140 To Readers and Correspondents, 



TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS. 



We pledged ourselves in our last number to show, that a statement in the Journal of the 

 Franklin Institute for July, 1831, attributing very unworthy conduct to the individual who 

 is now editor of this Journal, was, on the part of Dr. Isaac Hays, from whom it proceeded, 

 a deliberate falsehood. 



Before we make that pledge good, we beg to offer a few remarks to our subscribers 

 for the following reasons, l-'irst, because we are desirous, at once, to apologize to them 

 for having, in a moment of irritation, been provoked to the use of epithets which could 

 riot possibly either amuse or instruct them. We regret having done so. We wish that 

 time and room — neither of which were then at our disposal — had permitted us, instead 

 of angry words, to have laid a temperate statement before them, of the causes that reqiiir- 

 ed our entering upon a defence against the statement which offended us, and which, as 

 we shall show, was only one part of a systematic attempt to injure, through the editor, the 

 circulation of this Journal. 



Second. We wish to show, that this, far from being a private dispute of the editor, is 

 a question of a much graver nature, involving the freedom of opinion in matters of science, 

 and the right of an individual to expose a malignant attempt, to which more than one in- 

 dividual is a party, to make him odious in the eyes of the friends of a deceased naturalist, 

 and so affix upon him with the public, the character of an unfeeling and heartless distiirb- 

 er of the ashes of departed worth. It has been imputed to us in the columns of one of the 

 best journals of this country,* that this bears no evidence of being any thing but a private 

 dispute. In the narrative we are about to draw up, we cannot but indulge the belief, 

 that our readers will agree with us, that had the editor remained silent under continued 

 attempts to misrepresent his conduct and opinions, the result would have been injurious 

 to the cause of science, to himself in the social circles of the city he dwells in, and fatal 

 to the circulation of the journal he conducts. With such motives before him, he feels 

 himself justified in entering upon that defence in the pages of his own journal, which will 

 be found upon this, as upon all other occasions, devoted to good sense, fair dealing, and 

 truth. 



In the early part of 1831, the editor of this journal was induced to deliver a public course 

 of lectures on geology, in the city of Philadelphia, as he had previously done in the city 

 of New York, for the sole purpose of advancing the cause of natural science in this coun- 

 try. The unexpected popularity of these lectures, was the leading cause of the existence 

 of this journal. Whilst his residence in this city was considered only a temporary one, 

 every thing, as far as it affected himself, reflected couleur de rose ,• but as soon as he be- 

 came a permanent resident, and a candidate for public confidence in the walks of 

 science and literature, he discovered that Philadelphia was the seat of a self-constituted 

 authority over literature and opinions ; and that any one who ventured to doubt the va- 

 lidity of the appointment, was sure to come in for a full share of anathema. This authority, 

 too, was well acquainted with the use of that efficacious weapon, ' spargere voces ambi- 

 guas.' There were feuds also in the domains of science, and not to be a declared friend, 

 was, in the estimation of some, to be an enemy. For a while the editor went on, unscathed 

 amidst the absolutists of literature and science, without selecting particular advisers and 

 assistants for the arduous course he was about to pursue ; but as soon as he made known 

 his determination to choose where he was sure of finding honesty and intelligence, and to 

 discountenance all empirics and pretenders, he v/as made sensibly to feel that he was 

 monsieur de trop, and that it was not intended he should sit upon a bed of roses. Anony- 

 mous letters, scurrilous attacks from country papers, which had been refused by the press 

 in town — private misrepresentations of the editor's conduct and opinions — all these were 

 resorted to. In one newspaper it was asserted ''■ Mr. Featherstonhaugh is b. foreigner, and 

 did not only bring with him, but now fosters in his bosom, a contemptible opinion of Ame- 

 rican literature and talents." This, directed against one who has resided twenty-five years 

 in the United States, and who has devoted his youth and his fortune to the advancement 

 of its interests, was not thought too gross for the columns of an American newspaper. 

 The calumny closed by stating, that the establishment of this journal would " absolutely 

 retard the advancement of science in America;" and then concluded, " I have heard a 

 number of scientific gentlemen express themselves much in the same manner that I have 

 done ; and it is to be hoped they will act as they have talked, and will influence others to 

 do so when Mr. F's prospectus comes out." Meaning, to dissuade others from subscribing 

 to it. 



Certainly no one can suppose that the editor could be insensible to such proceedings : 

 it is in vain to say, that malignancy of so low and scurrilous a character ought to be dis- 

 regarded. If this were true, as it affected himself, the editor was bound to feel for the 

 interests of his publisher, and to protect this work for that sole reason. To have remained 

 silent, would have been to abandon, not to protect the interests of his friend. Those who 

 have censured him for the epithets he has used, did not know the private annoyances he 



* The Chronicle of the Times. 



