TI1J3 NEW YORK rRESS.
EDITORIAL OPIIUOirS OF TUB LKATHNO JOUBRAL4B
VTOti rtJBBBNT TOPICS COMPILED BVBBI
DAT FOB TBI KTKNUfO TRLROB4PB.
Meddling la Mexico.
from the Tribune.
That a burnt child ought to dread the fire
we know; we are not half so sure that he gen
erally does. Indeed, It has often seemed to us
that burnt children had a special proclivity
or "the devouring element." Whoever
knew man ruined in character and fortune
who thenceforth shunned In-
flexibly the blackleg's den ?.
Whoever knew
. . j a .11 l.n tcna worth down
SrS thTiStor, to nuid that
tSTw?KS.f who has seen otr.
fearfully burned, while himself unharmed,
should know enough to keep cool, and it ut
terly amazes us, in twit of the recent an.1
bitter experience of France in Mexico that we
should have countrymen eager to imitate Na
noleon's folly. There is no proof that the
ffnch were pceuliarly obnoxious in Mexico;
the natural instinct of independence, with the
distrust and hatred of foreigners common to
all ignorant ana some uerui uiwuiBou.
ntile fully accounts iur (UBUicimn
ciel
th of Maximilian. The dullest, most llUte-
rate "greaser" compreueuas mat iuo ruio ui
foreigners in his country implies her incapacity
for self-government, and he resents this all the
more since he has a smothered suspicion that
it is true.
The Times is moved by a recent preposterous
manifesto to say:
"We are very happy that Senor ltoraero has
seen fit to postpone tbe formation of a treaty
between tbe United Stales and Mexico, 'fur
mutual protection against Invasion and rebel
lion.' It may be all very well for us to do what
we can to help Mexico out of her troubles; but
for Mexico to sena an army to help us in case
of rebellion or invasion, is something we would
rather not agree to. Tbe idea was suggested to
Komero by 'Air. A. Watson,' not by Secretary
Seward."
The American people had better under
stand at the outset that all schemes of
'mutual protection"? or whatever speciou3
name may be given to the meditated arrange
ment between our Government and Juarez,
mean the saddling upon us of the Mexican
debt. It is just this that makes Louis
Napoleon as anxious now to get us into
Mexico as he recently professed to be to rule
us out. If Uncle Sam would just swallow
Mexico bodily, he could not refuse to assume
and pay her debt; and its amount, if he were
once "in for it," would cause him to open his
eyes. A few men would get rich out of Mexi
can mines and marts; but the great mass of
us would find our already heavy burden of
taxation largely increased.
Let Mexico alone. That 13 the sum of all
wisdom ou tbe subject. She has given us to
understand, in executing Maximilian, that our
Government's influence with her chieftains is
naught that she chooses to manage her own
affairs so let her. It is best in the long run
for her best every way for us. Let Napoleon
seek reimbursement for his luckless venture
anywhere but here. Hand3 oil I
Another Presidential Move The Pro
posed V lanagan Party.
From the Herald,
Two or three days ago the President issued
a very sensible order to United States Mar
shals, instructing them to "observe with vigi
lance all persons whom they had reasonable
cause to suspect" of filibustering purposes.
The marshals were also authorized to
"promptly interpose the authority of the
United States" in these cases for the preven
tion of dangerous consequences. Occasion has
arisen for the enforcement of this order sooner
than seemed probable. Here is Flanagan, of
Pennsylvania, and here are Welsh and Top
sawyer, and other illustrious citizens of the
same great Commonwealth arrant filibusters
all and where are the marshals ? Out of
eight as yet; going down the round turn, and
over the homestretch, and on the second half
mile,, and up the distance pole, and in all
those sorts of places, but of course not
where they ought to be interposing the
authority of the United States against the
dangerous scheme of these political scape
graces and speculators and their filibustering
attempt to build up a private party of their
own, to the great disturbance and probable
ruin of the regularly established parties that
now oontrol the people and the spoils. If there
ever was a case for the marshals, this is one.
If filibustering is dangerous anywhere, it is on
occasions like this, where distinguished sons
of the republio, with political ambition soaring
beyond all ordinary control, with a hunger
and thirst for office and plunder such as no
possible party can hope to satisfy, throw them
selves out of the common trammels of life, and
Start on a career as ambitious as that of Phte
ton, who took . Apollo's ribbons for a day and
ran his' establishment into the Po. Having
(perhaps) nothing to lose and (another per
haps) much to gain, who knows what parties
they i may destroy, or with what "sudden
making of splendid names" they may illumi
nate the oentury f , Who shall say that they
may not make Andrew Johnson President, or,
failing that, land him lower than a President
of the United States ought to go f
Semmes, the illustrious Admiral of the onoe
Confederate Navy, acknowledged recently the
embarrassment of not knowing a man who
had forced himself upon his attention. ' He
had never before "heard of his name or fame."
However we might desire such a refuge as this
in regard to the Flanagan party, it is denied
os. Who oould expect to be credited in say
ing that he had never heard the name of
Flanagan t We have heard the name of Welsh
also. Nor can we conscientiously deny our
familiarity with the name of Sawyer. We
would not, however, undertake to answer for
the identity of the particular Flanagan, Welsh,
and Sawyer in question; but they cannot pre
tend to be more respectably obscure than others
of their names, and, therefore, this point is of
less consequence. There Is one identity we oan
answer for, and that Is the identity of their
little game. We have seen that played in all
sorts of shapes, In all sorts of ways and under
all oonoeivable names, and it is still the same
Id game. Indeed, we have been expecting
the appearance of , Flanagan, Welsh, and
Sawyer with this grand game for about five
days. That number of days ago, if we re
member accurately, the President was re
ported as saying that "the MoClellan vote,
the anti-negro suffrage rote, and the Southern
vote would elect tbe next President." That
sentence was seed that has already sprouted,
and promises to bloom into the great Flana
gan party. It la not ' important whether
this 'ddegattoa. answers or thanti-
negro
sunrsge or winimuu
D . J f 1 . IX lint ll
will accept
Ind their intention to form a new party, dis
tha onices ior eimei v
tinct from either of the great political paru--
i ii ntwill furnish a broad and roomy
platform tUt any one caa taad upou. I.
THE DAILY EVENING TELEGRAPH PHILADELPHIA, SATURDAY,
deed, it will be so broad that it may become
identified with the general surface, and bo be
no platform at all. Mr. Johnson has left "the
issues of the hour" in the hands of Flauagan,
however, and in such hands they are sure to
be safe; although if by the phrase the "issues
of tbe hour" he means the disposal of the
offices, we are not sure that the "MoClellan
vote" will feel that oonfldenoe in Flanagan
that his very name inspires in us.
It remains to be seen how this development
will affect the general Presidential canvass.
Of course its influenoe will be great, for this
suddenly appearing Flanagan party, bearing
the fortunes of Mr. Johnson, vitalized by his
principles and kept together by his patronage,
Will make a grand centre of attraction for all
free political lances. Wendell Phillips, who 1
wants a man of words for the Presidency,
mirlit do worse than take Johnson. GrftHW '
has declared hfs desire for a candidate whose
principles are known and what man's prin
ciples are better known than Johnson's are 1
Indeed, Mr. Johnson is exactly the candidate
defined by Oreeley and Phillips in their vague
attempts to say what sort of a candidate is
necessary, and thus there is high probability
that thev will come into the Flanagan party,
but too late, of course, to divide honors with
its great originator. These are some of the
changes that the development of the Flanagan
party may bring about. There will of oourse
be others; but we . will not enter upon the
labor of Indicating them just now, being con
tent for the present with pointing out the fact
that, under the auspices of this new John Jones
and man Friday Andy Johnson may look
forward to a grander future than the Tennessee
Senatorship.
Tbe Destruction of the Crops.
Fi om the Tribune,
A hideous plot has just been discovered in
Pennsylvania, having for its object the
destruction of the crops throughout the
country. The band of midnight conspirators
who met in Philadelphia have long medi
tated a sweeping blow, by which all kda of
food should be forever annihilated. We
have the full particulars of this vile con-
spiracy,
of which the notorious Joe Flanagan
was the
chief. Flanagan has Ions been
known as one of the bitter enemies of the
great political parties, from both of which he
has repeatedly been expelled, under aggra
vating circumstances. Writhing under this
disgrace, he resolved to ruin them both, that
his own small party might spring suddenly
into power. Various plans were suggested ;
throwing vast quantities of strychnine into
the lakes and rivers was thought of, but re
jected, as it was known that the Democrats
never drink water. Then it was proposed to
put arsenic in the whisky, but this was also
abandoned as utterly harmless to the Republi
cans, and because the immense quantity of
whisky consumed by the Democratic party
would dilute, till it became powerless, all the
poi.son that could be obtained. Other plans,
costing to execute five, ten, aud thirty dollars
each, were rejected as too expensive. The plot
was rapidly becoming what the Philadelphia
papers call an imbroglio, when, as Joseph was
one day mingling his tears with a plate of
soup, it occurred to him that the capabilities
of soup as an engine of national destruction
had never been thoroughly developed. He
thought with admiration of the superb scheme
by which the Uuion-Conservative-IIunger-Committee
of New York intend to turn General
Grant into a soup ladle, and how he might imi
tate if not excel their eurontery. lie to re the
soup was finished, the plot was matured.
Joseph contemplated nothing else thau the
creation of a famine throughout the land.
Five or six men, equal in capacity to himself,
might, he thought, speedily'produce a famine
if the opportunity were afforded. With this
end in view, he made known his nefarious
scheme to one John Welsh, one Cosshall, one
Sawyer, and one Bevan. Dreadful oaths of
secresy were sworn over a bowl of soup, and
the conspirators in their midnight conclaves
practised nightly, and tested their power of
consumption. The result inspired them with
enthusiasm and confidence, and their long de
privation of office, formerly regretted, was now
looked upon as Providential overruling, in
tended .to increase their appetites. . A few
weeks of this practice was followed by suoh an
alarming rise In the price of food in Phila
delphia, that the conspirators were obliged to
desist for want-of funds, and compelled to
strike the blow. They left Philadelphia,
the price of provisions immediately fell, and
went to Washington, where it immediately
arose.
Their scheme was to ask the President to
appoint them to oltice. That done, the fate of
the nation would be sealed. They had ob
tained, by peeping through the key -hole of the
Agricultural Bureau, the knowledge that the
wheat crop would be 200,000,000 bushels; the
Indian corn crop, 1,000,000,000 bushels; the
oat crop, 200,000,000 bushels; the rice, barley,
rye, and other crops, 500,000,000 bushels, and
these statistics filled them with gratitude to
Providence. Joseph decided that each of the five
conspirators should hold as many otfices as he
could get; that the crops should be divided
into five rations, to be equally distributed, he
being responsible for the consumption of the
rye baked or distilled, as personal idiosyncra
sies should determine. Everything being thus
settled, the five conspirators disguising their
hunger lest it might reveal their plot waited
upon the President, and requested to be ap
pointed postmasters. But, fortunately for the
country, Mr. Johnson Invited them to dinner,
and after witnessing that . performance with
astonishment , and lear, plainly told them
that in duty to his own family he could not
grant their request. He oould not contem
plate without weeping, he said, the speotaole
of Minister Campbell crying for bread in vain,
of Steedman and Fullerton reduced to the ne
cessity of devouring each other, and expiring
office-holders everywhere reproaching him
with their untimely ends.' No, gentlemen, he
said, firmly, I cannot permit you to reverse
the miraole by which a few fragments were
made 12,000 loaves, and to turn 12,000,000,
0OO,000,0O0,000,000,000,0lKt,0l)0,00O,000 loaves
into a few fragments. Hearing these terrible
words, the conspirators burst into tears and
retired, resolving to extort from General Grant
his views upon the impartial distribution of
soup and of fish-balls as a reward of Spartan
fidelity to the Constitution. Such was the
narrow escape of the people of this oountryt
Had the arch-conspirator Joseph and his myr
midons obtained office, the crops would have
been devoured, the Democracy and the Re
publicans annihilated, and starvation would
have stared the nation in the face.
Mr. Jefferson and Patrick Henry.
From the WorH.
We read the other day in the Philadelphia
Age a curious tract or memorandum by Mr.
Jefferson on Patrick Henry. It 1 not a plea
sant document. - As it bears no date, one can
only conjecture the ciroumstanoes and influ
ences under which it was written, and it is
natural to attribute it to that portion of Mr.
Jefferson's life when, in absolute retirement
1 .,4!,A 1ia ,tw,i himslf t iu
T " "7;
iered not only by memories of past animosi
ties, but to be irritated into fresh resentments
by busy, gossiping correspondents. HU
old age was not, in this respect, a picturesque
one. He bad. the misfortune to keep a
"note-book" and a "diary," and there he
jotted down not only the occurrences of
the day, which is the most innocent form of
the nuisance "diary," but what other people
told him, and what he fancied were his recol
lections. This Patrick-Henry memorandum
reads very much like a page from "Ana."
Mr. Jefferson never duly measured the new
terror of death posthumous publication of
his private papers, and he has suffered grie
vously from it. Not so much, perhaps, as his
great rival Hamilton, whose fame has literally
been slaughtered by an unnatural son; but
still the work of self-disparagement was
pretty well done. His relatives and biogra
phers have illustrated another defect of per
sonal character, which is now Very promi
nent. Mr. Jefferson never seemed to rise to
the dignity of proud contentment with the
great triumph which he and his party won
over the Federalists, and which kept them in
full possession of the Government for a quarter
of a century from 1800 to 1825. Mr.
Madison did. Mr. Jefferson seemed always
in a fume in a political fret. He was always
thinking of the federalists aud their chiefs as
if they were in full life and in the field against
him angrily of Hamilton, who was in his
bloody grave; 'as angrily of Burr, who had put
him there, though an exile and an outcast; of
Henry Lee; of Judge Marshall, who was out
of his way, and moving innocently in the pure
serene ot his high function; of Washington,
and now, it seems, of Patrick Henry. Ou his
tomb Mr. Jefferson long after wrote what we
must describe as the ill-natured epitaph which
the Age, though evidently with some mis
giving, reproduces.
As to Mr. Jefferson's recollections of Henry
in early life and his comments on his profes
sional quauueations and intellectual charao
teristics, we can say nothing. They may be
just or not. Mr. Jefferson was a man of the
pen, and not of the tongue. Patrick Henry
was tne reverse. Mr. Jeuerson, In this memo
randum, bows down in reverenoe to the tri
umphs of the pen, even when won by those
whom he disliked as he did Mr. Jay and Mr.
Dickinson. He , . rather pooh-noohs the
"orator," and this thread of disparagement of
iienry's intellect runs through this whole
criticism, and must, we think, be apparent to
every one. But there is, in our judgment, a
graver delect in this "character" of Henry.
It is historically inexact. It is worth notice,
too, that Mr. Jefferson, who was a rhetorical
artist, puts the sharp sting at the eud. After
whittling awav Mr. Henry's name ou small
matters, and leaving chips all about him as to
his "rapacity for fees," and his "parsimony," ,
and "the Yazoo speculation," he winds up
with the following, in which the reader will
observe that, at one blow, in which all his
pp;t fful energies are concentrated, he strikes
Washington, Lee, and Henry:
"CJeueral Washington flattered him by an ap
pointment to a mission to Spain, which he de
clined; and by proposing 10 him the olllce of
Secietary of Stale, on the most earnest solicita
tion of uerjeial Henry Lee, who pledged nim
nelf that Henry should uot accept 01 it. Kor
General Washington knew that ho was entirely
unqualified for U, and, moreover, that tils self
esteem bad never suffered htm to act as second
to any ninn on earth. I had this fuel from in
formation, but that of the mission to Spain Is
of my own knowledge, because, after ray re
tiring from the olllce of Secretary ol State Gene
ral Washington passed the papers to Mr. Ueury
through my bands. Mr. Henry's uposlacy sunk
lilm to uothlug lu tbe estimation of his coun
try. He lost at ouce all that Influence whiih
Federalism bad hoped, by cajoling him. to
truusfer with blm to Itself; aud a man who,
Inrough a long and active life, had been tbe
idol of his country beyond any one that ever
lived, descended to the grave with less than its
indifference, and verified the saving of the phi
losopher, that no man must be called happy
until he Is dead."
Here, so far as facts are concerned, Wash
ington and Lee are most disparaged the for
mer as party to a small stratagem for buying
up a political adversary by an offer (and that,
too, of a cabinet office) which he knew would
not be accepted, and General Lee as the go
between on the occasion. Unfortunately for
Mr. Jefferson, facts (stubborn things), as now
ascertained, do not support his theory. . He
ignores the faot that between Washington and
Henry there had always been a kind feeling
dating as far back as 1777, when Henry refused
to join the "Cabal." Differences as to the
Federal Constitution before its adoption, in
which we incline to think, from what we see
nowadays, Henry was right, separated them.
But concurrence of opinion as to the insanity
of the French Revolution the bloody radical
ism of the Convention in France, so like our
"Convention" in the District of Columbia
brought them together again. This it is that
Mr. Jefferson, crazy as he was on the subject
of France, never forgave, llinc Mae objurga
tiones. As to the trailio for posts in the Wash
ington Cabinet, there is not a shadow of
foundation for the gossip. The private letters
on the subject, unseen, of course, by Mr.
Jefferson, are now in print. They tell a story
very different from his imaginings. On the
17th of August, 1794, Lee wrote to Washing
ton that he had met Mr. Henry in Virginia,
who expressed some fears that mischief had
been made, and that he (Henry) was looked
upon as "a factious and seditious man" by
the President. "He seems," says Lee,
"to 1 be ' deeply and sorely affected. It
is very much to be Tegretted, for, he is
a man of positive virtue as well as of
transcendent talents." Washington replied
at once that there was no foundation for
this idea; and added, and it shows how long
Washington remembered the base means
once employed to ruin him: "On the ques
tion of the Constitution, Mr. Henry and my
self, it is well known, have been of different
opinions, but personally I have always re
spected and esteemed him; nay, more, 1 have
conceived myself under obligations to him for
the friendly manner in which he transmitted to
me some insidious anonymous writings that
were sent to him in the close of the year 1777,
with a view to embark him in the opposition
forming against me at that time.". This was
communicated to Henry, who at once said in
a letter, every word of which is instinct with
patriotism: "My present views are to spend
my days in privacy. If, however, it shall
please God, during my life, so to order the
course of events as to render my feeble efforts
necessary for the safety of the country in any,
even the smallest degree, that little which I
can do shall be done. - Whenever you may
have an opportunity I shall be much obliged
by your presenting my best respects and duty
to the President, assuring him of my gratitude
for his favorable sentiment towards me." It
was in this letter he said, "Although a Demo
crat myself, I like not the late Democratic
societies.'. These societies, we all know, were
Mr. 1 Jefferson's pets, even when he was in
Washington's Cabinet. In October, 1795,
Washington wrote, not 1 to Lee, whose
agency in ' reconciliation had long since
ceased, but to Edward' Carrington,' that
he ,was desirous ' to bring Mr. Henry
into his Cabinet, but feared he would
not accept the place, and on the 9 th of October
he offered him the post of Secretary of State.
Mr. Jefferson says he made the offer, "knowing
he was unfit, and under an assurance from
Lee that it would not be accepted a very dis
ingenuous and discreditable trick. Washing
ton's letter lies before us, and we wish we had
room to print every word of it. Its first words
remember, reader, it is Washington who
writes "whatever may be the reception of this
letter, irutn ana cauaor snail mark its steps.
You doubtless know that the oHloe of State is
vacant; and no one oan be more sensible thau
yourself of the importance of filling it with a
person 01 auinuoB, ana one in Whom the publio
would have confidence. My wish is that you
will accept it," and then he adds:
"My ardent desire is, and my aim has bnen
as far as depended upon the Kxftcullve depart
ment, to comply strictly with all cur miitmp
menu, foreign and domestic; but to keep the
United Slates free from oonnrotlon with every
other country, to see them Independent of all
aud under the Influence of none, in a word
want an American character, that the powers
of Kurope may be convinced we aol fur our
fO.ves and not for others. This, lu my Judg
ment, I the only way to be respected abroad
and happy at home, and not. by becoming the
partisans of Great Britain or France, create dis
tentions, disturb the public tranquillity, and
destroy, perhaps forever, the cement which
binds the Union. 1 am satisfied these senti
ments cannot be otherwise than congenial with
your own. I ask your aid In carrying them
into eneci."
Does this look like a half-hearted offer, suoh
as Mr. Jefferson represents it? Mr. Henry
declined the position in a letter which has not
been preserved, and Colonel Pickering was
appointed
in the last years of their lives Washington
and Henry corresponded ou terms of the most
affectionate intimacy. Washington begged
him to go baok to the Virginia Legislature,
which he did, and it was at this time Henry
wrote a letter, from which we wish, in oonclu
sion, we could make some extracts, every word
of which, if seen, would have been gall and
wormwood to Air. Jeuerson and his Uallo
maniacs. We are compelled here to close our
effort to do exact justice to the honored dead
especially tbe dead of that great and glorious
Commonwealth the mother of States and
creator of the constitutional Union now,
Niobe in her voiceless woe.
The Unitary Commanders The Presl
dent aud His Policy.
From the THme.
lhe intention of the President to remove
General Sheridan naturally affords enoourage
nient to the opponents of the law in other
military districts. The enemies of the Union
and of honest government in Louisiana, who
have succeeded in enlisting the support of
the President, are already followed by kindred
Spirits from Alabama. "If Sheridan is to be
removed, why not Pope ?" is the query with
which they corner Mr. Johnson. To this in
quiry there can be no satisfactory answer
The course of the two Generals named has
been identical in principle and purpose. Both
have interpreted the law in the same sense,
and both have deemed the deposition of un
trustworthy civil omcers essential to the eileo
tive working of the reconstruction scheme
If the President, then, interfere for the benefit
of the Rebels and the corrupt politicians at
New Orleans, can he do less for his friends
and petitioners at Mobile ? Their complaint
come within the same category. They are as
reasonable, as just, as proper in one case as in
the other. If bheridan is to be decapitated
with what decency can Pope be allowed to
keep his official head ? Nay, if Sheridan is to
sutler because of his fidelity to the loyal pur
poses of the people, and his adherence to the
known intent of the law, who among the dis
trict commanders will care to expose himself
to the suspicion of being unfaithful to his
trust T For, plainly speaking, that will be the
imputation under which every commander
will rest who may not suffer from the Presi
dent's abuse cf the power of removal. When
he inflicts the threatened punishment upon
Sheridan, whose offense is the administration
of the law in the interest of the Union rather
than of the Rebellion, Pope and Sickles and
Orr and Schofield may well pray to share the
same fate. Not to be removed will be to incur
suspicions w hich few besides the President are
willing to encounter.
But how will the removal of Generals who
have proved themselves loyal aud energetic
help the President? His object, as we under
stand it, is quite as much to defy Congress as
to pUnibh officers who have acted according to
a stern sense of duty. His organs tell us that
he will not sutler General Grant to exercise the
authority which the Supplementary act
explicitly reposes in him; that he (Mr. John
son), will assert his right to revise the district
commanders' action, to check their proceed
ings, and to dictate the course they shall pur
sue. There can be no doubt as to the meaning
of these intimations. They foreshadow an
other coullict between the President and the
lepresentatives of the people. Whether he
intend it or not, they will provoke a storm be
fore which all he has and all he can do will be
swept into nothingness. If he were not insen
sible to the signs of the times, he would hear
and heed the mutteringa which the mere an
ticipation of the removal of Sheridan has
evoked. He would remember that the mis
interpretation of the law which the Attorney
General's opinions rendered possible brought
Congress together one month ago; and he
would thence infer the probable effect of pro
ceedings by which he proposes to array the
power of the , Executive openly against the
will of Congress, and to get rid of those in
whom that body reposes unbounded confi
dence. ' ' ' ' . '
Another circumstance is not unworthy of
Mr. Johnson's attention. The advocates of
impeachment have been in a minority thus
far, in consequence of a desire to avoid ex
treme measures, as well because of the coun
try's need for peace, as because of the belief
that the President would interpose no further
obstacle to the operation of the law. All this
will change the moment Mr. Johnson makes
known his purpose to disregard the law, and
to employ the opportunities of his position
adversely to the Congressional plan. Think
you that such a display as that which Mr.
Johnson is confidently said to contemplate
will not invest the demand for impeachment
with a vitality it has not hitherto possessed t
Here will be a positive act an unmistakable
contravention of the law just such an issue
as the extremists have watched for; and who
can doubt its effeot on the popular mind and
on Congress ? Beginnings of this effect may
be traced now. Journals whioh have steadily
deprecated impeachment,' hint that, after all,
it may be a necessity. The Chicago Tribune
and the Albany Evening Journal are of the
number. The habitually moderate Providence
Journal, inspired as it is by Senator Anthony,
recognizes the necessity for pointing out the
tendency of the President's . oonduct . to
strengthen the impeachment party, Nothing
short of blindness or fatuity can ignore the
fact. ' The States composing the Government,
having put down the .Rebellion and asserted
their determination to enforce oertain condi
tions upon the South, are not likely to permit
the President to resbt their will. We are re
luctant to abandon the hope that prudent
friends will Induce him to arrest his steps ere
the I fatal line be passed. For if the contest
really become one between Mr. Johnson and
his policy and the governing States and their
policy, the result will be beyond dispute. The
country may Buffer tneanw hile from embittered
j
1 1
AUGUST 3, 1867.
OldMye
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TERMS. .' ' '
Vtaelr
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strife, but Mr. Johnson will assuredly find
himself powerless belore the outraged patlenoe
t. ri V,i . ul lue people.
It is idl tn tnlV ... m V.,f.. -
j . - j on u son s apolo
gists do, of the grievances lnllioted upon him
bv recent Wwlntlnn tk .
o xiio aumorny is a
small matter compared to the reconstruc
tion of the Union on a sound basis. And,
though he may. well chafe under restrictions
which his own ill judgment provoked and
justifies, he must not assume that others dis
regaid the essential merits of the controversy.
The question, as it stands, is wider far than
that merely personal one to whioh his vanity
and obstinacy would dwarf it. Divested of
' I (3 1 1 lu.iiutiut, W II U III
1805 usurped the authority to pull down and
set up, now dictate terms and conditions, or
shall this power be exercised solely by the
crpss is chargeable with usnrnation. Hut. tha
original 'usurper" was himself; and we have
vet to learn that his right, so acauired ami
exercised, forms a tenable barrier, even in
argument, to tne organized will ot the States
na avnraaanil liw Cnnrtrnua
MO V VMU1 J V:UkJ
The Art of Journalism.
FVom the Independent.
Mr. Gladstone, the parliamentary orator,
recently presided at the annual dinner of the
Newspaper Press Fund, in London; and in
proposing the toast of the occasion he made
some highly complimentary remarks on the
functions of the journalist and the importance
of the newspaper press to Booiety. As a party
leader and a cabinet minister, Mr. Gladstone
must have often been the subjeot of sharp
criticisms; but he frankly acknowledged that
he had been greatly benefited by the critical
comments of the press upon his own conduct,
and that none are so profoundly sensible of the
services rendered by the journalist for the
good of society as men who occupy publio sta
tions, who are by such means reconciled to
tne masses whose welfare they strive to
promote, and are taught invaluable lessons
wnicn otherwise they oould have no opportu
nity of learning. All this is undoubtedly true
as relates to the British press; and it will apply
with much greater force to the press of this
country, which is the very breath of their nos
trils to many of our publio men. The press of
the United States is the actual ruler of the
country, and members of Congress are but the
instruments to put into legal form the will of
the people, whioh first finds utterance through
the press. But the press is not only the ruler
of the people, watching with untiring zeal
over their interests, and sounding the alarm
in thunder tones whenever their rights or
privileges are interfered with; but it is also the
educator of the people, furnishing instruc
tion for them daily in all the relations of
life, with a degree of fullness and accuracy
which no other social agency has even been
able to supply. The advantages and import
ance of the press to the people are so vast that
they cannot be overrated; and yet they are so
common and so cheap, so accessible to all, that
they are necessarily underestimated by those
who derive the greatest benefits from them.
Popular liberty would be impossible without a
popular press, and therefore we find that fn
all countries the freedom of the people is In
exact proportion to the freedom of the press.
If the press, then, is of such vast importance
to the people, it is of vast importance to them
that it shall be in proper hands, and be pro
perly conducted. It may be said, "like people
like press;" show me your newspaper, and I
will tell you what you are. The people must
be their own censors; this is a power which
cannot safely be delegated to any other power.
The newspaper must exist by virtue of its own
merits; the people for whom it is , furnished
are the only competent judges of its fitness: if
it meets their wishes, it will prosper; if not, it
will die.
The press, therefore, will faithfully reflect
the morality of the people by whom it is sup
ported, with just a trilling greater elevation of
tone, and just a trifling higher order of intelli
gence. Accordingly, there cannot be any such
thing as one great leading Journal, but a great
many leading journals, in a free country.
Each class of society will desire for itself the
journal best adapted to its own necessities;
and whoever attempts, by any extraneous
means, by extraordinary attractions, by cheap
ness, or by any other means, to induce people
to take a journal which does not appeal to
their sympathies, will make a dismal failure of
it. The experiment has often been tried of
forcing a journal into circulation by gratuitous
distribution, but never with success. People
will not have what they do not want,
and they will . buy what they want,
without regard to price. The great art
of the journalist, then, is to adapt
his t journal to the needs or the tastes of the
greatest number of people. Some men pos
sess the instinct of journalism in a remark
able degree, while in other respects they are
of very inferior ability, and succeed in their
business, to : the astonishment of all who
know them. There are journals of great
ability published in this country and in
England, whose opinions are held in great
respect by scholars and statesmen, which
have never been able to gain a popular
circulation, and have kept their proprietors
and editors in poverty; while there are
others of absolutely worthless charaoter,
which ciroulate far and wide, and enrioh
their publishers. When Sir Cornwall
Lewis, who had been editor of the Edinburgh
Hevitw, and must have had a pretty thorough
acquaintance with the periodical literature of
his day, waa Chancellor of the Exchequer, he
stated, on the occasion of a debate on the sub
ject of the paper duty, that he had that day
seen, for the first time, a oopy of the London
Journal, , of . whose existence he was before
w holly ignorant, which, had a circulation of
half a million copies; and he had been priding
himself on the editorship of a journal which
circulates to the extent of only two or three
thousand copies. Most men, however, would
much rather be editor of the Edinburgh Review
than pf the London Journal. ' '
- In this country, where the newspaper plays
so important & part, and the journalist is a
Wliislda
DO HI), comprises all the favorite braade
mouth of 1805, 00, and of this year, up to
man of such vast influence and occupies so
distinguished a position in society, journalism
can hardly be called a profession, and the art
is yet in its infancy. They manago things bet
ter, not only in Prance, but in England. Our
system of journalism is a cross between the
two, and partakes of the vioes of both without
their advantages. Journalism in France 13
purely personal. The publisher, the editor,
and tbe writer is each responsible for his
own work. The publisher must be known, and
furnish security for the nroDer conduct of hia
journal, before he is allowed to issue a copy of
n. i be name or the editor-in-chief must also be
known, that the Government may know whom
to punish if he permits any outrages on publio
decency in his paper. The name of each
writer must be appended to his article, as a
further security to the publio against anony
mous articles. The advantages of this system
are manifest. It is not an infringement in the
least degree on the freedom of the press; it
only compels each individual writer to as
sume the responsibility of his own acts, and it
secures to him also the benefits which may
accrue from them. Hence the journalists of
Trance are men of renown, and the intellectual
tone of the French press is greatly superior to
flint if TCnrvlaTiA 1ia T Tt . ..,1 Ui.i..M ' r
naliem in Paris is not only an art which is cul
tivated by men of the best intellect, but it is
a profession which leads to honorable position.
The youngest member of the French Academy
is a newspaper writer, who gained his lofty
honor solely by means of his journalistic pro
ductions. Such a man in England or the
United States would probably have remained
in hopeless obscurity, unless he could have
gained reputation by some means outside of a
newspaper.
The English system of journalism is the
direct opposite of the French. In England
the journal is impersonal. Only the name
of the publisher is given to the publio. All
else is profoundly secret. The editor of a
London newspaper is a myth. The Times,
which arrogantly claims to be the leading
journal of Europe, never published the
name of its editor, nor any of its writers
or correspondents, except onoe, when it
magnanimously acknowledged what all the
world knew, that its Crimean war corres
pondent was Doctor Russell. The Times
made a ferocious attack on Carlyle for
having disclosed the fact, in his life of John
Stirling, that Captain Stirling had been a
writer of the leaders which first gained it
the name of "The Thunderer." Genera
tion after generation of brilliant young men
have gone up to London and written leaders in
the Times, until they have written themselves
Into imbecility, and been snuffed out, without
their readers ever knowing whose light it waa
that had been shining on their pathway. The
advantages of this system all accrue to the
journal, which is built and formed into a tre
mendous engine of concrete intellectual foroe.
Men enough are found who are willing, for
pay, to sacrifice their individualities and their
intellectual gifts into a common mass for the
benefit of a remorseless impersonality. All
British journals, from the ponderous Quarterly
lleriew down to Mr. Punch's hebdomadal, are
published after the plan of the Times, and the
British publio have the satisfaction of being
led by leaders whom they never see, never
know, and rarely are permitted even to sur
mise the names of.
Our system of . journalism is a hybrid, and,
like all hybrids, has a constant tendency to
deterioration. It needs a reform badly; and,
if journalism were an honorable profession,
or an art worthy of cultivation under the
conditions imposed upon it, journalists
themselves would very speedily bring about
a reform. The American journal is, gene
rally, the property of its publisher, who
also assumes the credit of its editorship.
He and his paper are one; he permits no
name beside his own to appear in it, and his
assistants, who do all the labor for him
work under the degrading consciousness
that whatever they may accomplish, all
their brilliance of style, all their industry,
their learning, their observation and expe
rience of the world, go to build up a false
reputation for another, and to increase the
value of a property whioh can never belong to
themselves. Such journalism as this caa
never be a profession it is merely a make
shift; for what man of respectability and
talent will ever consent to bind himself to an
engrossing occupation in whioh all the fruits
of his labor go to enrich and to elevate
another f Such journalism can never become
an art, except to those who study the art of
extracting as much pay for as little labor ' as
they are capable of performing. But still the
calling of a journalist is one of the noblect
and most enticing in which an ingenious intel
lect can be employed, and we think there are
indications that it is gradually becoming
better worth the attention of noble-minded
men than it has been heretofore. . . . ,
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