Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1858-08-05

ed down from the King and his court to his
Council, to the Ministers, to the aristocracy,
their parasites and followers, with nothing
remarkable in his party zeal, but the inten-
|sity of its bitterness or in his manner, but
its unparalleled insolence; or in his argu-
ment, but its grotesque extravaganza.
ssThe Bostonians had declared to the
General Congress their willingness to resign
their opulent town, and wandered into the
country as exiles. tAlasp retorted John
son, .the heroes of Boston will only leave
good houses to wiser men, To the COM
plants of their liability to be carried out of
their country for trial, he answered, we
advise them not to Offend When it was
argued, that they were condemned unheard,
he asserted, there is no need Of a trial !; no
man desires to hear that which he has al
ready seem
''Franklin had remained in Great Bri-
tain for no reason but to promote concilia-
ton; and with an implacable malice, which
was set off by ponderous effort at mirth,
johnson pointed at him as the master of
mischief, teaching Congress to put in mo-
ton the engine Of political electricity, and
to give the great stroke by the name of Bos-
ten."
"Did the Americans claim right Of re-
sistance, tAudacious defiance = cried John
son, acrimonious malignity! The indig-
nation of the English is like that Of the
lScythians, who, returning from war, found
themselves excluded from their own hoGissees
by their slaves
Virginia and the Carolinas had shown
impatience of oppression. How is it. ask
ed Johnson, that we hear the loudest yelps
| for liberty among the drivers of negroes?
The slaves should be set free; they may be
more grateful and honest than their mas
ters.'
.'Lord North inclined to mercy. Moth
ing said johnson, can be more noxious
to society than clemency which exacts no
forfeiture; and he proposed to arm the saw
age Indians, turn out the British soldiers
on free quarters among the Americans, re-
model all their charters and take away their
political privileges.
Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, had insist
el that the Americans complained only Of
innovations. we do not put calf into the
plough said the moralist we wait till he
is an OK This, however, the Ministry
bade him erase, not for his ribaldry, but as
unwilling to concede that the calf had been
spared; and johnson obeyed, comparing
himself to mechanic for whom the em-
|ployer is to decide Was he told that the
Americans we're increasing in numbers,
wealth, and love of freedom talk, >
said he, that they multiply with the fecun-
|dity of their own rattlesnakes, disposes men
accustomed to think themselves masters to
hasten the experiment Of binding obstinacy
before it is become yet more obdurate. -
He Knocked at the rule of progression, which
showed that America must in the end ex-
ceed Europe in population. 'Then,' said
he, in derision. not knowing how much
truth he was uttering, in a century and a
quarter, let the princes of the earth tremble
in their palaces 4
Had johnson been truly man of genius,
he would have escaped the shame. Of having
in his old age, aimed at freedom the feeble
shaft which was meant to have carried ruin.
In spite Of the ostentatious pomp of his mo-
|rality, his own heart was rivited to the earth.
At the last, he covered under the fear of
dissolution, as though death were an enemy
scarifying his limbs in the vain hope Of
breathing though but a few hours more !;
unable in the moment of change to fix his
eye on God, or to grasp eternity; the en-
blem of the old political system, which also
lay on its death-bed. helplessly longing to
live on. His name is never breathed as a
watchword; his writings never thrill as or
acles.