The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-04-24
he Malone Early Correspondence


Thoro onneared i'm the news columns OF
the New York Sun yesterday synopsis OF
tho correspondence between General JuDai
A EarIy and General William Malone,
casual reference to which was recently made
in the american. The correspondence IN
the Sun is published under the caption
.sTbe Malone. Early Fight-How the Lead.
or OF the Rea6juslers Escaped from Duel.
MANY of the readers Of the American OOih
in virginia and Maryland are acquainted
With the facts OF tie case. Tor IL was one
~ the conditions OF the settlement wblcn
General Early eXacted that none OF lDe
correspondence was TO be destroyed, Dut
that he was to retain possession oil II, wlte
tbc Ijcbt Of using it at his discretion.
OF This right the General avalled MN
self without much reserve, when his lrlends
called on him, and thus the facts ale pretty
well understood in Maryland and virginia.
For the benefit of such as may not nave
heard Them. they may be condensed a. iol-
lows: Shortly after the war closed blogra-
pby OF General Mahone appeared IN Inc
historical Magazine. written by General
DE Peystcr. which purp0rted 10 baye been
prepared upon information furnished by
Malone and TO have been supervised by
him. II was very laudalory OF Malone, and
stated, among other things. that no other
man in the ranks Of The COufederacy did
20 much damage 10 the North a "litile
Mahone.v and that she exercised an influ-
ence in no degree infCriOrtOthat II Stonewall
Jackson" II was not merely laudatory to
Malone, however, but depIeclaiory TO other
Confede ate officers. and especially General
Early. General Early Is considered very
intractablc and eXactng person, and, when
aggrieyed, hard to manage. lie wrote 10
General Malone polite note, ealing Ms
attention 10 the specific errors that the
biography contained, and asked II he was
responsible for the language It contained.
To TINS Malone returned no answer lhen
Early arose and wrote another letter, OF a
blistering nature. To this, some weeks
later. General Malone wrote an eyasiye an
swer, and sent it by cOlored servant.
ThereupOn General Early wrote letter,
the only possible answer 10 which, under
the bloody aud wicked Virginia code, should
have been challenge. General Malone very
wisely holding the code in contempt, ana re-
fusing to be bound by It's murderou-, f0oliSh,
and dangerous preceptS, ana not senn q
challenge. Rumors 81 the correspondence
pervaded society. The friends OF BON par
| ties were DESTROYS that the affair should DE
amicabIy adjusted. General Bradley L. Jonn'
son and Senator Withers Vcntured TO open
negotiations by which settlement could
| he made. The agreement was that General
Malone should at his own expense procure
the republication Of the De Peyster bio
grapby, with the Objectionable passages
stricken out, and accompanied by
letter from Malone, to be published
herewith, acknow Lodging that there wer,
errors in the first edition. Genera
Malone sent copy Of this revised
biography to Early, accompanied by
a letter OF explanation. General Early then
withdrew" the letters that he had writer
TO Malone, with the understanding thai
they were not to be destroyed, but retained
As above mentioned. The correspondence
of course, is cOuched in the diction OF tD'
code so falsely called "the Code OF Honor
II rests upon the fundamental error that ih'
insulting letters OF Early affixed a stain upOr
the character of Malone, which could only
be washed out by the blood OF Early
There is no need to give the exact Ian
guage Of the letters. Even the cOrrospord
ence published in the Sun very indciousll
leaves out the vindictive and angry letter
of Early, and gives only The first one
which was polte-and the last one. whicl
was accepted as satisfactory" Genera
MahOne's explanatory letter, which wa
also given, is perfectly polite, and ever
thanks General Early for calling his alten
ton TO the errors OF his biography and Civ
Ing him an opportunity OF correcting them
General Malone has thus placed himself OF
record as opposed to the duelo; and whel
he used scathing language to senator III
and Senator VOOl hees, it is not TO be sur
posed that he intended even remotely 1
suggest an appeal to the code.