Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1858-09-17
sclr-Coneeit of John Bull.

John Bull is proverbial for his self-coneeit.-
He has reputation for being almost as fond OF
his own opinion as he is of his 'alf and 'alf--
He thinks he is incapable of making himself
ridiculous, no matter how many ridiculous
things he may really do. Ifhis neighboF should
act differently from what he considers to be
proper, he viii endeaVor, with condeseension
that Is excessively amusing, to throw the blight
of his rid;cule on him.
To illustrate this peculiarly of Uncle Bull,
we copy the following extract from an article
in the London Times pOking fun at the universal
Yankee notion for allowing themselves to be
carried away By their enthusiasm over the sue
eessful laying of the cable:
"Tnere were as many salutes as at CherbOurg;
three hundred and thirty. three guns from the
batteries; a hundred guns here, hundred there;
a hundred monster rock blasts in the Central
Park, and some heavy salutes from the top Of
the AstOr Hotel All the church bells were
rung Eyery house was illuminated IN that ex-
ternpore fashion which tells better than our own
brilliant uniformity All the world was out IN
the streets There were the banners Of every
nation and of no nation aud transparencies with
sentiments, verses, puns, allegones and devices,
in which, if England had not quite its due need
of honor, It vas not at least forgotten. The
AgamemnOn was the greatest of kings Cyrus,
the new, made a grander union than that Of
Media and Persia; the cable had opened a new
Field Of usefulness; the Niagara and the Hudson
had beaten the Atlantic, and the union OF the
two wurds-it reads almost like a prOfaneness
was actually ranked with the Declaration Of
Indepeudenee. The cable itself is declared TO
be the weddms-ring Of the two cousins, the
strongest bond of amity, the deed of eternal part
nership. But it is vain TO think of beating our
neighbors-lOw hardly transantic-at tins sort
of description. To wind up the day, there were
volcanoes of fireworks, chiefly, as it appears to
us, from the tops of the large buildings, conclu-
ding with the coufagration and destruction Of
the City Hall, from the roof of which the pnn-
cipal volcano had been discharged ALL tins
time we did not ring a bell, or let of a squIb,
or light a kitchen dip, or even walk out INTO the
streets, or do anything whatever in honor of
the event In all England we believe that not
one man congratulated his neighbor about it
We were all pleased iu our own quiet fashion,
and somewhat surprised at so complete a success
coming SO quickly on the heels Of repeated fail
ures-"
The Times then goes on 70 chuckle over the
message sent by Mayor Tieman to the Lord
Mayor OF London, inviting him and the rest Of
the world to join in a grand Cable fandango; +;
And dwells with a great amount of self-gratula-
ton over the fact that Johnny Bull kept COO"
throughout the whole of that enthusiastic pc
riod
The Times forgot to say how excited Johnny
became when Her Majesty visited Chcrbourg
almost under compulsion, to attend the celebra-
tion of the completion of series of fortifca-
tons and basins, erected for the express purpose
of menaeing England. Johnny was as much
excited on that occasion, as his transatlantic
cousin was during the hight of his cable en-
thusiasm, with tbs difference that Jonathan
hoped, danced, and burnt powder over the
the completion Of a great enterprise that is
taught with blessings to mankind; while
Johnny capered and hurrahed over Cher0ourg,
like the dog that played with the rope that was
used to hang him afterwards. The rope in this
case is Cherbourg, and sooner or later the
French will endezvOr to use it to hang the Bit
ish with.
We wonder why our gigantic contemporary
across the water does not say something about
the annual pow-wOw John Bull gets up on the
occasion of the Queens going through the ev-
cry day affair in the world of presenting an
additional heir TO her loyal subjects.
The Times cannot do better than to commit
to memory the old adage, People living in
glass houses, should not throw stones"