The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-10-26
Inn Favor o. a Recall of Mr.. Reverdy
Johnson.


WE think that the time has now come for the
recall Of Mr.. Reverdy Johnson from his posi-
tion as Minister Plenipotentiary Of the United
States to the Court of st. James. In the CON
duct Of that gentleman since he has been
abroad we see another evidence Of the mistake
Of departing from the rule to allow no one to
hold Office unless he is heartily in consonance
with the loyal element OF the land. Mr.. John
son possesses, as much as any Dem ,crat, all
the claims to private virtue and social fitness.
His manners can be questioned by none. He
Ia n gentleman. His ability is above all
reproaoh. Yet he is not fitted for the
position OF Minister, and has done much
during his brief stay to make Americans
blush. He has, in the first place, talked en-
tirely too much for diplomatist. He has ex-
hibited garrulity which is utterly out OF
keeping with his rank and Office, and which
would subject an Under Secretary Of Lega.
tion to instantaneous dismissal. To make
him betray all his feelings, it was but neces-
sary for some noble Lord to ask him to dinner,
or some association of knife-makers to give
him q seat at public banquet. He prated
Of what he would do, Of how great were his
he could not get the ear Of any patrician he
would delight in repeating the old story all
over again to any plebian who was good
enough to listen. We do not want Minister
who reads all his dispatches in public and
furnishes dinner companies with copies of his
correspondence. II speech is silver, the old
proverb has it that silence is gold; and we
need, in our return to specie basis, that some
little gold come to us.
In the second place, Mr.. Johnson misrepre
ssnts the American people. He cries with a
loud voice for peace, peace. He makes thai
the drift, the current, the controlling elemen'
of his orations. He commenced it while his
steamer was leaving Baltimore, and he has
not got through yet with that refrain. Now
we do not want peace above all things else.
There are other things demanded before
peace. There is national honor and ma
tional justice. There is that respect due
to US as a mighty nation and that reparation
for past wrongs which is pre-eminently the
right of the United States. If we cannot have
these, we do not want peace. II we can have
them, we do. Our Minister should not forget
that all these demands 60 together, and in
crying for the one. while emitting 70 ..s-si~-
the other, he not only stultifss himself but rs
acts as the misrepresentation of the sentiments
OF the United States. We do not want all the
calls for peace to come from one side. We are
the aggrieved party. They are the wrong
doers. Let them be the ones to make ths
overture, and let not our seltrespect and ma
tional honor be sacrificed, as it has been by
Ioh. ;toI
In the last place, Mr.. Johnson is afiliating
and sympsthizng with our enemies. He is
crowding around the Lairds to be introduced
to them-not they to him. He is accessible to
our enemies. He is inaccessible to our friends
He assumes to act on department, and in reality,
by his action, presents happy combination
Of Pecksnif and Turveydrop. The report
which comes to us from Liverpool cleally
shows that Mr.. Johnson disgraced himself in
his conduct with Laird, the builder of the
Alabama. He not only consented to have that
man introduced to him, but he sought to bs
introduced to the man. 1t would have
been an act of questionable propriety
had he allowed Mr.. Laird to bs
presented. 1t was An act of humiliation to
seek 1t. No wonder that he exposed himself
TO the sarcasm of the London Daily Ne,0s,
which appropriately says that "Mr. John
sons charity towards Mr.. Laird, who built the
Alabama, applies equally to Semmes, who
sailed her, That our minister is for mo.
ment exposing himself to such insinuation is
reason enough for his instantaneous recall.
He Is not representative of the United States
reconstructed and loyal he is the representa-.
tive of faction powerless in the nation,
which would crawl at the feet of the English
nation and seek to gain peace at the ex pense
ofhonor who feel no other ill will towards Great
Britain than that produced by her not recog
nizing and aiding more fully the Southern Con-
1ederacy.
We say for these reasons, If for no other,
Mr.. johnson should be recalled. His head "a
turned by the smiles a duke and his
patriotism lulled to sleep at vA~ bow Of a
oourtier. He does not possess that stern N~vo-
tion TO his country that would act as a shield
TO make all such Establishments idle. He is
susceptible of fattery-he has been fattered
and has ceased to be our Minister and become
an under Minister of her Majesty. We want
no such man as our envoy.
SEYMOUR ON THE STUMP.-If Seymour COM
menoed Swinging round the circle" solely to
prove that he was still a Presidential candi-
date, despite the result of the October cleo
tions and notwithstanding the demands for
his withdrawal, his action was not altogether