Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-09-08
Andrew Johnson.

Andrew johnson.
A Washington telegram to tn,
St. Louis Republican, says:
Acting postmaster General Ha
zen has approved design for tn,
new tour cent postage stamp. Th,
stamp will contain Il bust picture o
Andrew Johnson" ~ --....
The Republican is led to max,
the following remarks which W.
heartily endorse. 1t says: sit i
quite safe to say that ten years age
a republican administration wOulC
have denied to Andrew johnson
even this small honor, and republi
can Postmaster-General would have
thought he was doing God and thu
country a service by refusing hin
the poor Immortality OF postage
stamp picture. No president ha'
provoked such bitter hatred are
unrelenting prosecution as did An
drew Johnson, and none deserved
il less. All who are capable o
forming an intelligent and impair
tial opinion now admit that he was
thoroughly honest. His patriotism
was demonstrated by the course he
pursued before and during the war
and for his honesty and his most
INSCRIPTIONS assailants never dared
To doubt that. If he had Il full
share OF human faults and fullieS,
there never was Il trace of mean
ness or falsehOOd in him; nothing,
indeed, which prosperity will not
freely pardon, and much it will
heartily applaud. Not a very
great man, not an altogether good
man, but manly man at all times
and under all circumstances, an
honorable enemy and an unf1inch-
ing friend. He had in the largest
degree what the French call "the
courage of his convictions" The
convictions may not have been al
ways correct, but the courage was
always there to back them; and il
never faltered nor weakened in the
most critical emergency. His will
was as firm as that of Gen Jackson,
and "Old Hickory" himself never
faced the storm of partizan malice
with more equanimity, more SUI
preme self confidence. 1t would
have been easy for him to havegone
with his party and made his admin
iStratiOu the mere echo of dominant
republican sentiment. He deliber-
ately chose the rough path rather
than the smooth deliberately
chose to DO what ne believed 10 be
right, and suffer the inevitable con-
sequences rather than do whaT he
believed to be wrong and be rewar-
ded therefor. Whatever else Pres
ident Johnson was, he certainly
was no fool. He must have known,
did know, that any southern policy
was a trace of conservatism and ii
was sure to have the unanimous
and unrelenting opposition of his
party. The policy he adopted was
inquest iOnably, in its essential
features, the same that Lincoln had
decided upon, and would have
urged had he lived, but no one then
knew better than johnson that the
vast majority of the republicans
were hostile to this policy, and ev-
crybody knows that if Lincoln had
lived and tried to carry il out, his
experience would have been as pain
ful rs was JohnsOn's. The bullet Of
the assassin spared Lincoln this fate
and transmitted II TO his successor.
1t is often said by republicans
who seem anxious to get at the
truth of the matter, that the Lin
cOln-J ohnSun policy was premature,
and that the treatment the south
received from 1866 to 1877 neceSSa-
ny for the perfect restoration of the
Union and the securing of 1.-THE re-
suits of the war" Never, we be-
lieve, was there a greater error. If,
as is now conceded, the Union was
not really restored, 1.-THE results of
the war" really secured until the
republican heel was lifted from tie
southern neck, would il not have
been better for all concerned, if the
neck had never felt the heel? L.
southern human nature SO exception |
nj that il is improved by oppression
and outrage? Does any sensible !
man suppose that the innumerable |
infamTpS OF republican reconStruc- |
tiOn mad soitening and pacifying /
influence upon the southern people, |
giving them a stronger love for the /
Union and warmer allegiance 10 /
the constitution and the laws?
Does any sensible man suppose |
that il the south had been dealt
with, from 1865 to 1877, as Lincoln
and Johnson proposed 10 deal with
her, she would have been less loyal.
peaceable and prosperous in 1888?
70 become what she Is to-day, the
south has had to overcome, not only /,
the perniciOuS effects of reconstruc-
ton upon the political, industrial
and commercial interests of that
section, but the worst effects upon
popular feeling the jealUusies, pref
ldiceS and animOSitieS which OPP
preston and outrage always breed.
These have not yet entirely disap-
pcared, for the work of twelve
years cannot be wiped out in six;
but that desirable cOnsumatiOn is
rapidly approaching, and when it
arrives the triumphant VindiCatiOn
IF the LinColn-J ohnson pUlicy-the
democratic pOlicy-will be complete.
Meanwhile let republicans be pa
lent, FOR they, ana they alone, are
for the delay.
As for President Johnson, the IT. ,
logic of events has alrea- I
Nv Vindicated him. What he vain ,
V tried to do has been done, and the ,
esults speak for themselves, and il ,
Ie had done what he Vainly tried ]
o do, the darkest page in the MAJ ,
ions histoi.- would not have been 8
written for future generations to :
cad with sorrow and shame. He j
oes not need a postage stamp to ]
eep him in remembrance, for (
the sober second thought" of the {
Imerican people has built him a ]
1onument which will stand strong !
nd bright when the memory of t
rs prosecutors has rotted into OBJ q
Wan. a
"T,Nf clad Billy had the sense to :
Harry settled old mald,H said .
Irandma Wfnkum, at the wedding. )
Gals l. hity-tity and wldders is
inder overrulin' and uPsettin'.
Id maids is kinder thankful and