146
  �The Tribune�s� Charleston Correspondence.
ting �please say nothing more than this� as he
should have �a defence which would make him
very popular,� and he was �rather glad than
otherwise that it had turned up.�        Thus,
in an ungrammatical, jerky apprehensive man-
ner, wrote Ramsay.   In view of this and what
I know now, I understand the �Tribune� letters.
This young fellow was not selected for any
fitness for his business, but in default of a
better.    He wrote with average ability, but did
not scruple to invent and misrepresent the
Charlestonians.    The tone and spirit of his let-
ters I condemn and object to.         They misled
the �Tribune� and those who put faith in it.
They did mischief, both North and South;
in one case teaching that the Carolinians were
only braggarts and bullies, intent on a game
of bluff and willing to compromise after some
concessions; in the other justifying
the Southern faith in the utter mendacity of
Northern journals.     These Carolinians were
(and are) a brave, misguided, headstrong
people, not ruffians or traitors to my thinking.
  At night when I had posted letter and
walked leisurely back, I met Carlyle and
Rhodes, a Maylander, a resident of Bal-