Wilmington journal., 1876-01-21
Andrew Johnson.

| DREW JOHNSON was officially announced
in both Houses of Congress. In the
House of Representatives, Hon A. M.
WADDELL, member from this District.
rose to second the resolutions of re-
spect to his memory.
He said:
Mr.. SPEAKER: I have been struck
since these proceedings commenced
with the peculiar circumstances of this
occasion. There is to man who be-
lieves in special provinces food for re-
fection in the fact that just as we have
reached the climacteric of a debate on
the question whether the American
people shall live together as brothers,
whether there shall be a Government
of love or hate, we are suddenly ar
reste by the remembrance that there
is a time appointed forssali men to
die.
Mr.. Speaker, when that supreme
hour comes for you and me and for
each of us, I know nothing will give
us more consolation thsn the memory
of deeds of charity and good will.
The very remarkable man, whose
death has just been formally announced
| to this House, was, like many other
men who have obtained eminence in
| other States, native, and until his
| early manhood, a resident of North
| Carolina. It is therefore meet, sir,
that in this hour dedicated to his
memory. the voice of that State shall
be heard, and the duty of uttering it
has been assigned to me,
My personal acquaintance with Mr..
johnson was very limited and merely
formal. I will not therefore attempt
to portray his character as a private
citizen, nor shall 1 attempt any sketch
of his public life and his varied and
distinguished public services, because
that has already been done by my
friend who has just taken his seat, and
is familiar to all more or less.
But he exhibited throughout his
public career some qualities upon
which brief comment may justly be
made, and perhaps not unproftably at
this time. His education, socially and
politically, differed in almost every re-
spect from my own. Indeed, may
say, they were almost antipodal, and
never until his memorable struggle,
when President, for the preservation
of constitutional liberty, had any por-
ton, IS I believe. of his career at
tracted my sympathy. But. aside
from the characteristics which he de~
veloped in that struggle, he exhibited
certain virtues as public man which
must always command respect and
dmlratlOn-vlrtues which, if they are
not rare nowadays, certainly are not
the commonest attributes of those
who now occupy high and distinguished
station.
NJ. Tob,,o,> x-o, a., bo,o.t .,o. .
truthful man, and incorruptible. He
which ought to be, but is not, univer-
personal integrity and political dis
in the same person. In all the bitter
contests through which he passed
(and his career in this respect is almost
without parallel his worst enemy,
so far as l know, never attempted to
prove, if he ever charged, that Andrew
Johnson was corrupt man.
Whatever his faults, or vices if you
please-and, presume, like all other
men, he had bis full share of them
he unquestionably had intense con-
victions, to which he chung with fear
less devotion and for which be battled
with manly courage. Among these,
sir, none were more conspicuous than
his faith in the doctrines of the fathers
touching the limitations of the Cousti-
tuition and his firm belief in the maxim
that purity of administration is essen
tial to the life of free government.
II his almost fanatical love of the
Union caused him at times to assent to
the use of arbitrary power, he still al
ways proclaimed the supremacy cf the
Constitution. II corruption in admin
istration occurred during his Presi-
dency, no one ever accused him of be-
ing even remotely connected with it.
He at least understood the principles
and sympathized with the spirit of Re-
publican institutions He did not
think that personal comfort and pecu-
mary benefit were the chief ends to
be aimed at in seeking public offices.
He did not accept them at the hands
of his countrymen as a debt due to
him and did not administer them, as
small men always do. in accordance
with his personal feelings and interests.
He considered himself the servant of
the leople, bound by his oath to be
careful and diligent in looking out, not
for his own, but for their interests.
He never was one of those who we're
called, and aptiy called, in the civil
service com n :ssiOD report, "the ban
ditti of politics and the pawnbrokers
of patronage"
He may not have been a broad
minded statesman, in the ordinary ac-
ceptation of that term, but it is to be
RENE mbered that in his syouth there
was no opportunity afforded him for
broad culture and that he did not even
have patron to secme e for him educa-
ton at the public expense. He Ger
tainly was not classical scholar. It
would seem that he did not even know
what 7aepOs meant and was utterly in
sensible to the charm that lies hidden
| behind the words dO1ad fere1ates. But
in practical ability, in power as de-
batter, whether before popular assem-
blies or Legislative assemblies and III
extensive Information in the domain of
politics, he was by no means deficient
| His long and active public service 10
association with some of the wisest
and ablest statesmen of this land, i'm
proved. enlarged, and iberalzed his
naturally powerful intellect to a de-
gree which may perhaps justify his
assignment to place among the ablest
| of our Chief Magistrates, and certainly
| to one very far above some of them.
After his death some pious investi-
gator, I believe, claimed to have dis
covered that he was an infidel. I have
very good evidence to disprove that;
but while personally know not how
that may have been, I do know that
while he was alive and in Office he was
too good patriot to seek to excite q
religious persecution against any por-
ton Of his fellow citizens. If he had
religious Jews of any kind, it is safe
to say that they were his own, and
were arrived at after mature deiibera-
ton and reflection; but whatever they
were, sir, he never sought to make po-
litical capital out of them.
Mr.. Speaker, Andrew johnson has
gone to his long rest, as sooner or
later each and all of us mustgo. after
a long and laborious career, begun in
poverty, ignorance. and friendlessness.
but crowned throughout its course
with earthly honor, he now confronts
L