Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1842-10-07
TIL .;--l[..-
Q2}urtrOQteuD
FRIDAY MORNING. oCToBFR7. 1912.
THE DICKENS TO PAY.

Our readers will find, in another column,
communication concerning Mr.. Dickens
and the letter bearing his name, which was
published by US, a few weeks ago, in COM
mon with most other country papers, as a
genuine production. We give place to this
article not on account of the fairness or JUS
tice of its structures, or the courtesy Of its
language tow ards Us, but from considerations
wholly foreign TO either. While we are pre-
Guided, by the crowded state of our columns
and the length of our correspondents re-
marks, from making full reply to him this
week, justice to ourself requires from us a
few words by way of explanation. When
we first read the letter in question, we sup
posed ii to be genuine production, written,
as il purpOrted to be, by Mr.. Dickens HIM
self. And the remarks by which we pre-
faced its publication were intended by us to
be applied TO Mr.. D., as tie ,ey;tc,- 2t' tAe'
itter, and nat as the author OF "Oliver
Twist" La the one character, he appeared
to US to be a writer Of considerable merit
and young man of responsibility and prom
Use. In the other he resembed a BLACKBOARD
of the coarsest grain, rude, unmannerlv
coxcomb. We were led to regard the let
ter as a genuine, bona jfde production OF
Dickens, as well from the fact that 1t had
been published as such in several of our
best and most respectable journals, as that
it was written in the same vein of sour
rility and WI gar abuse which had formed
so conspicuous a feature in the writings Of
other English travellers in this country
We are gratitied, however, to know that the
odinm of its authorship does not attach to
the name Of Mr. Dickens, and we sincerely
hope that the has,y remarks we made unor
the offensive publication may not be usti-
fed by any production from him of an equal
ly repIehensible character hereafter.
But our correspondent says:
Immediately after the ap1earanceoft the letter ~,
| "IlenGs OF Mr.. DICKENs, twho are, bv the woy in
this country, neither few nor quite cont,rnrl d Il
ielt authorized 10 pronounce II u forgery-whethp,
uttered irst through the New York Tattcr or Al,
Liverpool Chronicle Men who had every possbl,
1 opportunity TO knOw,-who Were in intimate cores
| 'pOndence with Mr. DICKENs-whose word nm,
judgment were emnently entitled To respect dpcor
led that the letter was never written BY the psntle
| man whose Signature 1t bore. 1t was therefor,
| widely, nay generally, dshonoured - pronounced
| counterfeit, forged paper You could not Inv,
been ignorant of these protests: yet YOU pass the ma
! per TO your readers, genuine-without ono hin
that II has ever been suspected, Is this dealing
quite fairly with your readers at all bonesij viii
'lhe friends of Mr. DIcKENsl The general denial n
ts authenticity should have led YOU at least 10 doub
sit; and the issue proves how unfortunate YOU wer,
when you paimed II upon your readers as genuine
Now that our "readers" may Judge of tn,
'inimitable proprieiy" and COURTESY of Thu
ATTEMPTED mpSachment Of our fairness and
honesty, in or own columns, we will stat,
the simple facts of the case, as they were
kaowa 10 exist by our correspondent at the
time he wrote the above paragraph. Wher
the letter in question first made its appear.
ance, we were absent from our editorial pos
and were in a situation where we could no
see the papers regularly. The consequence
was that we had not read the offensive lette
until few days before its appearance in on
columns, and we had never even heard, a
that time, that its authenticity was denieC
by any one, and, least of all, by SHE .friend
of Mr.. Dickens" "men who were in init
mate correspondence with him, and who hat
every possible opportunity to know." Mo-
are we aware now, except from our cores
pondent's declaration, that any such semi
official, authoritative denial of the letter haC
been made. All this was well known 10 on
correspondent, for we had so informed hin
oursef more than week before his com
munication was written. After this state
ment our readers can Judge for themseve
who is dealing "fairly" and "hOnestly" will
them, and who attempting TO spain off," a
genuine, "dishonoured," "iorged" and "coun
terieit" paper.
We regret to feel obliged to reply thus t,
our correspondent, but knowing him $50 b.
nH-U fff4 a