Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1866-04-26
The EgOtisIn. Vanity, Impotence and
gOadyism of the Dead Duek.-

BOady ism of the - Dead Dnck.m
cor Cincinnati CommerciaIl
In or out of Washington, there is not
10 be found such another Combination Of
egousm, vanity, impudence and toady-
ism, as John w. Forney, late shoeblack-
in-chiertO the White House, now scul =
lion in ordinary to Congress. Where any
one Of the qualities fails 10 carry his point
for him, he resorts to another. What he
can't get by crawling on his belly, he es-
says by a lofty flight on the wings Of
sheer impudeuCe. His ambition at pres
ont is TO keep himself before the
American people as the great pivotal
point upon which the whole cOntrO-
versy between Congress and the President
turns; or rather, as the great rock of low
atty against which the waves Of presi-
dental Indignation are hurled. One
whose good hUmor can afford to draw the
innocent parallel is forcibly reminded of
the fly on the cart wheel, and his excla-
nation, " What dust I do raise p as ne
contemP,atgs Forney and the political
crisis at the present time. The CbroGicls
Of this morning strains o point to put
torney into the foreground, by interpO-
iatiug the President speech as follows Q
While, ~ i remarked before, l have
been cOntending against traitors, trea-
son, secession, and dissolution In the
South, 1 have been cuntending at the
same time against the consolidation Of
power here. lCries Of "Thaps it -
Down with the radicals" "Put that
in the CAT08icls - Where's For
ney2' mingled with enthusiastic al :
plause.l
Now, thousand witnesses can be pro-
duced 10 swear that nobody in the crowd
ever mentioned Forney's name at all,
aud that the exclamation, "where's
torney :' was made in the ChroNjc5o
oulcei by some anxious creditor, and not
al the White House. Some EewsbOy,
driven to the verge CT bankruptcy, may
have lmplored the reporter in the Ian
guage quoted, "put that in the ChrOni-
cisi ~ to insert the presidential speech,
and thus enable him to lift himself ont
OF the mlry depths Of impecaniosity by
an improvement unOG the ordinary char
acter of he merchandise, but beyond
thst the subject wasn't mentioned.
In this connection &c may be worth
while to remark that the sentence from
the Presidents speech Of the 2ad of Feb
IUary, out Of which FoFney has at
tempted to manufacture 50 much floyal'
sympathy, was not intended for publica-
tlOn at all, Some indiscreet person,
standing beside the President, whis-
pered, give it 10 Forney," and Mr..
Johnson replied, ia a whisper, al
don, waste my ammunition III a dead
duck" The remark was caught by
the reporter, who happened to he imme-
diately beside the President and Fornev.
upon being told oft insisted upon its con-
spicuous insertion in the speech. The
President has 1n0o complained very
much, 10 use his own language, q that
the fellow should have been dignifed bv
any mention at all
Those who are in Mir. Johnson's conf
denee sssert that, in short time, For
ney's radicalism viii be traced To the
same source as Dana's, in very autben-
tic manner-that some such document
viii be produced an the case Of the dead
duck as served so well to explain why
9 Yours, with sincere regard, Charles A.
Dana became &" ours, with Profound
contempt the editor of the Chicago Re
pit5'icaa.n