The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-08-30

ESDAY, AUGUST 80, 1859
The Co0fesaiOns of Coincidence CAssaay-
Wsrse sud Wswss.
In another page we publish two articles from
the Albany Argus, in one Of which the Con-
fdence man Of the Regency Is admitted to have
commenced life as butchers boy In his fathers
slaughter-house; and in the other an agent Of
the HERALD is impudently charged with stealing
copy Of the letter Of Mr.. Wise, conilded to tho
honorable custody Of Chevalier Cassidy.
In the first Of these articles the butcher boy
contends that to have devoted bis early life to
slaughtering calves and swine, and cutting up
sheep and beeves. Is no disgrace to him, but
rather an evidence Of bis genius and energy,
which overcame that obstacle and made him
one of the Albany Regency. We admit this to
the fullest extent We never said that it was
dIsgraceful to have been originally an honest
butchers boy, with dirty face and q clean
heart; with hands besmeared with blood, but
with pure feelings unstained by diahonor. This
could certainly be no disgrace Cassidy claims
that he was educated and bred by Profess
sor Henry, Of the Smithsonian Institution,
and that he took his degree at college under DR..
Mott. Now, a. William Shakspere would say,
there's the rub" This is the very rock on
which the confidence man splits Educated, ss
he admits he was, by gentlemen, and trained in
the principles of honor and Of gentlemanly con-
duct, he turns traitor to those principles and
violates the private confidence of . silly man
like Bernard Donnelly by permitting copies to
be taken Of o private letter written to him by
the Governor Of Virginia. Out of his own
mouth Cassidy is cohdemDed. Had he not re-
ceived the gentlemanly education of which he
boasts, there might be some excuse for his want
of appreciation Of gentlemanly principles and his
insensibility to those instincts which are a
"second nature" to q gentleman. Either there
must have been something radically wrong in
the code Of ethics taught by Professor Henry
ard Dr.. Mott, or Cassidy makes bis case ten
times worse by confessing that he had the ad-
vantage of liberal education, and yet has 50
frequently transgressed the line of honor which
such training marks out.
Confidence Cassidy, In trying to mend his
principles and his manners, makes bad worse,
like an unskilful tinker, who in trying to stop
one leak In an old kettle produces two or three
leaks. BE and his associates of the Regency
can never get over the charge made against them
Of consenting to the publication Of private let
ter, in violation Of the principles Of gentlemen
and editors
Cassidy's ridiculous attempt in his other arH-
Gle to hide bis rascality is like that Of the o.
trich which when closely pursued thrusss its head
under the sand and imagines that nobody sees
1t. His assertion that we bribed somebody to
obtain copy Of Mr.. Wise's letter surrepNiously
is miserable trash. Our agent found it in the
open market for sale, and paid $40 for it, which
was probably divided among the Regency inpro.
portion to their moral standing. In this be vic.
lated no confidence, for he promised none, and
was not in the secret. The man who violated
the confidence was the Judas Iscariot who
caused copies of the letter to be exposed for SALE
and the person who bought 1t was as innocent
in the transaction as ever was q cook who at
Casady's butcher stall bought bad beef for
sound.
Wise's letter be sent copy Of it to Mr.. Dickin-
son, and permitted other copies to be made, from
one Of which was taken that which we printed
in the HERALD After all this, and with the orr
giDal letter still in his possession Cassidy had the
uubluphins audaoity to throw out doubts about
the genuineness Of the letter, and to say that he
would wait before copying it into the Argus, to
see whether Mr.. Wise would disown it or not
The force Of impudence could no farther go. He
thought by this dodge to direct attention from
himself and put the public on the wrong scent.
But we soon traced the tracks of the fox to his
den, though he attempted to carefully cover
them up. We brought the possession of the orr
ginai letter home to him, and even named the
parties to whom copies had been given. At last
Cassidy acknowledges the corn, but in his des-
peration pretends that we bribed somebody to
steal copy from him. How did we know that
he had the letter? How could it be stolen from
him if he desired to keep it secret? Does he
mean to cay that any agent Of ours picked his
pocket, OF committed burglary and rided his
bureau? This would be a little too absurd
for the veriest greenhorn to swallow.
ous suPPosluG, lor arguments sake, tnat
an agent Of ours did steal copy, how
does that dispose Of the charge against the Con-
fdence man Of giving copy to Mr.. Dickinson,
and of giving other copies to which we have fire..
quently referred. The breach of confidence was
in giving the frat copy. Here was the dishonor-
able act Even upon his own showing, copy
having been once given, Cassidy parted with his
control over the publication, and he was there
fore responsible for the letter finding its way into
print, and clearly violated the confidence reposed
in him. But he is not such chicken as to have
ever given copy of that letter without the GER
tain knowledge and the deliberate intention that
It should appear in the New York naners and