The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-07-07
4 card .ro,n .Dr. wilson.
TFor the Bispstch.1

i
for seyeral weeks past in connection WIFI
certain charges. which, because of their in
dpfiniteness. took shape and grew, both II
number and gravity, as they passed IRON
month to mouth. My preference would bt
fo bear Instrumentation in silence, ant
trnst for nv yindication to time and calm re
| lection. but the matter has assumed such Q
phase that it is due to myself and to the
nuhlic that | should now speak. A full pre-
septation of the whole case, quoting oil
length all documents hitherto published,
would be too tiresome for any reader.
I therefore submit briefly the following
OUTLINE OF FACTS.
| On the evening of June 10th delivered
an address at the commencement Of Roanoke
Female College. Leaving DanVille at A.
| NJ. next day / returned to Richmond The
Danville Times of the goth, as copied by the
Richmond Wing of the Dist, in connection
| with letter from its own correspondent.
| contained a violent assault on my address.
At our regular pastors meeting Oh Mon
day morning l submitted@my manuscript to
the ministers assembled simply to show
| them that bad been either misunderstood
or misinterpreted. or their own motion.
and against my judgment, they prepared and
| ing the charges.
TO this card the Times replied in its issue
of the 9th, retrscted nothing, but belstered
its former statements by certificate signed
| by some of the persons who heard the ad-
dress. and added an insinuation that had
read here an address different from the one
there delivered. Thcreupon two well-known
gentlemen took my manuscript to Danvllle
10 ascertain the truth or falsity of this covert
charge. They on the I'd Of July called to-
petber q number Of the citizens Of Danville,
Including as many signcrs of the aboYe-men-
ton certificate as would attend, and after
full conference in open meeting returned
with certificates and a report which VIII be
presently introduced.
THE MAIN CHARGE
has never been distinctly presented, but is
involved in such phrases rs the following,
from the Danville Times of the goth and
9th:
"Thc address, filled as it was with indeli.
cate illusions and double cntendres. cast
damper," &c. His whole speech, being
filed from beginning to end with smutty re-
marks, precludea," &c. can address
which should cause the ladies Of Danyille to
hang their heads in shame and shock the sem
sibilities of every man in the hail."
These criticisms q were sustained on the
9th by certificate of some OF the persons
who heard the address, who care of the
oniniou that the statements with regard to it
made by the editor of the Times IN It's issue
of the 10th are just and true"
That some might take words used and de-
velop obscene interpretations is not impossl-
hlp that it has been done | exceedingly re-
sret but that any expression of mine was
SO intended l cmphaticaly deny.
The charge is comprehensive. To estab.
lisb II. the specifications must be clear ana
numerous. Not one have yet seen. But
waving this right, l here introduce SELL
tonce from the card of Drs. j. l.. Burrows,
! r letter. and eight other ministers
uResoLred, That having carefully con-
sidered the contents OF the address, we are
unanimously of the opinion that it contains
no expression obscene or indellate."
7 leave the public to decide whether per-
cons VINO heard the address but ohce, amid
fine excitement of the occasion, are more
connetent and reliable for the point at issue
than the Christian gentlemen and scholars
who examined it sentence by sentence. The
card of these ministers was drawn up on
tncir own motion, by one OF themselves,
.ioned and published without any soclta-
ton on my part. va, r ~.
Times SAYS: " We haze taken the pans
TO procure The signatures of large mum
her of persons, &C." Italics mine]. Who
wrote this certificate, and by what repre-
sentatjons. or other 1'pains," were sigma
lures obtained!
Rnt the Times itself has great conf
dence in the purity and integrity ot the
ministers who signed the document above
Quoted. and cannot believe it is their inten-
ton to whitewash DR.. Wilson,
1t is. therefore, driven to
sECoSn CHARGE.
This, though specific enough, Is presented
as an insinmlion: alt thus appears that Or.
Wilson seeks to screen himself by
submitting manuscript purportIng
to be the true and genuine article"
This alone, of all that has been charged
against me, is capable of 4 direct answer.
Here il is The gentlemen who undertook
TO identify my manuscript, returned, with
number Of certificates subStantiatlng the FOL
lowing report:
"The object of our trip to Danville was
simply to ascertain the identity oil the adj
dress. The result of our investigation Is
this: That, beyond all question, the address
read before the ministers who signed the
card was the address delivered by Or. WILL
son before the Roanoke Female College.
"Sirned, ALEXANDER II. SANDS,
j. l.. BURROWS"
So. instead of trying to screen myself, |
alone have set On foot every Investigation OF
the matter yet had.
A CHANGE OF FRONT
is couched in the following question from
the Times Of the 9th:
elbow do they know that he read it to
them as he delivered it here, with all his dis
gushing actions I?
This. considered in itself, and in the
late date at which it was put forth, is so eyi.
IDENTITY slbterfuge framed to cover retreat
from an untenable position, that it deserves
no further answer than the statement which
all who know me will appreciate, that con-
fined myself to a hastiywritten manuscript,
and could not gesticulate SO much OF so
freely as is my wont.
SOME FURTHER FACTS
deserve to be mentioned and weighed in con-
ncction with the above. Neither the corre-
spoudent of the Wing nor the editor OF the
Times has erer heard or read my address !!
DR.. Burrows offered to read my manuscript
| TO the editor Of the Times, or to allow him
to read 1t, but he declined.
No COPY of the Danville Times has been
sent direct to me.
The address was applauded repeatedly
during its delivery and at its close, and no
sign of disapprobation reached me. Nor
until the next day did harsh criticisms begin
to justify themselves By growing as they
spread. r
Much has been said of the Granville
church" not sustaining and all denomina'
| lions condemning my address. In my poor