The Port Gibson reveille. (Port Gibson, Miss.) 185?-1857, 1853-07-20
YIcKsEuRe. June 25th. 1853.
To which Gov. Foote replies as follows /:
JACKSON, June 26th. 1853.


ID. WALKER Esq,-Editor Of the Vicks-
burg SentineL-SR The very unexpected
reception Of your note Of yesterday places me-
as l suppose, under some obligation to reply
to the enquiry contained therein Those who
have enjoyed the advantage Of reading the
Vicksburg Sentinel for some months past
need not now be informed, that it has been
seldom my fortune to escape. during that pc
riod, even for a single week. the most unkind
and disrespectful notices at the hands Of its
editor. Indeed, SO severe and illiberal have
been your structures upon my public conduct
and character, that even your State Rights
friends, in your own immediate vicinage, are
known openly to have complained Of the gra-
tuitous dscourtesy which marked your edito-
rial columns and ono Of them, in particular,
with a manliness worthy OF all praise. even
felt it to be his duty formally. to demonstrate
in your own paper, against your incessant as
sailment Of one who had done much hard SER
vice for the Democracy Of Mississippi in the
last twenty years, and who had done nothing
at any time, to justify the harsh apprehension
to which it was bis fate TO be subjected IL
has not yet been quite a week, | think, since
despite the sage maxim Of Dogberry, touching
the 0diOuSneSS Of comparisons, You took it
upon yourself with that peculiar play Of fa-
natic humor for which of late you have be-
come so famed, TO suggest a striking similitude
between myself and some noted 'Tolon Loaf
er" Of your ueighborhood, who, it would seem.
has the good fortune occasionally to encounter
you in your romantic pcrambnations about
the streets Of Vicksburg. All this, and much
more have borne with placid and steady
patience, which am not sure | should have
been able to exert. but for the clear and un-
doubling conviction which | entertained that
neither my private nor my public character
was at all in reach Of such missels as might
be hurled from the chair editorial Of the
Vicksburg Sentinel.
In your very last number, you speak Of my
recent letter to Messrs. Brooke and Botters
as rather an extraordinary document
from a most ertraordinary man." and ac-
company this notice Of the letter. with time
ly premonition to your readers, Of the grave
resolve which you have adopted, hereafter to
present suitable comments" upon the same,
in the columns Of the Sentinel Your next
step in this curious affair was to address me
the note to which am now relying, in which
you specially notify me Of your intended
" comments" upon the letter. and demand, in
a style which | cannot but deem a little more
peremptory than the laws Of good taste will
entirely justify, whether it was my intention,
in the published letter referred to. to I'm
cl1de" the = Vfcksbsug Sentinel in my
!" slceeping denuncidtton Of a corrupt and
hireiiHg press" Under such circumstances
as those now stated. | might well hold it to be
a little improbable TO enter into such corr
respondence. as that which is now going on
between US, with an editor so evidently un-
friendly to me as you have shown yourself to
be. and so regardless Of those rules Of social
courtesy, without the observance Of which,
all political controversy must be source OF
uumtigated mischief But as you have de-
manded an answer 10 plain question, and
seem quite solici.ous to obtain it, cannot find
il in nv heart altogether to disappoint your
wishes. | therefore offer the following ex-
planation, which hope, if it shall not prove
altogether satisfactory, may be at least found
to supply no just ground Of complaint in any
quarter. When | speak, in my letter to
Messrs Brooke and Botters. of corrupt
and hireling press, " and Of its baleful infu-
ence among our citizens, intend to be under
stood as referring TO a numerous body Of edi-
torial personagcs, constituting well-known
class the members Of which are far from be-
ing confined to any particular locality. That
this class of pes,ilent and nercenayy scrib-
blcrs for the political press Of the country.
had vcrtable and widespread existence that
the members of it are numerous, wellpaid,
active, and influential corps--extending Into
every State in the confederacy-r into
almost every town, city, aud village that
there Is much ability Of different kinds to be
found in this army Of corrupt stpendiaries
much industry much effrontery, and but little
conscientiousncss. shall not nov stop to
prove that, as a class they have little or no
regard to private worth or public virtues, or
the true honor Of the republic. all Discerning
and pure.minded citizens stand ready to at
test; that the members Of this class are now
arrogantIy claiming the right to exercise abso-
Lutte and despotic control over public senti.
ment, and our social and political institutions
and are openly aspiring to regulate even thu
oovernn1nnt itself IA one of the mo<l alar,nino