The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1875-08-12
ANDREW JOHNSON.
Resolutions and Tributes to His
NJ emory.


The adjourned meeting in honor to the
late Senator johnson at the courthouse
last Saturday was very largely attended,
and the greatest interest and the pro-
! fOundest regard manifested at the read
/ ing of the appended resolutions and the
addresses. Hon. Thos. NJ. Jones re-
sumed the chair and said:
| FELLOW CITIZENS We are here to-
day, to receive the report of a commit
! tee who were appointed at previous
meeting to prepare such resolutions as
would appropriately express the high
! esteem in which the memory of Andrew
johnson is held by this community,
and the deep regret with which we
/ have received the intelligence of his
death.
We have assembled irrespective of all
party ties, and all party distinctions
| Here are the old Line Wings, who so
manfully opposed him in days long
gone by, and here are the old Demo-
Gratis who stood by him in all those
| contests with such unfaltering fidel-
| ity. Here are the union men who chung
/ to his fortunes during the dark hours
of that terrible war drought which we
! have passed, and here too are the brave
confederate soldiers who Haunted in his
/ face the Bonnie blue Flag" and bore
! it in triumph over so many bloody
| battle fields. Here too are his warm adj
/ herents in his recent Senatorial contest,
/ and here are the devoted personal and
| political friends of our own distinguished
/ citizen. And it is right and proper that
all these should be here. Upon Occa-
sions like the present, great and patri-
| otto people will meet together, and
! bury whatever bitterness and prejudice
may have been engendered by the pO-
litical contests which have passed and
clasp hands around the grave of their
| illustTiOus dead
Mr.. Johnson was at the time of his
death, our Senator in the Congress of
the United States. He held the highest
Office in the gift of the State of Tennes-
see. He had been in public life for
nearly forty years. Without money and
without the advantage of an early ed
ucation, he rose, by his gigantic intellect
and indOmitable will, to the highest
office in the gift of a free people He
is no more. With fresh hOnOrs cluster
ing around his brow, and just entering
upon bright career from which So
much was expected, he is suddenly
stricken down, and we have assembled
here to-day, in common with the citi-
Zens throughout the length and breadth
of this great Republic, to pay our trib-
ate of respect to his memory, and eX-
press our deep sorrow for his untimely
death.
The Chair then announced that mo-
lions were in order.
Judge John a. Tinnon announced
that the resolutions prepared by the
committee would be read by Mai. B.
Frank Mathews, and that Hon. IL. NJ.
SpOfford at the request of the committee
would move their adoption.
Mai. Mathews then read the resOlu-
tiOns, as follows:
We the people of Giles county, irrespective
of party, have received with profound sensi-
bility the intelligence of the death of the Hon.
Andrew johnson, late Senator in Congress:
Res0tUe6, LIST, Born III humble life without
any Of the advantages conferred sometimes
by wealth and position; struggling with ad-
versities in his earlier years, tIiumphing over
ali obstacles by his native strength Of intel
lect, by his genius and his Persevoring indus
try, and great energy, he placed himself in
the first rank of American statesmen.
ID, As Il Statesman and politician his pow
er was felt and acknowledged throughout the
republic and al bear willing testimony to his
enlarged views nd ardent patriotism.
Sd, In the dark and doubtful hours OF the
Republic his voice WIS heard above the storm
recalling his cOuntrymen to a sens" of their
danger and duty, tempeli ing the lessons of
reprOof with the experience of age und his
great wisdom, and il the internal and exter-
nal troubles through which the country
passed, he was true, tried and faithful TO the
Union, the constitution and the enforcement
OF the laws
4th, The good OF his country occupied the
last moments Of his long, useful and extra
ordinary political career-he was stricken
down with his armor on ripe in years and
full of honors amid the people he loved so
we'll
5th In his death the country has lost dis
tingUisned statesman, the people a true and
faithfu! friend, and the constitution one OF
Its ablcst eXpounders and supporters.
9th, In consideration of the approaching
centennial anniversary of American indie
pendence as the grand era of peace and good
feeling we deeply lament his death and re
greet that he has not been permitted to live
TO witness the grand consumation Of social,
State and national fraternity.
7th, 1t Is our pleasure well us our duty
to thus publicly express our feelings OF
low at his untIlneiy death in this hour Of his
cOuntry's crisis.
CHARLES {. ABERNATHV, ST.,
Chairman.
Hon. Ii. NJ. Spofiord then addressed
the meeting in an exhaustive eulOgism
upon the life and character of the Great
COmmOneT, paying tribute to his genius
and praise to his greatness. His address
was not very lengthy, for he had con-
densed the salient points in the charac-
ter and life OF the dead Senator, and pre-
scented them to his hearers clothed in ha-
DillulGulS VI lDSlC anu VI dtlN I GACGl-
lence. lie fully Endorsed the resOlu-
tions, as he understood them, and he
expanded upon the political career of
the subject OF the resolutions, comparing
him or placing in the category with the
bright lights of other days of the repub-
lie. His address was exceedingly we'll
timed and extraordinarily beautiful.
One expression he used fell from his
lips with the force of truth, and although
it is a sad reflection upon the nation, it
should be borne to the ears of every free
man and teach him to despise the men
and principles that render it necessary
that such an expression should be used
unhappy the times when the absence
of vice in a public man is magnitied
into a virtue"
Hon. Jno. V. Wright, of Columbia,
was called upon and addressed the
meeting a few minutes. He said that,
not being a citizen of Giles, he would
not have responded to the invitation,
but that the calamity that occasiOned
this Assem- bling was national and none
should be barred an expression of feel
ing. He dwelt with some pathOs upon
the past when he himself was associated
with MIR. Johnson, and dwelt with
feeling upon the daily occurring evil
dehces of the passing away of the ami
mosities engendered by the war. He
referred to the esteem in which RObt.
f. Lee was held when death claimed
him, even by his enimies, and that this
brotherly feeling was growing cOntinu-
ally, as eYinced by the ovation given
the great kinsman of the fallen warrior,
Gen Fitz Hugh Lee, in the city OF BOs-
ton recently. He was glad the time
haG arrived when the past was merged
into the present and all were seeking
the same future. He believed there
was hardly a man under the sound of
his voice who had not at some time
been allied TO Mr.. johnson in sentiment
and at another opposed to him. He
has been in antagOuiSm To every party,
and at the same time rose 10 highest
eminence by party influences. He was
a man above parties, the peer of the
greatest, and his name would find
place in history. The speaker met him
for the first time in Pulaski years be.ore
the war, when both were candidates
for public Office, and Mr.. johnson then
gave him a few words OF advice the So
cret of his own wonderful powers and
success which has given to him the
name of the great COmmouer. His
words were: "Stand by the people,