The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-09-17
.sehuson and Ecebuck.

When minister Johnson spoke at the Cut
ler's Banquet, in Sheffield, be was followed by
Mr. Roebuek. who made himself disagreeable
aad somewhat ridiculous by airing his rheto-
rio and ideas of political economy as illustra-
ted by the comparative Democracy of the two
nations. He expressed his opinion OF the man
ner in which our minister would conduct me-
gotiations, which would be with "no paltering
with Interest, no sham expressions of grand
eur on the one side, or OF bumbleness ON the
other, but on terms of perfect equality and
friendship, desilous of doing all that can he
done for the good OF ourselves aud of humani-
~ III general. lie went on to say that the
government Of England was now in the hands
OF The working classes, and though the same
system had been attempted in America under
much more favorable circumstances, the
change was more unflvorable in this country.
HeIwas thankful that England was free from the
''wild Irishman, the assassinating Italian and
the dumbIounded Spaniard," and that it had
men Of its own nationality alone to deal With.
In this way he thought the change was safe;
/ while in America, he had been told" the bet
ter and the educated classes withdrew them
from political life and left political affairs
in the hands Of the buccaneering por ton of
society" The moral which he drew from this
Ignorant assumption was that the better
classes" Of England must take care not to tan
into The dangers which America experiences
but must "exert the power of mind over mind
in Influencing the "working classes" in the
matter of political government.
The English journals generally condemned
this breach of good manners on the part of
Mr.. Roebuck. The next day Mr.. johnson
was welcomed by the Mayor and Town Coun-
Gil OF Sheffield, and on that occasion he made
some remarks in the course of which he made
the following dignified and courteous refer
ence to the rude attack of the snarling Roe
buck:
My friend, Mr.. Roebuck, in his address last
evening in this ball, stated that one of the
frailties under which the United States labor
ed in making an extended suffrage advan-
| tageous was because of the character of part
of the population which We have received
| from other cations, which, to use his own
words, consists of ga fecuent torrent ot all the
mischief, turbulence and vice of Europe" and
he called me as a witness As nv silence may
be construed into admission of the correctness
of his statement, neither he nor you. gentle
men, will, L hope, think it out of place if
now refer to it. 1t is no doubt true that bad
United States, both native and foreign. But
suppose that the honorable gentleman would
admit that such specimens of degraded hui
mainly to be found in London, and possi-
bly, in this borough, but these do not affect in
jurously the general character of the people
of either locality. Vice, generally the result
Of ignorance, is never a match for virtue and
intelligence Whatever there may be of the
former in the United States, it has no influ-
ence upon the general character of orr people,
or the security and just and enlightened adj
m!nistration of our goverDments-Federal
State. Whatever ignorance there may be
among the emigrants who in great numbers
are coming among us, it will soon yield TO a
wel-devised and almost universal system of
public schools. So happy are the Consequent
ces OF the system that not only in our large
cities, but in every hamlet, the best works in
English literature are to be found, and are as
much valued there as here. The honorable
gentleman Is mistaken in surprising that our
emigrants to any appreciable extent consist of
the class that he described Among the best
of our aericulturists are to be found English
men, Scotchmen, Irishmen, and Germans, and
among the most skilled of our artisans many
of them are from this borough; their labor and
intelligence, their industry and integrity, have
largely contributed to the prosperity of our
country. s