PRESIDENT JOHNSON.

Timaru Herald, Volume II, Issue 64, 5 August 1865, Page 1 (Supplement)

PRESIDENT JOHNSON.

The New York Herald gives the following account of the swearing-in of VicePresident Andrew Johnson : —

While the foreign ambassadors were taking- their seats Mr. Johnson commenced his address before he had taken the oath of office. He had been talking about five minutes when the President entered, escorted by Senators Hendricks and Foster, Mr. Lincoln taking his seat near the clerk's desk, and near the members of his Cabinet. During all this time Andrew Johnson — for such he simply then was — not yet having taken the oath of office (would to Heaven it could be said on behalf of the country that he is still only Andrew Johnson !) continued his speech. Such a speech ! It might have been appropriate at a hustings at Tennessee, but it certainly was far from being appropriate on this occasion. It was a ninety-ninth-rate stump speech, and disgraceful m the extreme. He had not proceeded far when Republican senators began to hang their heads and look at each other with sig*nificance, as much as to say, " Is he crazy, or what is the matter ? " There was no mistaking the fact, the senators were mortified m the extreme. The Democratic senators leaned forward and appeared to be chuckling with each other. The foreign ministers showed unmistakable signs of amazement as the incoherent sentences came from Mr. Johnson's lips. Luckily for the members of the House of Representatives, they did not reach the Senate until several minutes after 12, and were subjected to only a small portion of the scene. The speech was so disconnected, and the sentences so incoherent, that it is impossible to give an accurate report of it. As his sentences came up m the reporters' fallery, the statements that " Your Presient is a plebeian — I am a plebeian — glory m it. Tennessee has never gore out of the Union. I'm going to talk two minutes and a half on that point. I want you to hear me. Tennessee always was loyal. We all derive our power from the people, j Chief Justice Chase is but a creature of the people. I want you to hear me two minutes and a half on that point. You, Mr. Stanton, Secretary of War, derive your anthority from the people. Who is Secretary of Navy? (Some one responded " Mr. Willes.") You, Mr. Willes, get your power from the people." This was the strain and tone of the whole speech, mixed with a lecture to | the Senate on its action on the rebellious j States. It was impossible to give a full report. The constant clatter of voices m | the rear, declaring, " What a shame ! " "Has he no friends?" "Will no one stop him, and save the country further disgrace?" were so numerous, that they entirely prevented a full report being made. The only full report was that of the official reporters of tne Congressional Globe. The senators were fcowever so chagrined, that they notified the Globe reporters to suppress the report until Mr. Johnson could write out a speech, that this affair might not go before the world. It is charitable to say that his condition was such that he was unfit to make a speech.

He evidently did not shun Bourbon county, Kentucky, on his way here. M*. Johnson finally concluded, whereupon Mr. Hamlin administered the. oath of office* Mr. Hamlin read the oath by sentences, and Mr. Johnson repeated it after him. The efforts of the Vice-President elect t© go through with the form were painful ia the extreme. He stumbled, stammered, repeated portions several times over, and the moment he had concluded his task Mr. Johnson turned to the audience and commenced another speech, giving 1 his idea of the oath he had just taken. He had utterred but two or three sentences when some of the officials standing near had the good sense to stop him, he having already delayed the proceedings beyond all usage. It had heretofore been the custom to close all speeches the moment that the judges of the Supreme Court and the diplomatic corps arrived. Mr. Hamlin, m accordance with this usage, closed his speech m time to give Mr. Johnson some seven minutes to make his remarks before the arrival of the above dignitaries. But Mr. Johnson was not inclined to follow this usage. The diplomatic gentlemen heard the bulk of his speech, and unfortunately the worst part of it. The moment he had been silenced, Mr. Hamblin declared the old Congress adjourned. Thus expired the Senate of the thirty-eighth Congress. Mr. Johnson immediately called the new Senate to order. The clerk, John W. Forney, then read the President's proclamation, convening the Senate m extraordinary session. The newly elected senators were ordered to approach the clerk's desk and take the prescribed oath. Here Vice-President Johnson made another faux pa#. He stepped forward with the Bible, held it out, motioned to the new senators to touch it, and then motioned them away without repeating the oath m any form. Most of the senators left the stand when the muddle was discovered. The senators were however recalled, and Mr. Forney administered to them the oath of office ; for by this time it became apparent that some one besides Mr. Johnson would have to conduct the business of the Senate.

The following advertisement appeared m an Alabama paper, on the Ist December last : — " One Million Dollars Wanted, to have peace by the Ist March. — If the citizens of the Southern Confederacy will furnish me with the cash, or good securities for the sum of 1,000,000 dollars, I will cause the lives of Abraham Lincoln, William H. Seward, and Andrew Johnston to be taken by the Ist day of March. This will give us peace, and satisfy the world that cruel tyrants cannot live m a " land of liberty." If this is not accomplished, nothing will be claimed beyond the sum of 50,000 dollars m advance, which is supposed to be necessary to reach and slaughter the three villains. I will myself give 1,000 dollars towards this patriotic purpose. Everyone wishing to contribute will address "X," boxX, Cahaba, Alabama." A Great Bridge. — The bridge recently built across the Mississippi river, at Clinton, lowa, for the use of the North Western Railroad, is 3,650 feet, or more than three-fifths of a mile long. Of this distance, 2,800 feet is between the Illinois shore and Little Rock Island, and 850 feet is between Little ELock Island and the lowa shore. The bridges east of Little Rock Island consist of 14,000 feet of piling, 'and seven spans of 200 feet each. West of Little Rock Island the bridge consists of three spans beside the draw. The draw is 800 feet long over all, and is built of iron. The abutments and one of the piers are founded on rock, a second pier is founded on piles, and a third pier and the draw pier are built upon crib work resting on loose sand. These cribs are sunk m water forty feet deep. The large crib is 400 feet long and fortyfour feet wide, and the smaller is 160 feet long and forty-four feet wide on the bottom. The draw turns on a pivot m the centre, and when open, leaves two clear passage ways for steamboats 123 feet each. The draw weighs about 825 tons. Ignorant, but Sound m his Tastjs.— A Californian gold-digger having become rich, desired a friend to purchase him a library of books. The friend obeyed, and received a letter of thanks thus worded : — "I am obliged to you for the pains of your selection j I particularly admire a grand religious poem about Paradise by a Mr. Milton, and a set of plays (quite delightful) by a Mr. Shakespeare. If these gentlemen should write and publish anything more, be sure and send me their new works." Sharp Shooting.— The following dialogue is reported to have lately taken place between a Virginee and a Yankee picket: — "I say, can you fellows shoot ? " "We reckon we can some.** " Down m Mississippi we can knock a bumblebee off a thistle- top at three hundred yards." " Oh, that ain't nothin' to the way we ahewt up m Varmont I belonged to a military companythere, with a hundred men m the company, and we went out for practice every week. The capt'n draws us up m single file, and sets a cider barrel rolling down the hill, and each man take* his shot at the bung-hole as it turns up. It it afterwards examined, and if there is a single shot that did not go m at the bong-hole, the number who missed it is expelled. 1 belonged to the company ten years, and there ain't been nobody exjpelledjet."