Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-05-20

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you for publication. | do this in the
hope that partisan bitterness and SLAM
der like this may not be permitted to
take a place 10 the history of the coun-
try to be read by our children, with
out at least a fitting protest from au
impartial press.
| am able to assert advisedly that
Mr.. Bryant never wrote a word or
saw a line of this volume, and in point
of fact it could have been as truth
fully published in the name Of Hume
or Herodotus,
Very respectfully,
o. B. POTTER.
New York May14. 1881.
20 LAFAYETTE PLACE,
New YORK, May II, 1881.
Charles Scribner'e Sons, 743 and 745
Broadway, New York;
GENTLEMEN-After careful examine
tionI have been constrained to return to
you the fourth volume of Bryant's His
tory of the United States. 1t is due to
YOU that / state the reason.
| am not willing to contribute in the
least degree to give currency to q volume
so full Of misstatements and false and SLAM
derous imputations against the whole peo-
pie OF the southern states, of this and for
mer generations, and against eminent men
of our own section whose names and fame
are cherished with affection and patriotic
pride by a majority Of their countrymen
Il trust not to be lesseped bythis vol
ume.
1t seems to me incredible that a house
Of the high standing hitherto accorded to
you as publishers could have given atten-
ton to the contents of this volume before
its publ alton.
Idesire especially to call your attention
TO the following extracts
OF the people of the southern states
whose blood and treasure was poured out
rs freely for the maintenance of the ma
tional union as that of the north from its
formation to the civil war, this volume
says:
They undoubtedly accepted the union
at its formation for the common good.
But it soon became their fixed policy that
the moment the union was diverted from
the support of slavery as its chief function
and they, therefore, ceased to be the ruiz
ing class, its mission was fulfilled, and
there was an end Of it.--Pages 435 and
436.
One Of our leading national gener-
ais in the late civil war, than whom
no one was more beloved by the pat
riotic soldiery of the north who serv-
ed under him and knew him best, it
says:
McOlellan's attempt to throw the re-
sponsibility upon th~egovernment, because
il declined to supply him with 1.-THE men
he asked for, was meant to hide an I'M
willing service, or q confession of his in
capacity TO cope with the enemy unless he
outnumbered them at least three to one
Page 400.
And again, not content with the
charge Of cowardice and treason, it
continues;
M'CLELLAN's D%IsLoYALTY.
In plain terms the difference between
the president and the general was that
Mr.. Lincoln was determined to suppress
the rebellion and bring the rebelI to
terms, while Mcclellan, having the army
in his hands, was determined to repel an
invasion of these states still remaining in
the union, but otherwise to let the rebels
alone that they might bring the federal
government to terms.
There seems no other explanation of
that extraordinary release of Lee. Had
Andrew Jackson been president instead of
Abraham Lincoln, the visit to Antietam
would have been signalized by the imme-
date arrest of the general commanding
possibly by his being brought out from his
tent to face a file of soldiers with loaded
muskets, without the formality of a court
martial. But Mr.. Lincoln was a civilian,
not a soldier; he was not sure how far he
could sustain himself, nor how far the
country would sustain him in the swift
judgment of martial law; he relied rath-
Grand herein is the key to what some
times seemed a perilous hesitation in his
policy, so often alarming and almost exas-
perating the ardent loyalists Of the north
he relied rather upon the slower prog
ress of events to justify with the people
his tardier but, when it was pronounced,
not less decisive judgment.-Pages sos
and 506.
Concerning the election in the state
of New York in the autumn of 1862
and the governor elected, it says:
The inevitable result, however, was
again for the democratic party, in many
places, especially in New York, where the
governor elected was one of those who
were willing to do anything except take
up arm to aid in the subsection of the
northern people to southern rule.-Page
5l3.
And further, in reference to the
riots:
Those riots, if not primarily an out
break of the rebellion, were meant to be
used as an efficient aid to it at the north.
From the steps of the City ball in New
York the governor of the state (Horatio
SEYMOUR addressed a crowd OF %rufians,
bent upon slaughter and robbery, as my
friends the leading opponents of the war
sat-there is good reason for belicving-in
secret conclave during the first two days
to devise measures not to suppress the
mobs, but to guide them into revolution,
and their project was only relinquished
when it became evident that the thieves
and the Irish asssssins of helpless negroes
were beyond control and must be left to
be dealt with by the military and the po-
lice.-Page $50.
The democratic party Of the coun-
try, which shed its blood at least in
equal measury with any other for the
maintenance of the union during the
civil war, is thus charged withtreason
to the union and flag:
The democratic convention at Chicago
in August declared the war a failure, and
nominated for the presidency the general
McLlellan-on whom they had relied 50
confidently to make it so.-Page 6S7,
l cannot believe there is any con-
siderable portion Of this community,
or Of the people of the United States,
who will knowingly aid in publishing
or circulating statements like those
above quoted as part Of the history Of
their country under the honored name
of BRYANT after he has passed away