The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-07-15

Sealed and addressed, IN. P. Willis, Esq.
care of Gen. Morris"
TThe above, anu its enclosure, No. IL were
delivered TO Gen. NJ. on the 18th March, and
| he promised to forward them.]
Mr.. Willis replies as follows:
". p. Wills to JOHN Van Buren,.
mo. 81
NEW ORLEANS. May IA, 1852.
SIR have just received your note, re.en.
closing to me the letter which my respect for
your father induced me to address to you, not.
withstanding your many forfeitures Of the posi-
ton and character ofa gentleman. Inow pro.
nounce you a coward Jas we'll as proper com
panion for the blackguards whose attorneyship
constitutes your career.
N. P. WILLIS.
To MIR. John Van Buren,.
". p. Wills to John Van Buren,.
mo. A.
HARRoDsBURG SPRINGS, June II, 1857.
To JOHN VAN buren,, ESQ
SIR-On re reading the Dote with which you
returned to me the letter demanding an apollo
gy for your violations Of gentlemanly conduct,
I observe that YOU comment on my Immediate
~ leaving New York for the West Indies
This comment may cover some show ola pos
sib,lity that you might have replied differently
if had not left the country; though you take
no notice OF the fact that my letter proposed
meeting at Charleston, whittier the Herald had
inst stated you were about to proceed on po-
iitical tour and whittier proposed to SO; and
did 90, from the West Indies.
To guard against any possible misconcep-
ton or misrepresentation, and to give you all
possible opportunity as TO convenience, now
propose an interview at Baltimore, the point
nearest New York, at which we could meet
and talk over our affairs without publicity
The unavoidable publicity of my own move
ments makes it necessary that should know
your decision before choosing my route east
ward. will, therefore, await letter from you
at Cincinnati, which is within three days mail
distance from New York. A line from YOU,
addressed to me at Burnet House, Cincinnati,
and agreeing to meet me at Baltimore TAT any
date within the ordinary means of ravel) will
bring me promptly to the spot.
Your obedient servent.
N. P. WILLIS.
Mr.. Van Buren, publishes the whole cores
pondence in the New York Herald, prefaced
by documentary, which ends as follows:
To make MIR. WIS first letter Ineligible,
ought TO state that Mr.. Forrest fogged him in
June, 1850 that he brought an action of as
sault and battery for this and l acted as
counsel in the defence ofthe suit The cause
was brought to trial in May, 1851 and, after
the plaintiff had gone through with his testi.
mony and had o. ened the defence, the case
stood over for a few days, when one of the
plaintiffs counsel desired to go to Europe, and
the others were unwilling to try the cause
without him, and Judge Oakley, against the
remonstrance of the defendant, discharged the
Jury, and the cause went off. The Forrest d.
vorce case, in which was counsel for defen-
dant, was tried in December and January last.
Mr.. Willis was witness for plaintiff; and his
own assault and battery case was tried again
in March last, and he recovered verdict of
$500, the judgment on which has been ap-
pealed. A bill of exceptions has also been
made by me in the Forrest divorce case. Dur
ing all This time Mr.. Willis and NV self lived in
the same town, and frequently met. He was
also in this city four days after the date of his
letter to me and the remark of which he es.
pecially complains, was made on the first tri-
al Of his case, about eight or nine months be-
fore. have numbered these letters in the
order Of their dates Nos. l,2, 3 and 4. The
manner and circumstances under which | re-
ceived No. ], are described by me in the note
returning it. No. Preached me by due course
of mail from New Orleans it was probably
written TO prevent my noticing No, 4, which
was handed to my law partner in my absence
from the city, by constable, whose name is
said to be Willis. No. /, it will be observed,
demands written apology, which can hardly
be said to be contained in No.2. These we're
handed to Gen. Morris on the 18th of March.
Although No. seemed to raise barriers enough
against demand of satisfaction, if the writer
should afterwards make one, yet No. 3 follows
two months after, to make it entirely sefe, and
70 do SO contrsdicls the larger part of No. L.
Then follows No. 4, with the ingenious prop.
osiion TO meet at Baltimore, sand talk over
our affairs'-aS if the conversation of MIR.
Willis, which never admired, had been made
SO attractive by the previous letters, that
would travel four degrees South, in July, to
enjoy it But truce to folly! An exaEnina.
tion of this correspondence a series of let
tiers, all, with one exception, written by the
satie person, can be called a correspondence
will show that Mr.. Willis, instead of seeking
the satisfaction which is the right Of a gentle
'.,,an, has been endeavoring to secure the for
fixture of this rightly an Indulgence in scurril
| ity, which is the priviege'6f - Willis
| do not need to be told that ought to chas-
| tise him for this perseyering insOlence but il
costs twenty five hundred dollars to fog Mr..
| Willis. His health, he claims, has been feeble
for years. and his body weak under such
circumstances, he procured himself to be
| logged by Mr.. Fbfrest, and then based on his
physicat NeDility eclalm Tor enormous DANA.
ges in civil suit. On the trial of that cause,
our cour held that no provecation would JUS
tity or mitigate an assault, unless so fresh
that the Sssaihnt's blood had not time to cool
before tie assault. The decision is now under
review. While it stands for law, Mr.. Willis
can. for aught see, write me iRsolent letters
with inipuniry, from the high seas, from New
Orleans, and from Harrodsburg Springs and
the lusury of furnishing him for them when
we meet is placed almost beyond the reach Of
one OF my limited means.
Respectfully, yours,
/ -, J. VAN buren,.
Non, Xn-lr LII. 10