The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-07-11

..ssr
"WEDNESDAY JUI,5 1l, 1877 ls'' 3
General Mahone's Letter on the Public
I Debt.
ii, the Dispatch OF Monday we said:
:. when we penncd the little article which
annearcd in saturdays Dispatch upon the
anbiect OF the PUBLIC debt we bad not q sus.
picion that General Malone was about to
make known his.views upon that subject.
But SO 1t happened. In Saturdays Whsg
he gives his views at length. 5
In reply to this plain statement Of fact
the Whig OF yesterday says: Il
we bowed in awe and envy OF the pre-
science and luck and versatility OK the DIS
patch.
I,ut-and this qualifying and destroying
word never conveyed more meaning tnan
here.-there is an explanation The I'm.
!, nacuIate new spaper that never retracts, ana
that is too good to support General Malone,
has been guilty Of q reservation, or q pre-
: varication, or something else, which we
cannot withhold from the public. Ii seems
like pity to destroy SO fair fabric OF pro-
nhecy and sell-sufficieacy, but then the SYM
nathy O. the audience is always against the
! iuegier, aud having caught the trick we are
bound to tell.
We state, then, as q fact, and defy contra
1st. That a copy OF General Mahone's let
Ter was sent to the Dispatch on Friday
evening, the evening before that paper
9 happened" to fall upon new financial
line, and chad not suspicion thai General
Malone was about to make known MS
views"
I'd. That the copy did not rniscarry, but
reached the Dispatch, and bad been in
spected by the conductors OF tnat paper
eight hours before the forms went to press
with the "little article - of Saturday MORN
ing. ~.
General Mahone's letter was In the ms
rafch Office, in the hands Of its editors, by
half.past 8 o'clocl; on the evening OF Friday,
and Il was on the following morning that
the editor perpetrated his curious coIncl-
dence upon the public. Very curious, in
deed!
Perhaps the expression "penned" will
now assume some Importance, because on
that point proof will be hard to adduce.
But we charge the Dispatch with piece OF
ingenious disingenuousness which jesuit
would hardly undertake to defend.
{ 1t mortifies us to think that even an enc
my should suspect us Of ga reservation
or a preyarication, or a something else."
We assert, then, that the statement which
we first made is literally and exactly true
is the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth. The article on the subject OF the
public debt was written by Mr. DRINKARD
on Friday, put in type, and the proof
sheet was read by him in the after
noon. Before 7 O'Clock he went to his
home, in the western part OF !. the
city, as his custom is, and remained
there all night. He never baG the slightest
intimation given to him from any person
that General MALONE was about to publish
a letter OF the subject Of the public debt.
The very first that he knew OF the matter
was when he reached the Dispatch office
the next morning. These facts could be
proved, if it were necessary to prove them,
by the foreman OF the Office, the assistant
foreman, the printers who set up the arti-
Gle, and by MIR. CHEsTERMAN, who was at
the Office at night.
1t viii be seen at once that the Wing has
done US the grossest injustice. Its state
ment that copy OF General MAHoNE's
letter was sent to this Office on Friday night
is true, but its differences are not. The
reader will notice that the Wing is itself
guilty of that sort Of prevarication which
it Is so ready, to charge upon us. 1t says
that General MAHoNE's letter was inspected
by the g conductors 2 Of the Dispatch eight
hours before the forms went to press. DIR.
CHEsTERMAN saw the letter. Bat the Wing
knows well that he is in no such sense as
the Wings word would lead the public to
suppose one OF the." conductors = OF this
paper. He never writes editorials for 1t,
and has nothing in the world to do with
the " conduct - or course OF the paper.
Not that he is not a most worthy and COM
petent gentleman, but simply because the
Dispatch has now the same editors which c!
1t had before he came to the office. The
editorial was in type many hours before
ever Mr.. CHEsTERMAN saw General MA
HOMES letter. ~ o15a ln ~.
We conclude, as we commenced, with the
ayerment that our first statement was the
whole truth. When we penned the little
article which appeared in Saturdays Dis
patch upon the subject OF the public debt,
we had mot suspicion that General MA
HONE. was about to make known his views
upon that subject" Neither the Wing,
nor anybody else, will ever hear OF any at
tempt at reservations OF presentations on
our part. we have no occasion to use, any
thing but the plain truth.
i II, as the Wing says, there is an incon.
sistency between the present position %
the Dispatch upon the public debt and its
position in other days on the same subject,
that Inconsistency should be charged upon
the present writer. ~. 81
The Wing win Of course set us right with
its readers.
But il we are not greatly mistaken land
we have none Of its files to refer to6 up to
within three weeks ago our contemporary
was very adverse to any I" resdj ustment' y
of the debt, and upon the side Of the ques-
ton directly opposite to that OF General
Malone! It even went so far as TO say that
it supposed all OF the candidates for Gov
ernor calling, them by nance stood upon ITS
platform, which was the funding bill u
we are mistaken in this, OF course we will
stand corrected. - PETERSBURG Post,