Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-08-30
LETTER FROM NEW YORK.
I Correspondence Of the Richmond Euqu

q
at the Aston House. by an omnibus load of gen.
,lcmcn from Brooklyn. calling themselves Ash
lan,,ers. and the publication Of Judge Douglas
cectionecring document in llarpcrs Monthly
Magazine.
In the first case, Mr. Bolts considered that
the Ashlan,crs were sincere in their attcring
notice Of his presence and abilities, and that
they had really called upon him with the view
Of nominating him then and there, rs their can
didatc for the Presidency In this manifesto
ton on the part Of the Ashlanlers, he coud
only see their anxious desire to make him Pre-
,;dcnt and modcStly accepted their offering, by
declaring to them that public affairs at the pre-
sent time were all wrong, and that If he wa.
elected. he would put them to rights. GOOD
for Mr.. Bolts But the real truth Of the mat
ter was that the men in "buckram from tho
Ash banks Of Ashland, had no intention that
he should take their protestationS so seriously
In the last Presidential election, Fillmore
,ya, used As iccoy duck to catch the Know
Nothing and old federal vote of the South, by
which means they hoped to dctach two or three
States from the South while they thought to
obtain consolidated and united North for Ere
mont. Hence, while the Know Nothings Of
/ MARYLAND voted for Fillmore in good faith in
his own State, he was deserted by them in 4
body. ali of whom. almost TO man. on the day
..or election, voted for Fremont, giving him Il
majority of about 10000 in the State, notwith
standius the Democratic majority in this
CITY and vicinity amounted to about $4,000.
The Republicans, like wolves in sleeps cloth
( inc. including these .Ashlanders, are now cast
inr about ut the South for some man strong
enough to divide its electoral vote, while they
hone. rs they did before, to carry all the free
States, and thus run their man in. Ii is 4 we'll
known fact that in ls5G, they actually sent
Black Republican cmISsaricS to Virginia, Mary
land and to other points at the South, with mo.
ncy at command to clcctionccr for Fillmore,
with the hope Of splitting its vote. If South
crn Democrats or citizens of the South Of all
shades of politics. opposed to the supremacy OF
the observation-disclosures of Seward, arc true
To themselves this game will not be repeated.
The lahorcd political article supplied by Scna-
tor Douglas for lIarpcrS' Magazine, is nothing
more than an attempt To popularizc his theory
of Suuattcr Sovereignty. lie attempts so far
to modify and Gid the pill, as to make it pala,
table to the masses Of the people. That the
Iarpcr> love To make money, no one has ever
disputed Whether that end is reached by the
publication Of yiriouS and trashy novel. or the
history Of prostitution III New York, written
by Doctor Sanger, or by the publication o:
Bibles. Hymn Books or valuable, scientific and
commercial rcpublicationS, or by Abbott'S COIN
pilations or other works, original Or plagariscd,
it probably matters little. They are highly
respectable, liberal, bu>incSS-likc men. and
view things in business light There are four
brothers of them, and they have laborcd To-
gcther and built up the largest publication
house in America.
The family originally came from England and
settled on Long Island. near the village of New
town. The father and mother became the fol-
lowers of John Wesley, and we believe that a
majority, il no; AL the present members OF the
firm, bclor. To the Methodist church, and have
pcwS in the Il. Pauls new marble Methodist
cdlicc in Fourth Avenue. Socially, they are
all excellent men. The senior .Ia,ncS Harper,
cx.Know- Nothing MAJOR Of New York, is isnd
Of 4 good Joke. and cnlivcnS the company he
NAV associate with. 10y relating many Il laugh.
provoking anrcdo;c. John the next oldest, is
an excellent man, with Il clear head, active Ina
bits, and great business. tact. Fletcher. the
third brother. is u kind-hcartcl pleasant and
agreeable man: also laughs hearty at a good
joke, AMI i<, whcE not absent i'll Europe on bu-
sncsS, the talkn. man OF Tie concern with
authors, i,lc,, and outsiders in general WrS-
lev. the fourth. sc believe, * the youngest OF
the brothers. He is the local and active business
man of the firm, under whose supervision all
the various mechanical operations of the house
are carried on. lie is quick. Industrious and
Of few words, hnt has a mind that is rs keen a;
n brar The ''ym,rto' of brothers deserve
great credit for their success. They commenced
in humble, hut respectable spheres. The eldest
AS printers: and James, the eldest We are told,
in his younger life, worked many day pulling
at a hand.prcsS in Il iob-printing. office. From
printers they got to be publishers. and have
arrived at the head Of their business
They started their magazine, 1t is said, main
Is with the view Of having il rs an advertising
medium for their own publications. And in
order TO give it u large circulation as posi-
hlc they put lis sale at low figure, and now
boa>t of Il circulation of over 100000 The
low price at which il was published prevented
them for long time from paying anything
Of moment for original articles They were
mostly compiled by their editor, who frequent
IL failed to give credit. and on one occasion
they inserted Il copyrighted article from Put
MANS Magazine Mr.. Putnam threatened them
with a law suit, unless they made an amrhdt ho-
N"If'Ff, III lIIC I'Iill w Il pS'uIit
ration, which they complied with. This plagia-
risrn wchavc no doubt was committed without
their personal knowledge Of the fact. Henry }.
Raymond, Of the Times was their editor at
the time, or became 50 soon afterwards More
recently they pay for contributions from lead
inr authors, such a. Tiiackcray, Dickens, &c.
n well as for the services Of 4 few artistic and
descriptive sketches yet the great bulk of their
II ,,,pl
matter obtained from o1c,lbutcd writers at
low wages
We regret to see magazine which, from its
commencement has c>chcwed politics, admit to
its columns the discussion of the subject in
thepar,izin sense, in which Douglas has broach-
cd it.
Though unwilling ourselves to give credit to
such an inputatlon, there will be people found
uncharitablc enough To stlr,miSc that Mr. Doug
las, rather than issue his thoughts in 4 pamphlet
form at his own expense, paid the llarperS Il
round sum tn publish hi, paper in their maya
zine, and with IN understanding, perhaps. that
lac and his friends would purchase a hundred
thousand or more FOR gratuitous circulation at
flS per 100 copies.
Now, among the readers Of this publication
there are. no doubt, people Of all crccls in
politics, and among them thousand, Of Demo
Gratis. III NIL parts of the country, who do not
endorse Mr. Douglas theory Of sInattcr Sovcr,
eighty. With this new phase III a popular
magazine literature, many persons will feel dis
satisfied because probably, its proprictors will
not likely insert reply 10 it.
The Mc>-r>. llarpcrS, no doubt, ALSO hoped
( under the excitement likely to be produced by
the article, TO increase the circulation Of their
! periodical With this view, they have copy
rrichtcd 1t. 50 rs to exclude it from the columns
Of the newspaper press, and compel people
who wish To read it To purchase the magazine
or obtain it from the hands Of Mr.. Douglas
friends grai,lito,lsly. For fear that the Herald
with ITS usual enterprise, would publish it.
they warned it in advance not 10 do so, under
the penalties of copyright violation, &c.
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