Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1859-11-10
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John Mitchell's Reply 10 the Rev.
Hegry Ward Beecher.

s. =
prised to see letter addressed 4
you, by one whom you supposed t
be dead. In your antisslayery lee
i tnre, as reported in the Tribune,
i find that you announced my deceas
Ito a large congregation; and wit
! Christian smeekness repressed th
tload Kisses Of your hearers, in con
sideration Of, the respect due to th'
deceased. This morning | read my
own epitaphin the, Tribune, and eyei
an account Of the coreners inquest
which must have greatly affected my
I friends, If ! have any left. a.5
/ find myself therefore, in tht
position Of Paririage, the almanac
maker, no had to come before tbs
pubic to prove himself alive not
withstanding the obituary notice Of
{ Dean. Swift; t;and hadseren much trou.
Eble 10 establishing the fart. 1T is a
haia necessity. You may be diff
! cult to conyiee and may choose even
to regard this communicated as .
DE pretandis .elrnsogise: voice frem
I the tombs; but | viii tryltos. satisfy
your reverence. 8. - sstSssI4s Z 33ssf7E
/ The New York Tribune frstr next
q small fry ofnsWsp papers whose names
q forget, and lassy yepr facetioqs rev
erence, In your, paper The Ineepen-
dent, ali have poured cut on. me q
torrent. Of yirtpeus indignation. sim
ply. because ! refused 10 brand as
criminals a large. portion OF :he lciti-
zens of this republic, and -about orer
half of all The citizens Of the hu-
man beings who have eyers lived in
the werld besides. y gu aud the. Tri-
fbune and the s'bereyelists of.this
enlightened century, haye,found out
a new crime, asif. there had not been
enough before; and when any man
hesitates to load bis fellow creatures,
his sfellow-citizens, and fsreGlthers;
With this lately Invented sin, oyer
and above I'LL their other sins, you
cry ont that.he is a I'eaiiiff, a thistle,
a : 'hideous bag,' and a dead nlan.--
You write bis, epitaph, and Gnd a yer-l
dict of ftlO dc Sc upon his corpse.
1t seems, slso, that I have disap.i
pointed you and the Tribune, which
is painful. But what if The disap-s
hoipfmentis owing rot to my fault.
but to your stupidity 7 For here is
your, reasoning: \ tiied to destroy
British sloniaion 10, Ireland, Sbut I
decline to say; thai hall Of the Amer,
ican citizens are vile criminals; there
fore, there could. be no prueple in
my. struggle, with England: q
quote from your article in the lode
And the Tribune makes.
no scrnple TO say that if liberty for
Ireland and the Irish is sought In
the spirit evinced, and on the prin.i
ciples asoyad by the !. Citizen it, can
hardly be necessary to. say that the
effort will Be fruitiess, and the hopes
of its chsmpionsa mockery. Alas, for,
the. aspirations Of the oppressed and
exiIed, if their incitement to strug-
gle for liberty is The horrible desire
Of buying, selling, and lashing each
other I.conless that / can make
ne sense out of such language. Be-
is good, but a little logic
also would be no harm. Let US see
howit would apply in another case.
General Washington. the Father of
his Country saw no crime and no pee
cadillo in holding slaves, aId in na,
king them wofk on bis farm. Gen.
eral Washington wished TO possess,
snd. Gid possess till he died, and al
ways took good care Of aplantation:
stocked with negroes, not ia Ala
barna, ,,but,in Virginia. Maybe wish,
ed to possess more plantations; ether
wise he certainly never would have
offeredSS, ,50oforaIr Clifton s. Thos.-
r ~ ~ :. ksxxe 4l,sS f.,,..-[