Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-03-19
SIR. XenabIe TO Nr. CheaihaIn.
y HE Editor OF The DisDafch


Much practice seems to have given
Mr.. Cheatham a proficiency in the use
of vituperative language, which have
no desire to emulate; but one who is
so ready. upon slight grounds. to charge
others with falsehood should have a
very scrupulous regard for exact accu-
racy in his own statements.
After he wrongfully charged me with
falsehood addressed letters of inquiry
to several prominent gentlemen in
Prince Edward, where he formerly
lived. One replies &" | saw your ar
ticle in the Dispatch, and think you
have sure ground to stand on when You
charge Mr.. Cheatham with aililiating
with the Readjusters." Another says;
A" He started out with the Read busters,
but finally fell out with both parties,
using this language, | believe both
parties are dogs, and afterwards ceased
voting altogether"
A member Of the church (Prospect,
of which Mr.. Cheatham was pastor,
says "He voted for the Hancock
electors, though he tcas at first Re-
| ddjHsfer."
Again Mr.. Cheatham misrepresents
facts when he says that | made per-
sonal attack upon him in order to
counteract my (hisl efforts in behalf Of
the great cause Of temperance, and
asks: lis this to be the mannJr Of
conducting this discussion on the rar,
of the friends IF the liguOr traHc ? "
Utalics mine.) lie knows that in M
first article expressly avowed my az
proyal of local-option law, and that
in my second | put myself upon the
record as a sincere friend to the cause
of temperance-so much u friend that
|. purely from a sense Of duty to this
good cause, at great sacrifice OF my
own feelings. entered upon this contro-
yersy, which has been exceedingly dis
tasteful to me from the first, my only
motive being to prevent, as far as | WAS
able, his prejudicing, by his intempe-
rate utterances, this great cause, in
which every good citizen, and ospe-
cially every true Christian, must feel a
deep interest.
And again, in the next to the last
paragraph Of his article, too wary TO
assert it, he attempts by implication to
charge me with calling him " fraud. -
fool" crank" and with being in
league with the " liquor traffic in
their contest with the temperance
men,"
Again lie stands self-convicted of ia
sincerity when, speaking Of his article
in the Wing, he says: "This article
may have accorded with the views of
the Wig, or it may not ; have never
known much about the Whig." II be
was so unsophisticated as no would
have US believe, is itnot passing strange
that be could have chosen by mere in
tuition to send his article to the Wig,
a paper in which Z" | (hc) never read as
much as q column in my (his) life, "
when the Wing was the only news
paper in Richmond which would have
published that article at the time:
And finally, he says the character OF
the Religious Herald and the Christian
Adrocate is such as to " disprove the
statement" that an article published IN
one of them was marked by much
bitterness OF expression"
Surely the editors Of neither Of these
excellent papers-men whom all honor
as heightened Christian gentlemen
will ever claim that they have esta5-
lished as their rule the absurdity of re-
fusing publication to a contribution I'M
less the writer's diction is faultless
model of chaste elegance.
Measured by standard which would
make Mr. Chestham's recent articles IL
the Dispatch gentlemanly and refined
in style, the one in question may no
have been rery bitter, but men Of goot
breeding use very different standard
from such a one as that. Certainly
several papers felt called upon to pro
test against the language of that article
The Lynchburg News gave nearly
column Of editorial deprecating the Ian
guage in which it was written as inju
rious to the cause Of temperance.
G. W. VENABLE.