The Portland daily press., 1867-12-19
DAILY PRESS.
PORILAND
Thursday Morning, December 10 1867.
johnson ms an Omnibus,

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| To him that sits at the feet of the Boston
saeans and lists to their teachings, many
things that, to the vulgar herd, are wrapped
in mystery, become as clear as Thales's the
ory OF elemental substances, or Pythagoras's
idea OF the transmigration OF souls and of the
deadly character of beans, or DR.. Edward
Beecher's dogma Of pre-existence. Let him
that has not read DR.. Holiness "Guardian An
gel" sell, If necessary, all his possessions and
buy that volume. After he has mastered its
deep PHILOSOPHERS, and memorized all its epi-
| grammatic, not 10 say oracular, utterances.
let him make note of this important fact
now for the first time disclosed: This body
in which we travel across the isthmus be-
| tween two oceans is not private carri.ge,
but an omnibus" By which we understand
the Doctor to mean, interpreting him in the
light OF the context, that these bodies of ours
in which we take rather uncomfortable pas
sage from prior state of existence-of which
our recollection is surprisingly dim-:o fl-
ture existence-of which our knowledge is ex-
tremeiy imperfect-carry not only our own
proper selves, but also repr sentative ances-
tors, some Of them from away back in the
barbaric ages. Sometimes one of these intru-
sive individuals has the ascendancy in the
omnibus, and sometimes another; and we are
accordingly, sometimes wicked knaves, and
anon, to use feminine superlative, as good
/ "as Kittens" ar3 sa' -.
Let no untutored son of Belial whose un-
! chastened heart has never owned ALLEGIANCE
to the intellectual supremacy of the Atlantic
Club, who has never made due pilgrimage to
Boston and bowed him down before the
shrine at 124 fremont street, whose daring
ways OF thought have led him more than once
to set at naught the ukases of the North
American Reyiew,-let him not, we say, OBJ
ject to this theory as irrational Let him not
stultify himself by objecting to the interposi-
| ton OF sanctimOnious maternal great grand
mother when he is minded to be merry. or of
a ne'er-do-well old bacchanal, when he feels
more soberly disposed. Is at
1t may be said plausibly enough, to be sure,
that our progenitors have had their day in the
world. They have fought their battles. en-
joyed their friendships, had their amuse-
ments, made love or hated each other to their
hearts content. What business, then, has
hoary ancestor of years agone to gratiiy his
ancient malignity by sharing the sweets of
our revenge when we have our dsagreeable
neighbor at disadvantage a festive
youth OF the remote ages to exc out halt-fin-
ished antediuvian kisses on the lips of o1r
inamoratasP aaas
But there is more than mere fancy in all
this: it is possible to make the fne-spun
Athenian transcendenta talism as strictly utili-
tartan, as agricultural theories OF top-dressing.
Nothing can afford neater solution of some
of the political phenomena of these times
over which the deftest wiseacrc would other
wise cudgel his brains in vain. For instance,
take the most remarkakable case of incon-
sistency in public life, of abandonment of
| principle and of malfeasance in Office, which
this generation has seen-takc that standard
by which all political infidelity is measured
Andrew johnson. If, when the impeach-
ment question was up, Messrs. Marshall and
Eldridge, who presented labored argument
in Johnson's defence by way Of minority
report of the Judiciary Committee, had os-
sessed copy of the @Guardian Anger' they
could have saved themselves much trouble,
andskilled impeachment as dead as-Marley.
Mr.. Eldridge wouli have arisen in great ex-
citement and addressed the House as fol-
lows: "Mr. Speaker, rise for the purpose OF
correcting a grave misapprehension under
which honorable members are laboring. Why.
gentlemen, hang it all" flor your, excited
Congressman is not nice in his diction. See
Congressional Globe, passin,,) "you are in
dieting the wrong mani Andrew johnson,
IN his own proper person, is an upright off :
Ger and good citizen; but in his particular
omnibus there are number of troublesome
co-tenants, ancestors of his, who are surrep-
titiously riding in that vehicle, and enjoying
there kind of secondary but self.consciou
existence 1t should not be forgotten thai
the President counts among his ancestor.
those headstrong English kings, who would
fain have governed the realm regardless Of
the wishes or the laws of arliament, and
swung around the circle to the extent that
they lost, the one his head and the other q
| throne. Charles Stuart, having taken the
form and outward semblance of Andrew
johnson, is now the Executive of this COM
monwealth, and continues here the work O
subverting parliamentary government il
which he SO signally failed more than two
centuries ago. He has ousted the stern oil
Covenanter, whose descendant formed al
alliance, curiously enough, witch one of the
unowned daughters of the merry, but Iicen
tious Charles Second. In 1860 the Covenant
er had the mastery, and johnson was pat
riot, but in 1855 the Stuart turned him out
neck and heels, and the result is what We
see."
1t may be that such genealogy for the
President would not be quite authentic, bu
1t suffices to illustrate the principle whicl
constitutes perfect excuse for his conduct
The same may be applied a. pleasure in ac
counting for the otherwise inexplicable antic
of other public men. A sudden adoption o
Pendletonianism is suggestive Of Dick Turpir
ancestry, and the temperance Of that worthy
with his old stand-and-delivera address. Some
sarrulous progenitor may yet speak through
the firmly compressed lips of General Grant
and hitherto quiescent English Tory max,
Wendell Phillips as conservative as Lord
John Manners. Who knows?
| A CURRENCY FOR THE DoNrNroN Mr. pa