Arkansas true Democrat., 1859-11-23
Editorial Courtesy.


 About the same time an article appeared in the Ft. Smith Herald, on the same sub ect, over the anonymous signature of " Kechi." We happen to know |" Kechi," and he is a retailer of islander. He lives in Ft. Smith, if he has home any where, and few weeks ago he came here, spent several days in our city, and took passage on board of the Red Wing, from which boat he dated his slanderous communica- tion. No doubt it was fixed up here for him in furtherance of the plan to throw upon us the responsibility of the " unpleas- ant relations existing between the True Democrat and the Old Line Democrat.- Speaking of the editor of the Old Line Democrat, Rechi says
 |" I learned with surprise, that R. H. Johnson, the nominal editor of the True Democrat, has studiously refused to become acquainted with him and has failed to extend to him those courtesles which are regarded as being due from one gentle man to another, in their relative positions. This rude churlishness the part of Johnson, is freely commented upon and as freely condemned, by the conservative sensible people of Little Rock--and it's effects, like young chickens, will soon come home to roost.'"
 A more baseless assertion was never penned. So far from its being true the editor of the Old Line Democrat has never sought our acquaintance. That we have not sought his acquaintance, or offered him ll
 another, the openly avowed objects of his coming to Little Rock utterly precluded He himself established the unpleasant relations existing between us,'' or, what is the same thing. allowed another to do it for him. And those relations were estab- lished before Mr. Peek set foot within the State, and while he was an entire stranger to us. He engaged and undertook to make a war upon us and our friends before he ever knew us, or could possibly know that such war would be justiiable. He heard but one side of the controversy, and the evidence he acted upon, @ pdrte as it was, came from our btterest personal foe He came here to war upon Us, right or wrong he came for no other purpose, and so l far he has fulfilled his mission
 1 Under these circumstances, it could not have been expected that we should have voluntarily rendered to Mir. Peek even the common civilities used among strangers.- "'Unpleasant relation" s"-and yery unpleas- ant ones, existed between Mr. Peek and ourself before we ever heard of him, and he himself established them.
 To show this, we give an extract from the prospectus of the Old Line Democrat, which we found published in Memphis paper, months before the establishment of the Old Line Democrat, and months before Alr. Peek came to the State It shows the object of his coming here to have been, not to advocate democratic principles, not to harmonize and strengthen the democratic party, but to create division, discord and Reorganization, by warning personally upon the True Democrat and upon the men whom the democratic party had placed in office. The following is the extract, pre- tending to assign reasons for the establish ment of the Old Line Democrat, and for the overthrow of our paper:
 The rank and file of our party-the honest hard listed yeomamv,' who do our voting and win our victories, withouss other hope of reward than the country's good and the approval of their own | cOnsciences-have no mOuthpece at Little Rock | The so-calIed True Democrat makes blind obe- dience to a clique of oilice-holders and office seek CTS the test of orthodoxy, and denounces as trait ors' and disorganizers all who will not kiss the feet of those lordly aristocrats. Yet while thus anoganty communicating men who never finch ed in the advocacy of our principles who never hesitated to sustain usages, and whose only sin is that they scorn to acknowledge master that paper itself is edited by ex-whg, ex-know nothing, latter-day convert-is the apologist of coalition with political enemes-and the de fender of the fraudulent admission of know noth- ings and dsorganizers into democratic conyen- tions."
 These are sweeping charges, and false ones too, but they show the work that was cut ont for the Old Line Democrat, and for what the services of Mr. Peek were engaged. The prospectus was an unusual and extraor'i mary one, and its bitterness too plainly evidenced the kind of " suauity' we were to expect. The limits of our State did not afford man capable of the work and other States were ransacked for oI, FTo
 thoroughly aboltionized, the honor was awarded of supplying the man who is to reform the morals aud politics of Arkan- sas. Even the prospectus of the Old Line Democrat made its appearance outside of the State, and a Memphis paper was engag- ed to chaperone 1t into existence
 We offer these remarks, not as an apolo- gy, for we owe none, but as our iustihca- tion, if we have violated any of the rules of good breeding, or have failed to come up to Mr. Peek's standard of "courtlv bearing and high bred dignity"
 While on this subject we will notice another article from the pen of the editor of the Old Line Democrat Several weeks since, in the form of questions, he insinua- ted certain charges against us, and, to avoid a retort in case they were not true, he added that he |" did not say the True De- mocrat did or did not do these things."- Thinking the mode of attack an ungener- ous one, we characterized it as the war fare of the savage who shoots from behind tree." In this retort we did not think to be personal, indeed the retort was not so offensive as Mr. Peek's questions put to us in the face of our previous disclaimer on the subject But Mr. Peek considered him. self personally aggrieved and dropping the facts in controversy and thus tacitly ac- knowledging the injustice done us, he re- plies in the following style-we give an extract:
 "ln the article referred to, we particularly dis claimed any intention of making direct charge, not because were Gfr0id to do so as the gentle. man raiianly nsinuates, but because. as we then