THE AMERICAN MINISTER AT LIVERPOOL.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1015, 19 January 1869, Page 3

THE AMERICAN MINISTER AT LIVERPOOL.

[E rom tho " Home News. "] On Thursday, October 22, the Hon. Reverdy Johnson, the American ambassador to this country, was publicly received at the Town Hall, Liverpool. Upon Mr. Johnson's arrival |the American flag was hoisted over the building, and he was conducted to the east draw-ing-room, where the members of the Corporation were assembled, together with the deputation from the Chamber of Commerce. The room was decorated with flags, the American ensign -being interwoven with the flags of all nations. A congratulatory address was read by the Town Clerk. Mr. Johnson, in reply, said that inasmuch as the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce had done him the honour of inviting him to a public banquet, he would reserve his remarks for that occasion, as he had determined to lay open his whole heart to the men of Liverpool, and through them to the entire nation of Englishmen. Addresses from other bodies were presented, and graciously received. Xn the evening a banquet was given to Mr. Johnson by the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, in the rooms of the Law Association. Mr. S. H. Brown, of the Association, was in the chair, and amongst the guests, in addition to the Hon. R. Johnson, were Lord Stanley, M.P. ; Mr. W. E. Gladstone, M.P. ; the Bishop of Chester, Mr. J. Laird, M.P. ; Mr. J. B. Hprsfall, M.P. ; Mr, S. R. Graves, M.P. ; Mr. C. Turner, M.P. ; the Mayor of Liverpool, Admiral Evans, General Sir John Garvock, Admiral Kerr, Captain Tumour, H.N. ; Archdeacon Jones, Mr. H. Wilding (United States Vice Consul), ' -&c. j Mr. Johnson, in responding to the toast of his health, spoke of the great growth of Liverpool, saying — Now your flag, protected by the power of England, which, thank God, never has failed us, passes unchallenged on every sea, bearing wealth and comfort and happiness to every part of the world ; and now because of the close connection between your land and my own, it is impossible that anything but absolute insanity upon the part of the members of either of the governments can involve us in any serious conflict. — (Loud cheers.) I make that remark, gentlemen, for the future, and not fo* the present, = for you will not be surprised when I tell you, that the farthest thing from my mind would be to indulge in any such thought as that there is no insanity on the part of the minds of the present Government, or on the part of any Government which might in future time succeed them. — (Loud laughter). Whether that time be short or long, it is for the people of England to decide. But whether it be the one or the other, I am satisfied there will be no peril to the preservation of the peace between both countries. I have alluded to the present Government, gentlemen, for the purpose _ of saying what I hope my honorable friend next to me on the left (Lord Stanley) will pardon me for saying, that so long as he represents the foreign relations of his country, and I, or any other man, feeling as I do, shall represent the foreign relations of my own government iv this .kingdom, the preservation of peace between the two is placed beyond the possibility of doubt — (Tremendous cheers.) We have thrown aside all mysteries of diplomatic intercourse. We have been frank to say what each wanted ; and we shall be to the end frank, and free to ask from the other what he might think to be wrong ; and I think my non. friend will not think thafc I go beyond the proprieties of diplomatic life in adding that, so far as we have gone, all has gone on merrily — (cheers) — and that it gives to us both an assurance, thafc as far as may be necessary for us to go still all will go merrily. — (Renewed cheers.) What we have done, or what we are about to do, I leave it to you to guess, and if there are any lawyers within the hearing of my voice I would say to them, in the language of Lord Coke, "Let this little taste suffice." Making allusion, next, to the civilising influences of commerce, he asked— What else have you done? You have lately bridged the Atlantic. — (Cheers.) In former days we were separated by an ocean which it was perilous to pass ; now there is a bridge of boats in which you can go in a few days from shore to shore in perfect safety. — (Cheers.) That has been the result of the joint enterprise and the joint wealth of our two countries. But more has been accomplished, still more marvellous, by means of the same joint enterprise and the same skill. You' have enabled us to grasp the hand of friendship beneath the sea, and heart to beat in unison with heart, although above it waves were running mountains high, threatening destruction to all within their reach. These things being accomplished, how are we to be still P How could we have the heart to stop a career, the result of joint efforts and of joint skill, which promises so much advantage, and which showers so many blessings on the whole of the habitable globe ? — (Cheers.) We expect to remain ] under the government which Aye enjoy, you to remain under the government which you enjoy. They differ but in form. And we are indebted for this, the marvel of. the age, to your wealth and your enterprise ; to the^ skill that your engineers and your scientific men, amongst whom, as well as I remember worthy of special note, are Mr. Bright and Mr. Whitehouse, Professor Earaday, and Mr. Morse, aided by the "never-failing energy, the never-despair-ing confidence of our countryman, Mr. Cyrus Field.— (Cheers.) Now, Mr. President^ the foundations of each are those principles, essential to the preservation of human liberty, the just rights guaranteed by''Magna Charta, the personal security afforded by the writ of Habeus Corpus, and all protected by the right of trial by jury, satisfying us that throughout all timo, j if we are true to ourselves, our respective Governments will last.— (Cheers.) They may for a timo be interrupted in their actual operation, there may be some error in some portion of the structure of each, but that we will correct ; we will be able to remove the nuisance without defacing the shrine, and at the end— l speak ifr with all the confidence with which a man can speak— at the end we will remain in unity ; the unity of ray own Government is now established, the unity of yours has never been seriously threatened, and God grant it nover may.— (Loud cheers.) I will conclude, Sir, in the words of our American poet : — While the manners and the arts That mould a nations soul, Still cling around our hearts, lietw eon Jet ocean roll ■ Onr joint communication Breaking with the sun, Yet still from either beach, The voice of blood shall reach, More audible than speech — AVc are one. The hon. gentleman resumed his seat amidst loud and prolonged cheering. Lord Stanley, who was received with loud cheers, responded to the toast of . " Her Majesty's Ministers." He said in the course of his speech : — There seems to be a general agreement, nofc merely among English politicians, but among Englishmen generally — among all classes "7-as to the general course and tenor of the conduct which England ought to pursue in her relations with other countries —

(hear, hear)*— to respect scrupulously tho rights of other nations, of the weakest as .well as of the strongest ; to respect thoso rights as scrupulously as we maintain our own ; to study to preserve, in the first instance, the peace of England, and next to that, so far as ifc lies in our power, the peace of Europe and of the civilised world — (loud cheers) — to seek no narrow, no selfish, no exclusive good, bufc to consider thafc even our material interests are indissolubly connected with those neighbouring nations which are at once our neighbours and our customers, to place our point of honour not in our readiness hastily and impetuously to resent any real or imaginary wrong, but rather in a willingness to submit to the dispassionate arbitration of some competent tribunal. I think that all these are general rules of conduct which are equally accepted, equally endorsed, by both the grea fc political parties into which this great country is divided, which are quite certain to be carried out by the Foreign-office of this country, whether the guidance of that department; be in my hands, or whether ifc passes intp ■ the hands of any follower or colleague of fche eminent statesman who, with us, is j entertained as your guest to-night, and it will be a happy day for England, and not ' merely a happy day for England, but a J happy day for Europe and for the whole world, when those ideas and those feelings, j which in this country are nofc merely do- I minanfc but universal, which pervade every j class of society from the nighest to the j lowest — the desire for peace and abstinence j from aggressive designs and the respect forinternafcional rights — when, I say, these ideas and feelings shall be universally diffused among the population of those great neighboring nations on the Continent of Europe with whom we have so many ties — then shall we see, and not until then, an end put to that which is at once the greatest drawback to material progress and the great blot and scandal upon the civilization of continental Europe — I mean i the necessity, be it real or imaginary, for thoseenormousmilitarypreparationswhich in our day have attained proportions never, I believe, approached before, which are increasing our taxation, depressing our industry, and draw-ing heavily upon the resources of the future, which introduce in the time of peace a social condition only one degree removed from war, and which, if the system is to last for two or three generations, can only end in one of two results, either, in my opinion, equally unsatis- ! factory, financial ruin to those who are intending conditionally to pay, or, if they adopt the other alternative, of dishonest repudiation. — (Cheers.) I do not believe in any cabinet of Europe there is any statesman who looks at the prospect of a general war with any feelings except those of aversion and apprehension. — (Hear, hear.) Leaving the European phase of the question, his lordship came to the American : Mr. Johnson had said in moro than one place, and with perfect accuracy, that two at least of the impending questions between the two countries had been, he would not say absolutely and finally disposed of, because that was not under the circumstances possible, but so far dealt with by mutual agreement, that if the United States Government should ratify the acts of their representative — of which there was no reasonable doubtthere was really no difficulty in tho way of effecting a satisfactory settlement. — (Loud cheers.) With regard to the last and the gravest question — that of claims arising out of the late war — his lordship was not in a position to say anything more than this, that on botn sides the subject had been approached with an earnest desire to find a satisfactory conclusion, and he thought there was on both sides, he would not say a confident expectation, but a very decided hope that solution was not .far off. — (Cheers.) Mr. Gladstone responded for the House of Commons. He said — after humorously reminding the company of the melancholy distinction he occupied of being the oldest member of the House present— we have been taught so much by the struggle, the unexampled struggle, in which the several portions of the United States were recently engaged, that I can say for myself, and I think I can say for many, that one practical lesson which we learned from it was, the enormous increase of energy, vigour, and vitality which every State musfc derive from the extension of political privilege, and of interest to share in the governing power, of the largest possible portion of the community. (Cheers.) The right hon. gentleman then proceeded to lament the necessity for war, but was satisfied that the causes which in the past had led to them were gradually disappearing as the people was rising to a level with the power of the sovereign. Another security against war, he considered, was the appointment of really ablo men as envoys to foreign countries ; and he wound up with a panegyric upon the able representative sent to this country by the United States.

The American minister, Mr. Reverdy Johnson, was entertained at a private banquet on October 26, by the Mayor of Liverpool, Mr. E. Whitley. In reply to a feeling address by his worship, who rejoiced in the prospects of perfect peace with the United States, his Excellency said that, in substance, the differences between his country and this were trifling in comparison with what they had passed through in America. Notwithstanding the generals who commanded during the civil war, North and South were now intimate friends. He did not come to this country to keep up animosities, and he did not fear censure for being friendly with those who had formerly been looked upon as enemies. Alluding to a remark regarding a . change of Government in England, he expressed a confident belief that all pending questions would be adjusted before Lord Stanley's retirement from power, andsaid he had never known a man more indefatigably industrious than his Lordship. Mr. Johnson also spoke of the benefits of free labour, and predicted that ultimately the growth of cotton would be more than double what ifc ever has been. The establishment of friendly relations between the two countries, ho said, would at a future time teach the world that war could be avoided by honest diplomacy. In conclusion, tho minister said ho did not know what his country would think of the manner in which he was executing his mission. Ho was sanguine, however, that his policy would be approved, but if ho failed to give satisfaction he would accept the censure with Christian resignation.