[17]
Lieutenant Johnston was a guest at the
White House and at
Mr. Clay's, and a favorite in the gayer circle of fashionable life, where his handsome person and winning address made him always acceptable.
Mr.Johnston and
Mrs. Johnston's indulgent partiality sought to make their house his permanent home, confident that, at the centre of political favor, their influence and his own merits would rapidly advance his fortunes.
A way was unexpectedly opened by an offer from
General Scott to make him his aide-de-camp, a proposal very flattering in itself, and opening as brilliant a career as could be desired had he possessed the temper of the courtier.
The temptation of rapid promotion and graceful pleasures would have proved irresistible to many minds, and perhaps most men would have acted judiciously in accepting the friendly offer.
Senator Johnston and his wife anxiously wished him to accept; the latter wrote in 1870 as follows:
I well remember my disappointment when, as a very young and handsome man, he was offered the position of aide to General Scott, and, from his own judgment, refused it, saying that, “although much gratified to have been mentioned by General Scott, he felt that the life of inactivity in a large city did not accord with his views, and that he preferred to go off to the far West, and enter at once upon the duties of his profession.”
His brother did not think it right to oppose his inclination, although General Scott was our particular friend.
As for myself, I fairly scolded and wept at this determination.
But nothing could deter him from his resolution to enter at once on the rugged duties of his chosen career, and to owe his advancement to meritorious service, not patronage.
General Johnston always believed and regretted that his seeming indifference to an overture that was intended as a kindness, and certainly was a compliment, had prejudiced him in the good opinion of
General Scott.
That eminent soldier regarded him for more than a generation with a certain coolness, and opposed to his advancement the most fatal check to rising merit-official reluctance and the discountenance of the great.
There was no intentional injustice, however, only this distrust and neglect; and it is creditable to
General Johnston's soundness of judgment and sobriety of mind that he felt no resentment at conduct so natural, and was always able to do full justice to the military abilities of
General Scott.
When, in his later years, he had, through other agencies, attained an exalted position, and had, by his services, compelled the entire respect of the
commander-in-chief, that respect was exhibited in a cordial and unreserved manner, and with the largest measure of official approbation, evincing that it was want of confidence, not of magnanimity, that moved
General Scott.
The question of
Lieutenant Johnston's wisdom in declining
General Scott's tender may be left to the verdict of others; but the incident illustrates both his theory of life at that time and a certain independence of spirit and unwillingness to
