The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-09-03
tn. President and Public Opinion.

ogorecate. Our many readers, now AFRO
eantly rejoicing in minds of their own, will be
interested in knowing what is about to hap
non to them in the matter of their intellectu-
al;t;es. The Presidential instrument, the
National Intelligencer is amiable enough to let
nc into the secret beforehand. Public opinion,
beretofore showing itself obtuse, wayward,
and insuferably independent, is to be taken in
hand by DR.. Andrew Johnson. ''It must be
startled" says the official journal, ''into the
support of the right, and not coaxed." His
Fxcellencv. then, is about to discard the SudUt-
,cr an ,aodo and to resort to the tortiter IN re.
This announcement fills us with the greater
apprehensiOn because we have never re-
marked any peculiar amiability in the Presi-
dents demeanor, anything particularly per-
suasive in his speeches, any preponderance
of emolient saponaceousness in his
policy. If, heretofore, we have
been ''coaxed," =" it has surely been
without our knowing it. We were rather than
else laboring under the impression that we
had been bullied; but now that we know how
tenderly we have been treated, and how deaf
we have been to the voice of the oharmer, we
hasten to record our gratitude, the rather be-
cause we have a constitutional objection to
being startled which is the euphonic phrase,
we suppose, for being scared. The President,
il appears, is to lay down the serene torch of
policy and take up the pumpkin-lantern of
intimidation. He is to cry "Boo ~ with such
sudden sonorOusness that majority of those
Americans whose auditory nerves are delicate
will presently be in fits. He is to exhibit
himself in all his terrors, as village loafer
wraps himself in sheet and plays ghost up
and down a cemetery. In short, we, the peo-
pie, are to be Startled - not out of but into
our propriety, and we might as well begin to
take little prOphylaCtic doses of valerisn at
once
We have great faith in the Presidents
power of Startling" but we believe that he
will need it all The truth is, we have been
''startled" so often that we are getting to be
like the peppery gentleman in "Dombey y
Son. - "tough, sir, devilish tough" We
have lived long time in chronic condition
of astonishment, and if the Executive has any
Fantastic tricks in reserve for the demon
stration of his "brief authority" all we have
to say is that the angels had better be getting
out their Observation-Disclosures. Forewarned,
however, we shall be forearmed. There is
only one way which occurs to us, in which
the President can astonish the people. If he
would but show the least morsel of mo-
desty, the minutest diminution of self-con-
fdenoe, the faintest memory of his old
professions, the least symptom of emerging
from the political muddle in which he is
houndering, the simplest symptom OF re-
turning regard for the peoples representatives,
we promise for ourselves and for our readers
to be startled to his hearts content. The
least token of such regeneration would fill
us with awe like a miracle. We suppose that
it would be of small use for us, in the name
of our fellow-citizens, to ask for mercy
"Sufer and be strong" ''grin and bear it,
these are seasonable proverbs. The advantage
of preserving certain stiffness in the upper
lip we need not dwell upon. If hope refuses
any longer to spring in the human breast, she
must be touched up artifcially. We shall
know what the President intends when he
comes to what his mouthpiece calls "prompt,
decided action" IT'S an old-womanly weak
ness, but we confess to curiosity to know
what is to happen next. Except in cases O
actual execution, anything is more tolerablt
than suspense.
As citizens of the United States, we were be
ginning to feel little wounded pride at thu
organs overture We have had such re
spect for public opinion, have so trusted 1t
have so believed it, have so looked to 1t in al
emergencies, that we found it hard to give /
up. But we suppose that we must have beel
mistaken. Public opinion is humbug,
whim, notion-it is clay in the hands of tn
potter it is a ball of wax; it is a chameleon
taking its hue from the breath of Mr.. Johnson
nostrils; it is a mocking bird whistling tn
tunes which he may please to teach 1t; 1t
timid, wavering, laundering, and coward
sentiment, to be controlled without difficult
by spectres, and hobgoblins, and gorgons, an
dire chmeras, and squeal1ing and gibberint
and mysterious, portentous, Oracular, an
badly-written misleading articles in the M
tionGt Intelligencer. Public opinion is feeb
and fabby, and must be stiffened up. Publ
opinion is erratic, and must be set in the rigl
path. Public opinion is wilful, and must b
''startled." Bring on your bears
Maryland and Miehigan-The Irreprei
sibls Conflict.
From Ehe N. Y. Times.
The Maryland Constitutional Conventic
was composed chiefly of returned Rebel SC
diers or of Democrats of the Copperhead clas
Its proceedings attracted very little attentio