The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1875-09-01
ANDREW JOHNSON.
A Letter From Elk Secretary
asH McCullOch. 9

To the editor of the New York
Tribune. Sir I have been, panied
by noticing in the London Times a
cable dispatch announcing the death
of Andrew johnson. hope | may
be permitted to offer to his memory
brief tribute of respect. / knew
Mr.. johnson intimately for four years,
and had perhaps as much of his con.
fidence as he gave to any member of
his Cabinet. My impression. how
ever. was that his experience as q
politician had made him distrustful,
and that he never gave his confidence
unreseryedly to any one outside of
his own family. This distrust was.
one cause of the unpopularity, not
to say failure, of his Administration,
Had he confided IN the leaders of the
party which brought. him into power,
and gone with them, his path would
have been a pleasant one or if. dis
carding them, he had called to his
aid The leaders of the opposition,
with whom. on most questions, he
was in sympathy. he would have
shared with them the responsibilities
of a most difficult position, and re-
ceived a support which he needed
but seemed not to desire. Thus un-
consciously, perhaps, distrustful of
his felIow-men, but conscious. of the
rectitude of his intentions. he at
tempted the impossibility Of admin
istering properly the Government in
the, most trying period of its history
without a party to support him. Dis
trust was one OF his faults, and in be.
coming President, not by the choice
of the people. but by the death Of
Mr.. Lincoln, and regarded, on ac-
count of his being Tennessean mot
withstanding the evidence he had
given of his fealty to the Unionl
with suspicion by many of the ex-
treme men Of the North, it was per-
haps his greatest fault. Another
fault. and very dangerous one in
the Chief Magistrate, was an ire
.sistible propensity to make speeches
and to indulge in invectives unbe-
coming his great Office, and frequent
ly unjust to those whom he attacked,
or against whom he undertook to de-
fend himself. He never compre-
hended the power Of silence. Then,
too, he was conf1ative. His whole
life, from the tailor's bench TO the
Senate. had been filed with tue com
bats in which he had been engaged,
single handed, with a powerful South
ern aristocracy bent upon prevent
ing his political and social advance
ment. This combativeness he car
ried into the Executive Mansion. 1t
had become part of his nature, and
he could not rid himself of 1t. He
seemed never to be happy unless he
had some one to strike at or de-
nounce. Such were his faults, and
they were grevious ones in the high
est officer of the Government. but
great as they were, they were coun-
terbalancedsby many of the noblest
qualities.
r. He was a man Of convictions, and
upalterably true to them. Lacking
quickness of apprehension, he was
slow in reaching conclusions, but
when he had reached them be adj
hered to them with unconquerable
tenacity. No braver man, morally
or physically,-eyer lived. Sensitive
to pain he possessed an zindomitabIe
will, that enabled him to endure pain
without a murmur. During his oc-
cupancy of the Executive Mansion
he was the victim of most painful
disease, and although his agony was,
at times, most excrutiating, it was
indicated only by a slight contrac-
tion of the facial muscles. / said to
him one day, upon observing this pc
culiar muscular contraction, :. Mr..
| President, you are not WE'LL" "No," ;"
replled-he; ssno, Mr.. Secretary. /
could not suffer more if an animal
were gnawing at my vitals,' and yet
he continued at his work as if in per-
| feet health. He was of the same
material that martyrs were made of,
and had he lived in their days, and
been sentenced to the stake, he would
have died as they did, without re-
canting his opinions, or giving ex-
preston to his agony. A bitter en-
eIny.. he never struck a foe after he
considered him vanquished. In his
family relations he was affectionate
and indulgent; fond Of children, he
was as gentle and kind in his treat
ment of them as woman. Notwith.
standing his distrust of men, he was
full of generous emotions. Never
absent from his post. he was one of
the most indefatigable workers. He
was orderly in his habits and taste
full in his dress. and although de-
/ prived of the advantage of what is
called good society in his early life,
he had the bearing and address of a
gentleman. The White House was
never more than the mansion Of the
President ought to be than when it
was occupied by himself and his mod
est, unpretending, but really accom-.
plisIed daughters. Stigmatized by
his opponents as an inebriate. he was
not Incorporate in the use of liquors.
For some six weeks after he became
President ne occupied room OPEN
ing into mine in the Treasury De-
partment, where | saw him every
hour, from in the morning until 5
in the afternoon, and for nearly four
years there was not a day, both in
seasonahle and unreasonable hours,
that ] did not meet him, and al
though | frequently saw him under
excitement which a stranger might
have regarded as Indicating intoxi-
cation. l never saw him under the
influence of liquor. The reports Of
his inebriety, which were circulated
broadcast over the country, and be-
lieved perhaps by majority of his
couEtrymen, were audacious calnm-
/ mics.