Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-11-16
LET JUSTICE BE DONE.
History as She is Writ hv
Nicolay and Hay.
FITZ JOHN PORTER AS A CELTIC.
He Takes the Authors to Task for
Vilifying His Record-He
Demands Justice.
Associated Press Dispatches to the HERALD.


New YORK, November Is On July
22d last General Fitz John Porter ad.
dressed long letter to Messrs Nicolay
and Hay, the biographers of Abraham
Lincoln, demonstrating against the unjust
treatment of his (Porter's) case in their
history OF the events with which he was
connected, and appealing to them 10
make closer study OF ths circumstances
and revise their magazine articles be-
fore publishing them in book form. He
says in this connection:
Your work, when finished w III bo n,busboa
III book form and doubtless will he req srded as
btandard reference for future Generations.
you VIII. therefore, readily u. derstand my
actions In the late Civil War coming flom Z
respGnslnie source which should carry the
and you, cannot fail 10 appreciate nv obi RI =,
"Ny sctions were SO interviewer with the
events OF the war for the Union up TO Certain
period, that historians deemed them of import
nnce, and so have invariably givcn them nroYs
| lneuce. You seem to have been OF the same.
opinion. II they were of SO much irnportsnce
~ It not esse utial that they should b. correctly
stated; and above all. that my motives should
not pc nIn'usy ihmgpusned nor my loyalty
"You have incorrectly described my sctiop;
you have unjustly impugned my motives, and
charged me with that which to a loyal sol,iiey
Is worse than death. must also add that Won
have done AL this against evidence to the CON
--.y.
! ne then reviews the events in connec-
tion with his trial, and quotes authorities
to show that the verdict of the court
| martial was unjust, and gives the opinion
of many men of prominence who changed
their mind as to his guilt after per"
sonal examination. His exoneration by
General Grant Ia particularly referred
to, and in this connection says:
rarest In history. Ho had been President Of the
United States for two terms. He was the first
OF all living men in the respect and affections
| soldier of the day filed the whole earth. He
was against me, but without examination. He
examined fully and carefully. and as q result OF
| that he had done me wrong; that he mad COM
niitted an error and fastened to CORE ct the
error and do what he could to redress that
wrong, Need you hesitate to place yourself by
the. side of General Grant, who has a grander
history than any one man Of this generation?''
Further along he says:
Congress has passed bills. virtually reversing
the finding OF the court m martial and restoring
me to the army. No action OF that body was
ever better considered nor more deliberate
With this solemn act of the highest legislative
| pouy VI thc hepuDilc you were perfectly famil-
lar But you insist that ii is not deserving OF
credit, because, as you allege: it was q party
measure II 1t were q party measure. would
that render vo'e OF Congress- given under
such circumstances as this wss, Of no eject
But 1t Was not q party measure, q all the facts
connected With Its passage fully demonstrated.
gress By the allegation
II would be uugrateful to the many able and
tained those bills by voice and voIe Th9 II wes ses
TO al ow you allegation to pass unchallen ged.
This Congressional action could not have had
and in fact did not ave, any more o0nuectiop
with psrty politics than any measure which
han involved in 1t the simple question as to the
goliT or Innocence of a citizen charged with
make that the action of Congress was a party
measure is an insult to that body, an d espe-
Giai!y TO the many Republicans who gave their
disinterested support OF the bills simply be-
cause they believed in their justice"
After referring the authors to many
writers ei the times who, he thinks, have
recorded the facts of Shis connection with,
the Army of the Potomac fairly and im-
partially, he concludes:
u believe am not mistaken when say that
these facts, when properly considered by YOU
must convince you OF yonr Injustice towards
me Ipresume you ,were ignorant OF them or
tnaI WHen you wrote inst part of your His
,hfyr ,hsyp, OF which complain, you had forgotten
You have given wide circulation to error.
ass you In Justice to impartial history to en-
Dooy IN your book. when your articles assume
that form, so much Of these publications. to
which have referred you as may be necessary
certainly am entitled to expect that Won win in
your book give full prominence to the report Of
the Advisory Board, and to the published con-
ciusions OF General Grant.
aso ask, as you must become convinced OF
your errors from more careful study of the
autnorlties IN my case that you will do me
tury Magazine, all your misstatv m ents affect
ing me. With all due respect, yours.
"FITz JOHN PORTER"
date OF July 30th, sent this brief reply:
when we revise the chapter of our work TO
| which you a1lude. for book publication, we
will give fair aud careful con sideratiOn to the
arguments and suggest ons which you pre-
sent"
The dismissal of his appeal by this curt
response does not seem to have been yery
satisfactory to General Porter, for under
date of November 10th he again wrote
the historians, eaying:
| II have received no other reply to my letter.
nor have seen any attempt made by you to
comply with my request contained IN that let
an early day. the erroneous statements about
my self published by you in the Century Masa.
Sine' IN your so.caled history, the Lille of A6ra-
More than two months have elqpsed since
you acknowledged the receipt of my letter:
more than ample time. II you intend and desire
10 pc Just, either to become confirmed in the
opinions you have expressed. or else nvineed
Oh on 1ne1r itnIastice and o. the injury inf ctea
multitude of readers who have not the means
at hand OF knowing or learning the truth %
lie then renews his request to be
treated with fairness, and closes by
citing an additional list of authorities for
their consideration.
Eastern Echoes.
Geor ge Washington, colored, was
lynche near McCcmb, Miss, for having
attempted an outrage.
Millard Powers Fillmore, son of the
late Millard Fillmore, thirteenth Presi-
dent of the United States, died at
Buffalo, N. Y, last night, of apoplexy.
Lillian Russell arrived at New York
from Chicago last night. She denies