ROWDYISM AND THE PRESS. 345 



moment I laugh still more when I read what the editor 

 of the Knoxville Whig says of Attorney-General Mack, as 

 quoted in illustration of the license of the American press 

 by the New York Tribune. 



The Whig says : " We took a look at him (the Attor 

 ney-General), and we don't hesitate to say, that in his 

 countenance we could see mingled the virtues of the 

 Wandering Jew and the impenitent thief upon the cross ! 

 And if Attorney-General Mack is not a villain the 

 Almighty does not write a legible hand, and this we are 

 unwilling to concede." If neither the law in the United 

 States, when guided by an Attorney-General, nor a 

 revolver in a hand on the same side the Atlantic as the 

 ruffian who can thus write, are insufficient to restrain 

 this horrible licentiousness of the press, the offspring of 

 an irresponsible freedom, why surely I can afford to 

 laugh at less vile attacks, and to advise the nation to 

 leave off the destruction of rattlesnakes, and raise a hunt 

 to crush the adders of the Press that defile and render 

 ridiculous the bosom in which they live. 



Tired as I was, I did not stay long at the ball, but 

 when I went to bed there was such a continuous " get 

 ting up-stairs," as it appeared to me, from the rooms 

 below to those above, that my slumbers were somewhat 

 broken. On the following morning I arose somewhat 

 refreshed, and set about making arrangements for the 

 disposal of my camping effects, my mules and horses. 

 To this end I paid a visit to the livery-stables about the 

 middle of the day, wherein also were deposited, with a 

 wretched little room to themselves, George and my 

 dogs. There was not a vestige of corn or hay in any of 

 the mangers ; the head of every animal I had was turned 

 round at my approaching step, and on my going up to 



