Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-11-13


Congress published in London than half century
ago in two volumes This work you have more than once
quoted II contains tie passages you cite in both these
from letters the President Of Congress- printed
in precisely the same words in ''washin gtons Writ
ngs And yet with these previously letters
your hands, you6eem not to have consulted them but
you were willing without inquiry, hazard these inu-
rious imputatons. Was this ustfable under any cir
cumstances?
As you have retracted the main charge however am
so far content and should have let rest without eo
ment, if you had not attempted to vndcate your right
to make it on such grounds as appear to untenabe
The two other charges first of corrections and secondly
OF omissions with unwarrantabe design, although
you allow them to be far lesser charges you undertake.
to sustain
Here it is to be remarked that your observations and
structures presented under double aspect. You
state and assign motyes the former yu endeavor
to explain by the latter You imagine that Jou have dis
covered two prominent motives, which, your discovery
is genuine must have operated to peryert my Judgment
and blunt my moral perceptions through the whole
Of my editorial labors. These motives are, first desire
to the dignity Of Washington which led me some
times to omit epthets and phrases and sometimes to SUBJ
sttute others appropriate to his character than
those written by himself and secondly tenderness for
the people Of New England, moving leave such
parts of Washington letters bore hard upon their pa
triotsm, courage public virtue. AS these imputed
motives form the groundwork of your specifications,
propose to analyze your proofs which, the
in which you have stated aud arranged them, be
done somewhat in detail
AS demonstration of the first motive, you begin by
reproducing the phrases g aea-bite, lame hand, .
'stwo Of this kidney, and last Of ALL Old Put These
phrases have become well known by the labors of
yourself and Others that the false elevation which
Washingons fame had risen by their omission may now
be considered fairly brought its true level While
admit the offence in all its magnitude and depore its
consequences must repe the charge Of sinister design
of any felenious intent upon the truth of history If
could have anticipated the lively concern which the
loss of these words excite not only in the minds
respectable writers in the daily journals but in that of
eminent historian, doubt that should have
weighed the matter deliberately and perhaps
| to different decision.
In the of Old Put" however it should be re-
that this form of speech was not conception
Of Washington he placed it within inverted commas as
copied from Mr.. Reeds letter, to which he writing
answer that Characteristic trait Of the writer
was sacrificed by changing "Old Put" into General
Putnam" mention this fact proper to be noticed,
but not as apology for making the change Had the
phrase Deen retained, note would naturally have
ferred it to Reeds letter as its source.
Now, my lord let these editorial delinquencies If
such you please call Them be explained as they may
or 60 unexplained, cannot resist the conviction that
when you build them the following formal judgment
you striving to magnify small thing Of
unnatural dimensions. You inquire
"What other motive can by possibility be assigned for
such corrections besides the that have stated Is
it not quite clear in these that you seeking
use language more conformable to Washingtons dignity
of character than Washington could use for himself? We
in England with the highest respect for the memory
that great man. believe that in his own true form he
sufficiently exalted is only of his countrymen
who desire to set him upon stills"
Is your settled belief that these four phrases were
absolutely necessary bring washngtons dignity down
to its just position in forming estimate his charac-
you have perused the eleven volumes of his cor
respondence and particularly his familiar letters and dia
in the twelfth volume you have hundreds better
suited to answer such purpose What absurdity il
me- then, undertake to shield Washingons dignity b,
suppressing half dozen, half hundred words o.
phrases while multitdes of others equally more obec
tonable this spring up throughout the work
As to "stilts," it becomes those of my countrymer
may be obnoxious to your charge to look the
ter. II there be any who undertake the hopeless task
raising Washington higher than he stands by the force
his character and the consent of mankind is but
charity to remind them Of their folly As an apology fol
their deuson, however it should not be forgotten that
the foibe Of exaltng great by exaggerated praise
or, id your more expressive language by setting them
upon stilts" is not peculiar any country Even in
England the pens Of respectable authors are sometimes
betrayed into exravagancies Of this sort English hsto
rians are not always free from them
We come to another class Of omissions for which
you assign the same motive passages containing the
vehement language which Washington at this period ap
plies in familiar correspondence to the English" will
take your examples in the order in which you
them.
! You complain that passage is omitted in which
Lord Dunmore is called traitor to the rights OF
humanity" fyou had examined little more closely
you would have that about third Of the whole
letter omitted not because it contained these words
but as being in substance repetition Of what was writ
ten nearly at the time to Richard Henry Lee on the
same subject which is printed in full. Washington in
his letter to Lee says Of Lord Dunmore Motives Of re-
sentiment acuate his conduct degree equal to the to-
tai destruction Of the colony" Would "arch-traitor
have added any thing to the force Of this description
And II worth while to repeat paragraph for the sake
| Of inserting Il
Again. you take it amiss that the world should be de-
prved Of Washingtons opinion Of the English people
when he speaks Of them making Instruments of y-
ranny" Of the Scotch and nation which seems lost
to every Of virtue and those feelings which dis
tinguish civilized people from the most barbarous
savages" And you add, "YOu deemed, doubt that
such phrases not perfectly consistent with Washing