The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-07-17
English Compliments to American Repre.,..
tatives Abroad.
From the London Telegraph. ]

tFrom the London Telsrsphl
mr.. Reverdy johnson, we may hope, will soon
De among rs, the esteemed representative Of that
nation with which our connection ought to be
most intimate, and our sympathies most warm.
NO better man could have been chosen for the
ONCE. He comes accredited by the public voice
OF bis own country, and his character and ca.
reer are not unknown amongst ourselves. 1t is
not Decessary-at any rate, in England-to point
out that the reputation Of American ambassadors
stands high. Democracy, after all, has found the
best dplomatists. Our own service has its recon.
mendations. Our attaches are frequently good.
natured, often good-looking, and usually we'll
bred; the freedom and the ease of their colo
qUial French may almost make amends for the
hestating mbecility OF their epstolatory English
and they dance. Nay, more, some of them, like
Mr.. Julian Fame, and the gentleman known as
"Owen Meredith" not only dance but sing. In
strains that may be melodious rather than origin
al but. at any rate, they do sing. And both in
the past and present generation, we have had rep
reseDtstives abroad whose clear craftsmanship has
saved US from grave mischance. No serious man.
however, would pretend-and even a comic man
might find it difficult to prove-that, as arule, the
diplomatic representatives Of England are re-.
markable for intellectual ability. In America as
IN most young countries, men with brains
come. to the front; and the republic, on
the whole, has been careful TO choose its repre-
sentatives abroad from the list of its best and
most cultivated men. We are not acquainted
with any monarchy that can boast such names
amongst lis ENJOYS and consuls as those of Wash
ington Irving, George Bancroft, Lathrop Motley
and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Nor have the Demo.
cratic dplomststs been men of letters alone I;
not TO speak Of their political talent, they have
worthily upheld in society the credit of their
country; and they have taught Europe to recog
nize in the best type of the American gentleman
a combination of English earnestness with Cont.
mental ease, made special, so to speak, by sort
of affectionate alacrity and almost feminine gen.
tleness. We have all seen a great many pictures
of the American "rowdy,n who is probably as
offensive as the English rough" or perchance
even more so, in the proportion that Bourbon
whisky is more fiery than malt liquor. We have
been favored over and over again with sketches
of the man who has been suddenly enriched by
petroleum, and whose ways, as well as his means
are not very different from those of the man who
has been suddenly enriched by shoddy. Such
pictures may be true enough in their way, but il
would be a sad misfortune if we could find no
others to hang up in our gallery of American por-
traits. II is surely time that the good and grave
and serious side Of that country should interest
us as much as its more grotesque features. In
London, at any rate, the United States have been
for many years represented in such a fashion as
to prove the absurdity Of old fashioned preju.
dces on the subject and Mr.. Reverdy John.
son will be worthy successor even to Mr..
Adams.