The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-06-03


In Memory of the Late Jacob Johnson.
RALEIGH, N. c., desirous of rivalling the cour-
tesy of the nobleman whose name it bears, has
conceived the original idea of securing the
goodwill of the President by erecting monu-
ment to the memory of his father. Now the
reason why the town of Raleigh has pre5mi-
nent claims to the honor of statue to the
lamented Jacob Johnson, rests in the fact that
the earliest years of the Honorable Andrew
were spent within its limits. Finding, as
Mayor Haywood did, that the possession of
Johnson IL rested with Tennessee, he adopted
the fashion of the Middle Ages, and proceeded
to glorify the son by glorifying the father. 1t
was an ancient Roman custom to praise pie
beian emperor by discovering unbounded yir-
tues in his ancestors, and, by erecting pillars
to their memory, cater to the Emperor's de-
sire to be the descendant of an llustrious line.
Maximin, Gallus and Carus thus provided
themselves with distinguished grandfathers
and why should not the custom continue in
force to-day 1t is certainly very harmless
amusement for ruler. BE that as it may,
the memory of Jacob Johnson is destined to
live in cold marble, and his son is to be present
at the interesting occasion of the unrobing of
the statue. Just now the dedication of monu-
ments is fashionable. The noble form of Henry
Clay has been elevated on pedestal and why
should not like honor be accorded to his
rival statesman, the citizen of Raleigh? We
suppose that the cause of the erection of this
testimonial is the inherent virtues of the late
Mr.. Johnson. But then it seems peculiar that
we never heard of any Of his great deeds, or
that his life was not appreciated until his son
became President of the United States. If Mr..
Jacob Johnson was an honest, hard-working
man, he deserves a statue; but if it is accorded
him because he is the father of Mr. Andrew
Johnson, we think it a waste of raw material
Why, George Washington's father has no
monument-nor Adams, Webster's, Clay's, or
Lincoln's, yet the President is greater than
these, and must have a pedestal for his an
cestor Can it be that they can stand on their
own merits, and need no glorifcation of others
to secure for them the appreciation of the
nation?
The only reminiscence set forth by Mayor
Haywood that the good people of Raleigh have
of Mr.. Andrew Johnson, consists in his being
in the habit, during his youthful days, go
engaging in athletic sports''-no early pro
mise of coming greatness to enable his fellow
townsmen to detect the embryo "tribune of the
people," Nothing is remembered by the "old
men" of Raleigh except that he whose father
they would delight to honor was an athlete
in his youth, and it must be gratifying to OBJ
serve that his acrobatio power has been re-
tanned in politics as well as in physical sport.
But Mr.. Johnson, accompanied by Mr.. Seward
and his private secretaries, has started for
Raleigh and will doubtless speak on
the way. The trumpet-toned eloquenoe which
electrified the North will arouse the South,
and as Mr.. Wilson and Judge Kelley pass the
Presidential party on their way home, they
can feel that they have left an orator worthy
to act as their successors, and likely to con-
vert as many Rebels to Republicanism as all
their tour had accomplished. The cause OF
the Republican party of the South is in good
hands. If the President will but extend his
tour, we can recall our missionaries. AS it is,
we think that the President must have been
rather annoyed at this sudden desire to honor
his fathers memory, and must have asked
with Hamlet
"Oh, answer me!
Let me not burst in ignorance but tell
Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements!"
No ARBTRATIoN.-The South American Re-