The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-10-30

s~~AsSsskst OSSOUVa VIII AOVVe
10 tie Editor Of Ne Ghlpeper Oss~u~s
In your piper Of yesterday I and the
following article, by witch / am invited,
IL not challenged, 70 prefer my own com.
plants, II any ] have TO make, Tor snysin-
justice you may have done me, Of which
now take occasion to avail myself. You
say: lIf.y!s
1--WE have received q communication
from A. M. Lawson In relation to quota
ton we made in our last issue from the
Paterson, N. j., speech Of the Hon. John
N. Bolts. II Mr.. Bolts thinks we have
done him injustice, he - the proper one to
call us TO On account, and not Mr.. Lawson.
We therefore decline to publish it,"
During my absence from the State one
or moro articles appeared in your paper
which did me such fragrant wrong that my
friends (of whom have q few left south Of
the Potomac) prepared letter for your
paper, exposing this injustice without my
knowledge, which was adopted and signed
by an inmate Of my family, so that there
| should be responsible name to the COM
munication; and he delivered it las am
informed) to you, with request that you
would publish It. This you promised to
do, and after it was set up in type, as
learn upon the advise Of some third party,
you forgot the obligation Of your promise,
and substituted for the communication the
article quoted above, intimating privately
that was myself the author ofthe commu-
nication, than which nothing could Rave
been more unfounded or untrue.
For the last eight or ten months the papers
of this State have been filed with the foul
est Misrepresentation of my opinions and
speeches that have ever characterized a
llcentious press to all of which have sub
mitted because had no means Of redress
and no channel of communication through
which | could defend myself. You were
kind enough once to say to me that the
columns Of your paper were open to me if
desired to set myself right but as yours
was only weekly ISSUE, could not avail
myself Of your offer, because these mis-
representations were so numerous itwould
have occupied all of my time and all of
your paper to have kept up with the false
hoods as fast as they were circulated.
therefore determined to await that great
arbiter and vindcator of truth, "1sme," to
relieve my good name from all aspcrsions !;
but as you have since thought fit to join
the pack in their efforts to hunt me down,
and / was, as it were, in spirit Of def
ance, challenged to state the ground Of my
complaint, | will cndeavor to make it
good and it is no more difficult task to
answer all the other charges that have
been preferred against me by others than
it is to answer this preferred by you if the
same opportunity were presented to me.
In the speech delivered by me at Pater-
son, N. j., l said: "My sympathies were
with the Union and the Union army. My
sympathies were also with the dcluded, de-
ceived, and cheated men of my own State !;
but not one particle of sympathy did feel
for the rebellion or those who had brought
1t on. sympathized with the Union party
and with the Union army because I .fel and
kpe,o that my oarn Liberties and the liberties of
those lrho SURROUNDED me-the liberties of the
,rhole co,mtry-depended on the success Of the
Union army; and / may say with truth
that | never did hear, during the whole
rebellion, Of Union victory that did not
rejoice, and never heard of Union de-
feat that did not mourn over it, because
k,,ep that eUery success OF the rebel army
only prolonged the ,car and increased the suf-
ferings Of the people of tie South." This,
with some unimportant alteration of the
verbiage, is precisely what / said; this is
precisely what was reported to have said !;
and this is precisely what you read of my
speech, if you read it all and if you did
not, you should have done so before you
condemned it.
And now let us see what an unfair and
ungcnerous use you made of, this para
L 81
of my kindness, sympathy, and humane
feeling for the suffering people Of the
southern country. You took four lines
from the middle of this paragraph, care
fully emitting all that preceded and follow
ed, and gave it to your readers in the fol-
lowing form:
"Hear what John NJ. Bolts says in his
Paterson, n. j., speech last week:
81 may say with truth that never did
hear, dusing that whole rebellion, Of a
Union victory that l did not rejoice, and l
never heard of Union defeat that did
not mourn over it,"
awe belive that Mr.. Bolts did rejoice at
every Union victory; that he did mourn at
every Union defeat and that although he
protested neutrality, his true feelings to-
until after the surrender"
Mr.. Stofer,-It would be doing too much
injustice to any man of sound mind, no
matter how obtuSe his intellect, to sup
pose he could be insensible to the differ
ence in the presentation of what did say,
and of what you have furnished to your
readers Of what | said. To have crushed
the bitterest and yilest enemy had upon
earth would have suffered death before
l would have done unto him as you have
done unto me. cannot say you have been
guilty towards me of a SatggeSti0 talsi, but
you cannot deny that you have been guilty
of suppreSSio uri that was calculated,
if not designed, to do me great wrong and
injustice, and to increase the prejudice OF
the southern country still more against one
for whom you have, from our first acquaint-
ance up to that moment, protested warm
and sincere friendship; and if it had come
from portion Of the Richmond, Norfolk,
Petersburg, or some other presses that |
might name, that have become habituated
to SANDER, defamation, and scurrility of my
political character, it would have created
neither surprise nor modification; but
coming from you land you may esteem it
as compliment when l say it), it created
both.
You have done wrong and an injustice
to friend who was honest and sincere in
his friendship for you, and would have
taken pleasure, as you have reason to know,
in assisting you in any emergency; and it
is this that has excited my surprise and
mortified nv sensibilities. Let me advise