Year: 1871

His Opinion OF the Usurpation Of


Power by the Federal Govern
menf.


A correspondent of the New York
Tribune recently visited Andrew John,
son at Greenyille, Tennessee. We make
couple Of extracts from his letter:


NR. JoHSsoN's RESIDENCE.


1t stands upon the business street,
the front door opening Immediately
upon the sidewalks plain, two-story
red brick house, OF moderate size, with
white window.blinds, a shaded yard at
one side, and q kitchen garden in the
rear sloping 10 a spring sheltered by
three gigantic willows, grown from slips
brought by naval officer from the
tomb OF Napoleon at ST. Helena, and
planted by Mr.. johnson himself twenty
years ago. The house is simply fur.
nished, and without and within has
look Of perfect neatness. The little par
lor has one window looking upon the
street and another opening upon
grass-plat back OF the house under
the shadow of a spreading apple-tree.
The room has bright, tasteful aspect,
The sofa and few chairs are covered
with clean linen; upon the prettily
papered walls there are few pictures
"a portrait in oil Of the ex.President, a
photograph in Masonic frame, an oil
painting OF a mountain scene in Col
orado, a chrome likeness OF Lincoln,
Masonic chart, and lithograph o! the
State House at Nashville; and the
table holds some illustrated books, o
set of silverware, a family Bible and a
bouquet OF artificial flowers under a
glass cover. Without knowing any
thing Of the owner OF the house, one
would take it to be the home OF vii
lage doctor, lawyer, or merchant, bless
ed with good taste, an income OF a
thousand dollars a year, and a good
wife endowed with domestic talents.


A few steps up the street from Mr..
Johnson's house is a low, one-story
building of two rooms, unpainted with
in, and much weather-beaten without,
which he occupies as an office and
library. In the outer room there are
numerous boxes Of public documents,
and the inner room contains plain
pine table, a few splint-bottom chairs,
and three or four hundred books ar
ranged on shelves on three sides Of the
apartment-chiehy works on politics,
history and political economy. Mr..
Johnsons habits are simple and meth
odical. He seldom leaves home except
to 20 to his farm, six miles in the coun-
try, where his son-in-law, ex-senator
Patterson, lives. He usually walks
over to the depot twice day, for exer-
else, when the train comes in, and may
almost always be seen upon the streets
evenings, sitting in front Of the store of
another son.in-law, Mr.. Brown, and
talking with his neighbors.


HIS OPINIONS.


The ex.President has modified none
OF those well.known positive opinions
about which he battled with Congress
In long conversation with the 7ri-
June's correspondent to day, he an
nounced his continued adhesion to that
famous policy upon which he insisted
with such pertinacity while in the
White House, and said he believed the
time would come when public opinion
would say that he was right. He still
believed, he said, that the States should
not have been punished as communities,
but that few leading traitors should
have been tried and hung for their
crimes. As this was not done the next
best thing was to have granted q gen
eral amnesty. He regarded it as a
grave mistake that the secession ques
ton had not been determined by the
courts after the war The rebellion
raised two questions-had the Southern
States the right to sccede and had they
the power? The war settled that they
had not the power, but the question as
to whether they had the right had
never been determined, and JEFF. Davis,
Stephens, and all the other leading men
in the South still believe that they had
the constitutional right to get out OF
the Union. If the Supreme Court had
decided this question, these men could
have nothing more to say.


THE GREAT DANGER OF THE FUTURE.


The ex.President still holds that the
great future danger TO the country lies
in the usurpation OF power by Congress
and the Capitalization in that branch OF
the Government OF functions belonging
TO the Executive, Judiciary, and the
State Governments. "ln old times, he
said, "the people knew little and cared
little about what Congress was doing.
Now the very negroes and the boys 10
the streets talk about Congress and
what it is going to do, and with good
reason, for Congress is at every mans
door with it's revenue laws, its collectors
and its detectives. A man can't buy a
bottle OF vermifuge at the store but
Congress is up TO him in the shape OF
a stamp on the bottle. Congress is
composed Of q set OF men who
have lost all ideas Of constitutional
government, and have no thought
but to grasp all the power they can.
They have made the Executive and
judiciary mere negative branches Of
the Government, and have tied them
hand and foot" He was particularly
severe on the present system Of interna-
tiopal taxation, which he said was de-
stroyiDg the public morals. and bad
divided the people into two classes
the taxpayers, who sought to cheat the
Government out OF all the tax they
could, and the tax-collectors, who stole
all OF the tax they dared to after they
collected it. Fraud, defalcation and
corruption were the natural results of