National Republican., 1875-09-13
CARELESS EDITING.

In daily journal where the twenty
fours ofeach day are all too short to collect,
prepare, arrange, digest and comment upon
the matter that forms next days issue, it is
: not to be wondered at that inaccuracies Of
quotations, dates, &C., should occasionally
occur. The excuses of "pressure" and
'1ack of time" that may be pleaded here
do not obtain in monthly magazine. Its
articles are usual y received months before
they are published, and it is trifing with
the public to allow them to appear filed
with blunders.
In scri6ner's Monthly for September the
opening article is a fulsome laudation of
Chicago, illustrated by numerous cuts of
prominent men and buildings in that city.
On page 53S we read: GAS an illustration
'of how things are done in Chicago, we
'fgive the Pacific Hotel before the fire, that
'the reader may compare that which was
'then considered mammoth affair with
'the new Pacific Hotel that has succeeded"
The drawing referred to is omitted, so that
the reader has to reckon" "guess," or
'fmagine" Gas the case may beg what it
would nave looked like.
This blunder, though, is of small account
compared with the historical misstatements
contained in the article in the same issue
entitled "How the Declaration was Saved"
The.writer should have stopped with Mr..
Pleasonton's letter. He has followed up
that contribution to history with some Of
his own that are rather surprising. For
instance, he says Up. $3.50:
"No stranger ever thought of visiting Wash
ington without making pilgrimage to see the
Declaration of Independence and Washington's
commission, which were removed from the
State Department. after many years to the
Patent Office, and are now In the Smithsonian
Building"
The facts of locality are exactly reversed.
They tDtre In the Smithsonian building
once, but they are now in the Patent Office,
and have been for nine or ten years at
least. If our recollection Is correct, they
were put into the Smithsonian during the
temporary occupation Of the Patent Office
by troops during the late war.
We learn from this same article that
"Mr. Pleasonton was the granddaughter of
Caesar Rodney, of Delaware, one of the
"signers of the Declaration, and the COM
mander of that celebrated troop, The
"Blue Hens Chickens which did such
" service during the Revolution that when
1.-the people of Delaware wished to send
"Mr. Rodney to the Senate. Gen. Wash
"ington wrote him an autograph letter
"begging him not to accept the nomina-
&" "tion, as he could do so much more eff
"cient service at the head of his troops"
Caesar Rodney was lone of the signers."
and he may have been grand-uncle to Mr..
Pleasonton. Every other statement in the
paragraph is incorrect. Caesar Rodney
was brigadier general of militia. The
''troop" may have been part of his COM
mand; but as the time of his brigade ex-
pired, and it went out of service prior to
February 18, 1877, it could not have done
service "during the Revolution. Besides,
we believe the title of "Blue Hens
Chickens" was not applied till later
period of the Revolution, and then to the
Delaware troops generally. THE people
of Delaware" may have wished to send
Mr.. Rodney to the Senate" during the
Revolution, but there was no Senate in the
Continental Congress, and consequently
none for the people of Delaware to send
Mr.. Rodney to. And so General Wash
ington did not" write him can autograph
"letter begging him not to accept the
nomination." &c.
On the 18th of February, 1777, however.
General Washington did write letter to
General Rodney, In which, after saying
I" Lord Stirling did me the favor Of sending
" to me your letter to him mentioning your
cheerfulness to continue in service, though
"your brigade had returned home, and
" waiting my determination on that head, |"
he compliments and thanks him for what
he had already done, and he thus concludes
"Circumstanced as you are, see no neces-
sity of OBTAINING you longer from your family
and affairs, which, no doubt, demand your
presence and attention"
So Rodney went home to become Judge
of the Supreme Court of Delaware, Presi-
| dent of the State, delegate to the Cont
mental Congress in 1888, and to render in
all these positions firm aid and support to
| the American cause.
The writer in "Scribnsr's" has wholly
confused the transaction, as will be seen.
Instead of Washington's begging Rodney
to remain at the head of his troops, rather
than accept civil position, Rodney, whose
brigade had returned home, offered his
services in a military capacity to Washing
| ton, who declined with thanks" and did
not "detain him from accepting sundry
| civil positions. Such historical inaccuracy
Is inexcusable in magazine of "Seri6nsr's"
| pretensioDs.
The same number affords a curious in
stance of maladroitness in juxtiposition.
In DR.. Hollands "Topics of the Time, I"
the first article is on Mr.. Beecher, taking
the ultra Plymouth view of that much dis
cussed man. By some comicsl fatuity this
is followed by one on "The Jury System, "
in which occurs this sentence:
CATER one has picked out the three best
men on jury he has a better jury than In the
nine which are left"
Which is just what Tilton thinks, no
doubt, though why an advocate of Beecher
should say so is not quite clear"
EDITORIAL COMMENTS.
"Mac," you cannot inyeigle US into the con-
| bTJci