Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-03-04
a Strange, Wild, Weird, Thrilling,
and Tragic Story
The First Chapter OF the Revelations
ofSt. James h McBIeehen.
Wromth Press Of Tuadsy.l
TO ARCHIBALD ". cAnpBE1L, ESQ.

n
SIR In my former article promised you
that would disclose to the public the sub
ject of private conversation which took
place between you and myself at your Of
fee several months ago, aud at your re-
quest. Ishouldinot have thought of doing
this had you not in mostt l-natnred, un-s
truthful and unwarrantable article, first
broken the seal of editorial confidence. By
SO doing yon have left me at liberty to
adopt my own means Of redress, and Ishall
not hesitate as to my choice.
cannot now recollect theiprecise dates;
but am certain that my discontinuance of
your paper occurred at least two months
after the writing Of the anti-D Democratic ar
ticle heretofore referred to, which would
render IL improbable that your rejection of
that article had any connection with the
discontinuance of the paper. One of your
friends assigned to your partner the true
reason on or about the time, viz that the
paper was Utoo much abolition" But this,
/ suppose you could not appreciate, mas
much, as 10 the one ideaEism of your mental
vision, Abolition, was all the world to you;
aud you could not readily conceive how it
could be anything other than all the world
to everybody else. Hence your proneness
to look for the real motive in something
else. On this score feel disposed to make
some allowance for you.
The conversation above alluded to took
place should say about a month after the
discontinuance of your paper. L do not
wish to misstate the facts, and would viii.
lingly stand corrected. At that time / re.
ceiyed note from you through the Post.
Office, requesting me to call at your Office
Being then at the Postofice, i did SO inn
mediately. On entering your Office you
received me very courteously, and after
the ordinary preliminaries you addressed
me in effect as follows: Mr.. McMechen,
the reason why / wished to see you was
to inquire of you why you had separ-
ated yourself from us?-has any one
connected with the Office given yon any
cause of offense, or in any manner dis
pleased your thought it possible that
such might be the case. have beenimuch
pleased with the general tone of your
Communications, and particularly with GER
tain articles'-which he nameJ-stI thiuk
they eVinced a great deal of nerve" Not
word was said about the anti-D Democrat
iC or any other rejected article; and least
of all was anything said about my having
been excluded from your columns Indeed
l afterwards sent an article to the InteLh
geNcer for publication, which was inserted
Ian article relating to certain mental
disorder which was prevalent about the
time, and went under the name of the Gsus-
picious disease disease with which you
yourself was supposed to be affected. You
published it; and never entertained the
slightest doubt thatI conld have had any
reasonable number of articles inserted in
your columns provided they had fully
chimed in with your fayorite policy of alb
tolitionizing the country. 1t may be that
at times you felt me to be rather anfncum-
brauce to you, and 1 do not wonder at it.
for to tell you the truth, / meant to be so.
saw from the first the direction in which
You were drifting, and like an honest ma.
triot which felt that was, L considered
it my duty to do everything in. my power TO
restrain and control you.
Now, sir you know something that you
only suspected before; and this explains
yonr restiveness under the cordsswhich /
endeayored to throw about you. But see
ing that you were determined to 20 to the
dogs yourself, and to carry the country
with you, if possible, despairiug of being
able any longer to exert Wholesome re-
straining influence over you, ami not
choosing to fly atthe tail of your kite, L
concluded quietly to withdraw myself; and
to have no further connection with You
whatever. Aud would be willing to
make oath to every word of the above if /
were on my dying bed. Some persons
think that am affected with the cdcoethes
ScTf6eRdi. Perhaps / am; and SO are Won.
But my heart tells me that do not recol-
lect single article that I have written for
your paper, or any other, that was not
prompted by the ruling motive of serving
my country or my race. may mistake as
to the means, but claim uprightness as TO
the motive.
now return to the conversation in your
Office. Although Ihave had but little per.
sonal Intercourse with you, yet know you
probably as well ns any man in Wheeling.
have studied you in your paper. L knew
you to be willy, cunning, intriguing man !:
and therefore WhenI entered your office I
was on my guard. IsaR at once, under
all your complaisance, an intention to in
veigle me into confession of some private
grief, OF into discussion fprinciples that
would justify you, in crisis like this, in
charging me, as you have done, with Inc
consistency, and change of PLATFORM
Hence told you frankly that had nopri-
vate griefs that objected to your ;pOiiev,
or rather to your hdOing ne policy at ali
that you were evidently sailing towards
one point, white you declared that Won
were aiming at another. cited you to
the fact that contrary to the Chicago plat.
iorni the Eresldeuts Inaugural, tho Grit.
teuden resolutions, and Stewards letter to
the Foreign OoAFts, you were sustaining
the party In power in uwise, impolitic aud
unconstitutional acts, such as abolishinR
slavery in the. District of Columbia, the
act of Confsoation, and the exclusion
of slavery from the United States
Territories. demonstrated with YOU
against the policy, then evidently develop.
ing itself, of abandoning the Legitimate
prosecution of the war for the restoration
of the Union, and carrying it on for the ex-
termination of slavery, Aud thinkIipro.
tested strongly against the apparent leVity
speak of the Constitution. u spoke 70 Won
OF your seeming surrender to the policy of
Wendell Phillips. l asked yon Whysyon
had no word of condemnation for him. al
though he was as much Of \ disunionist as
Jet. Davis himself. wished to know