Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 April 1869 — Andy Johnson and the Nashville Negroes. [ARTICLE]

Andy Johnson and the Nashville Negroes.

In its account of the reception of cx-Presidcnt Johnson, tho Nashville Banner says: *‘A little episode occurred right here, which was by no means the least interesting feature of tho excursion. Mr. Johnson, while the train stopped, was escor- j ted into the car occupied, by the Nashville committee of colored citizens. He moved among them, shaking hainlt and exchanging cordial greeting* Elias Polk, of Nashville, met him in the aisle of the car, and, striking an attitude of .attention, thus addressed him: “ ‘Pkksiuent —We are here to welcome you, sir, to your native State. We conic to show you, by our presence, our appreciation of your endeavors in the preservation of the constitution and the union of these United States. Wc honor i you, sir, for your perseverance, and | we are glad to hive you hen*, and I we are going to take care of you. ’

This appropriate little speech was greeted with applause. When Trsubsided, Mr. Johnson remarked that it w as peculiarly gratifying to him to be the recipient of such a testimonial from such a source. — lie would say to them, not in the phrase of a set speech, but in a conversational way, that while he thanked them, he felt that he was receiving at their hands no more than was his right, lie had never i dceerted them, and called to mind I the circumstance when the c'maitci- ! pation proclamation excepted Ten--1 nessec, and asked who it was then i that proclaimed them free from the steps of the capitol. There had been a good deal of talk about Moses. Who was Moses? Why, he added, it took Moses 40 years TfTTead.iTio children of Israel out I of the w ilderness, and I have only i been away from you four of five.— i Moses was 160 years old tvhen he j died, and lam yet only CO. They would yet live tcHcnow who were their real friends and who were j their pretended ones. lie had been ■j. the first in Tennessee to befriend I them and set them free. The hos- . tility against him began here in 1 Tennessee, and. for what reason? Why, for this very act of justice to tli e colored people, at between man and man. Perhaps there were some present who could remember a speech he made to them at Nashville a few years back, when pistols were firing in the street, and the messengers of death hurling ! through the air, and war t and desolation raged, that he had said, if ;no one else w ould, he would be ; their Moses and lead them out of bondage. He owned some slaves j hitnself in the days of slavery, but ; he had emancipated them every* one. The other day he had met at home his former slave, Sam (and, bv the wav, lie added, he is a much better looking man than I am),and ho had said to him, “Sam, you have had much the advantage of | me, for you were emancipated five j years and more, and I was only set ; frep on the 4tli of March last.’ lie ! renew*ed his obligations of grati* tude to his friends, and hoped soon to b"e permitted to talk with them and counsel with them about the future. 'He then took leave of them, shaking each, in turn, by the hand, and returned to the sleeping coach,” " < tar Col. Eli S. Pabkek, late an aid on Gen. Grant’s staff, has been j appointed Commissioner of Indian ' affairs. Parker is an Indian Chief, | and unless be has improved much in l the past year, is a drunken vagabond. —ljr • —— f3T"Botk Houses of Congress adjourned ou last Saturday.