Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-08-08

It amples of official purity and elevst,
J. patriotism, and so long as those brig
q examples find their hearty response aT
j. high approval in the hearts of the pc
d pie, 80 long may we continue to put ol
d trust in the old ship Of State and cont
s IDENTIFY invoke upoa it the blessings
Il heaven.
T SPEECH OF JUDGE Il. W. BROWN.
: FELLOW. .CITIzENs-When Cromwell
: England's great protector, sat before th
artist, the painter sought to make a
! evasion to escape some defect in b.
face, and sought to conceal blemisf
Cromwell discovered it and instantI
told the artist: 'Paint me as | ann [
the expression OF this great ruler Is fOun
the wish, and, in fact, the embodied he
|, roism OF every sturdy character. / an
sure he who low sleeps so calmly in th
village graveyard amid your mountains
to whom the memorial tribute this even
lug is rendered, would, il he could breal
the sepulchTal silence, demand at tn
hands of all q candid treatment O
his character and career. His wa
that sturdy character that WOult
solicit the same c8ndOr that was de
manGed by Cromwell from the artist
Andrew johnson was at least sufficient
/ ly great aud rose in American lit
in proportion sufficiently gigantic
to submit 8 thorough canvass OF his char
acter and achievements, without the
slightest apprehension that his proper
tiOns would be diminished. The friend!
OF the illustrious dead who invited ms
to address you on this occasion wOuldnot
desiie me to be uncsndid, but must have
expected me to treat the theme as truth
| demands. I am not at all noted for Hat.
| tering the living, or swelling by cOmpli.
ment insiguificanCe into importance,
Therefore in dealing with Andrew John
son l shall present to you his rugged
career just as [ conceive it to be, abating
nsught, aud, l hope, setting nGught
down in malice, and | am sure not in
fulsOme compliment. He was u man OF
such marked vigor as to command dur
ing life the most cOnspi uOus attention.
II any. shall deny to him the full
verge of greatness, none can re-
fuse to him large place
in the annals of American public
life. 1t would be the extremist folly
it would simply reflect upon the intelli-
gence of anyone to deny to the tailor Of
Greeueville q career and character that
places him high on the biographical roll
of America, aud TO have q name in
scribed among earth's great ones. For
these are the men who have fashioned
aud formed 8 great nation, have made
the United States what it is, and con.
trOlled its material and intellectual
growth. Taking the career of Andrew
Johnson at the outset; taking it strug-
Cling against all the ObstTuctiOns that
were interposed by the defects Of early
education; then, contemplating the re-
suits accomplished, it presents to you
q specimen Of American character, of
American achievement, that is rarely to
be found in the annals OF the world.
Mere success in the attainment
of official position is not nee cessarily a
test of merit or of greatness, for we often
see in this regard ipcapacity preferred to
capacity. But when that success is OBJ
tanned after fierce opposition and in fair
rivalry, then it may be looked to with
much confidence as the criterion of sbil-
ity. 1t cannot be questioned that Mr..
johnson travelled no royal road to sue
cess. Every inch OF his pathway was
battle and struggle, and in no position
reached by him during his checkered
career was his performance Insignificant.
He may have, in the opinion OF some,
failed Of that iull-OTbed splendOr attach
ing to other public men, yet he never
failed of that vigOr of thought and Of act
which commanded respect aud cOnsid-
Grafton. He may not have been ambi-
may have struck with hut
one Rrm-but it was like the blow Of the
blaCksmith'5 night armJ muscle to iron
and no foe ever failed to feel
the blow, and many an antagonist stag
gered under it, unable to keep his feeG.
Then whatever OF greatness attaches to
success fairly won can be claimed by the
admirers Of the Tennessee COmmOner.
in public man is another test
of greatness. do not mean by this to
demand Puritanical eXsCtitude in the
cOndCc5 OF his contests for place and
power. No man engaged in public |
affairs could stand the application Of !
such q rule but that citizen of a free |
who, in his general |
aims and objects, keeps an eye single to |
the interests Of tife people and lsbOrs for |
the advancement of his country, posses |
ses this element Of greatness. Even |
the proud and naughty CoriOlanus, |
standing in the maTket-place OF Rome, !
with napless garment on, seeming in |
his patrician dignity to solicit popular
suffrage, had this element of greatness
in him until driven by exile into hCstili- |
ty to his country. But Andrew John |
sons entire being OverhoWed with this |
love of the people and Of fthe State. Un- |
like CoriOlanus, no reverses Of fortune,
no rebuffs of the people, could exile him
from an active love Of them and Of his
Naughty enough with his an
tagOnists, he never scOrned the people, |
or was ashamed to beg of them favor
and suffrage. He took them into his
and made them the repos- |
itOry of his hopes and his aspirations. |
Unlike other solicitors for their sup |
port, he never attempted to conceal |
from them his ambitions, but boldly |
av0Wed them, and hunbly asked |
them to aid him in the accom-
plishment Of his schemes and pur-
poses. la this phase Of his career and |
character he naturally sui jected himself |
20 the imputatiOn Of beng purely a
Often times thought so,
md so expressed myself But upon ma
ure reflection feel constrained to recall |
he imputatiOn. Coming from the
over walks Of life, be naturally found |
n his pathway the distractions Of social
influence and better fortunes in others.
lie was thus compelled to rely upon the
masses for his support.
It was perfectly natural that he should
become identified with them, and that
he tOiling millions should become the
pecial object OF his solicitudo
md care. While it cannot be
approved that in q free common
wealth where there is no distinction,
.ivil or POLITICAL that class should be
illeGed against class, or that poverty
hould be melted against wealth. Yet,
We who are living at and survive the
lose of Andrew JOhnson's career, can
lOt fail, in looking around US, to see,
With apprehension, that the poor and
abOIing masses are not now as prosper
us as once they were; that capital and
threaten alike the farmer and
mechanic. In view Of this we ought
lot to censure too severely the professed
Olicitude Of Johnson to avert this very
Of things that he exaggerated
uring his career, these social and prop
rty distinctions may well be admitted,
ut the temptation to him to do
o was great, and few of us similar
Y situated would have resisted it,
Sut it was not in the spirit of the Jaco.
in. He was not Jack Cade, for the best
forts Of his life were given TO provide
)r the poor that education which would
levate them, and secure all against III
ppOrtune difficulties which beset bis
wn start and career III life. The speak
r here defended johnson against the
barge of hostility to States rights, and
his attachment to cOnstitu-
onal forms, notwithstanding the aber-
atoms incident to civil war. In cOnclu-
on, he said that in the simplicity and p,
Of the life, acts and words OF
le illustriOus dead, America could east
: find great man. After all that might ,
e said, aud after the seveTest criticism,
.ndrew Johnson would occupy an ample :
iche in the pantheon of the Tenuhlic,s