Mr. Reverdy Johnson has been "hedging." His amenities to Lord
Wharncliffe, and Mr. Roebuck, and Mr. Laird have given so much offence in his own country, that at the banquet to him at Birmingham on Wednesday, he very judiciously balanced them by a great tribute to Mr. Bright. He was cautious about free trade ; thought, perhaps, that, on that head one system would suit England and another America, like the Cambridge man who, when asked whether the earth went round the sun or the sun round the earth, replied, "Sometimes one and sometimes the other." But though Mr. Reverdy Johnson was ambiguous about free trade, he was not ambiguous about Mr. Bright. Mr. Bright had made bread cheap, and that, at all events, is a result of free trade which America thinks a satisfactory one. After praising Cobden for this, Mr. Johnson went on, "I forbear to name another associated with him in that labour ; but the initials of his name stand high in the alphabet, and if you have half the capacity for guessing that we have, you may be able to conjecture to whom I allude. But if you have not half that capacity, although the man is before you, perhaps you will pardon me for saying it is he who has made the name of Bright illustrious." So, after "forbearing to name," he named him, and thanked him for speaking words of comfort to America in its "darkest day." Well, that will probably balance the greeting to Mr. Laird.
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