friends, passed into retirement,
from which no one supposed he would
ever emerge. Nor could any common
man have dug himself out of pit so
deep and dark as that into which he had
fallen. Andrew Johnson's defects are
constitutional. With his loss of temper,
reason and common sense depart. His
beiligerency on the stump while working
his way up TO place ana power was effec-
live, but when the highest position in
the Government had been attained, other
qualities and elements of mind and tenn
permanent were needed. And here Pres
dent Johnson's deficiencies became dis
astrously conspicuous. Striking upon
this rock his political fortune was wreck
ed. But underlying his infrmities of
temper there were strong redeeming
traits of character-traits which, in the
estimation of the people, fit him for pub
lie usefulness. And this conviction-a
conviction of which the people of Ten
nessee themselves were scarcely con-
scious-furnishes a solution to the prob
lem of his most unexpected return to
public life. can not, therefore, l re-
peat, regard this apparently capricious
result in a simply amuting or ludicrous
aspect. 1t is suggestive and significant.
There was "method in the madness" of
the Tennessee Legislature. If Andrew
johnson, oblivious to the bad passions
and worse record of the last two years or
his Presidential experience, comes back