The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-09-03

[rrom the Boston Daily Advertiser. /


There is something very satisfactory to the
candid mind in the reception given to Gov
ernor Parsons on Monday evening. 1t suq-
gests a line of consideration which NAV be
valuable in many other contingencies of much
more Importance.
Here was man whom people did not want
to hear. But they did not drown his voice
with yells. They did not throw eggs at him.
rotten Or otherwise. They did not ask him
disagreeable questions. Stu less did thew thew
shoot him,-as is the custom In his own conn
try. They did not ortbel the police, to fire
at him as he held a white flag, as is the Gus
tom OF those who support his political senti-
mentS in New Orleans. No They did NOT
want to hear him,-and SO hey turned round
and walked out OF the 49, And this speech
came to an end, not for N of impertinepce
on the part of the speaker-nor for want of
a platform offered him by his coadjutors,-but
for want OF anybody to hear it. How could
the most blatant of rhetorioians speak long to
the eagle and the pine tree in Faneuil Hail.
though Mr.. Paine and the secretaries. with
all their courtesy, exhorted one to 90 onp
You cannot make apeech when people will
not listen. There cannot be quarrel unless
there are two Sides
The hint given to Governor Parsons is one
which it may be wished he may repeaI in
New Orleans or Alabama, if it ever hapuens
there that some Northern gentleman has a
speech to make not agreeable TO the residents.
Let them understand that the most rapid of
radicals has no notion for making fire-eaters
hear what is disagreeable ID them, or read
what they do not choose. True, there are a
few things which Alabama aid New Orleans
did not want to know, which have been taught
them now, in a primary school whose sessions
| lasted for five years. But beyond that in
| struction, if they will only remember its les
sons, nobody will compel them to listen to
| disagreeable speeches. Remember how Fan
euil Hall treated Governor Parsons. IF TON
| do not like what men say, do not listen
| Such is. indeed, the policy which Mr.. Calhoun
so well described as the '.masterly inactivitv ),
At the same time it Is to be hoped that Gov.
| Parsons and his friends and especially MFR.
| Seward and the President, will not suppose
that silence in such matters gives assent. II
| would appear that the officers of the Faneuil
| Hall meeting in their somewhat delicate no
sition, assured Governor Parsons that no dis
respect to him was intended. Their line OF
suggestion would naturally be, that the peo-
| pie SO entirely endorsed his views that thev
| did not need to be converted; they were re-
firing only to see to the welfare of their fami-
| lies, because they were sure Governor Par
| sons was all right, and could be trusted TO 90
| alone; his views were so sound that they
were certain Of approval before they were Ut
| tered, indeed. We are sure that ali that the
| credit of Faneuil Hall and of the CITY reouir-
ed of such an apology was said by these zen
tlemen to their guest. But still, we take the
liberty to suggest to them and to him, that
beyond the limits of an apology this line oil
suggestion is worth very little. y
The american people permits Just now a
hundred thousand otfice-seekers to chirp and
croak in the twilight, and takes no measures
| to silence the grasshoppers or the tree-toads
| who for the moment are making good deal
| of noise in the unmusical concert. But the
morning will silence the concert none the
less,-although for few hours these voices
have been permitted to assert themselves
| which in the crash of war have not been 50
| loudly heard. 1t is not procession to the
| White House, it is not Tailors' Club in front
Of the Continental it isnot the curious crowd
on a railway platform at Jersey City, who
make up the American people. The truth is
that the American people in all this raree-
| show is at home,-where Governor Parsons
audience were before he had done-where we
do not doubt the gentlemen who asked him
to speak wished they were. The day Presi-
dent johnson attempts to over-awe Congress
by arms, he will know where tie American
people are. Till that time, he or his advisers
must not suppose that if that people refrain
from coming to hear them speak, this is any
sign of enthusiastic approval of his policy