The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer

Peanut prints on the Intelligencer,
and vice versa.

The Honorable J. Rufus Smith (alias
Peanut) ventilates his opinions of this
paper in the Parkersburg Journal.
Inasmuch as he is clearly entitled to a
"lick" at the INTELLIGENCER, we take
great pleasure in copying as follows.
We are sorry that he should also have
felt called upon to slaughter the Queen's
English in such a murderous way, see-
ing that he and it are such strangers
and that it never harmed him:

Sir—I desire to give you my opinion
of the course pursued by the Wheeling
Intelligencer.

First, I verily believe that the princl-
ple of enfranchising every rebel in this
State has been entertained by its edi-
tors for years back, but suppressed or
an expression withheld for pecuniary
gain.

Second, because it has not been con-
ducted as a party organ, nor has it de-
fended the principles of our party, to
the extent of talent or abilities in their
position; but suffered our party, and
all concerned therewith, from our Ex-
ective officers down, to be vilified and
misrepresented at will, without one
particle of defence from them; surely I
am not deceived nor am I sorry, truly
rejoiced in fact that we have such a
chance to purge our party. Now is the
time for all to relieve themselves of our
party who think our mission at an end:
as for us or the party in my county, we
are firm, no backing down from our
position of 1881. We think that on the
continued success of the Republican
party depends, in many cases, our own
existence, and most assuredly the ex-
istence of our State, and its prosperity.
Greeley's views are widely different
from ours, and no matter what ema-
nates from him politically, will not be
entertained by us in the presence of his
being surety for the prince of traitors,
Jeff Davis.

This is fully equal to McClaskey.
Indeed the syntax is rather more fero-
cious.

We don't recall anything like
it except the "Exercises in False Syn-
tax" in the school grammars.

We
take the liberty of commending it to
Mr. Murray or Mr. Pinneo as probably
the finest specimen of the kind that has
ever been written.

What adds to its
merit is that the procession of ideas is
quite as lame as the march of grammar,
and the assertions altogether as false as
the syntax.

We won't much pity ourselves, for
we are conscious of having carved the
maledictions of this illustrious mem-
ber of the Smith family—who illus-
trated the austerity of his virtue here
last winter, by complaining on the floor
of the House that the people of Wheel-
ing had never offered to purchase him
for any of the shady purposes for which
he presumed himself useful—but we
really feel sorry for Mr. Greeley. When
he hears that he is disapproved by Mr.
John Smith, the distinguished gentle-
man from Morgan (distinguished from
the other John Smiths by the injection
of "Rufus" as a middle name), the
philosopher of the Tribune will—well
what won't he do? The probability is
he will write a fresh chapter on Polit-
ical Economy, showing first the neces-
sity for common schools, and second the
pressing importance of immigration
into Morgan county with a view to an
improvement in the breed of letter
writers and legislators.

It is proper to say that the above let-
ter is only signed with the initial "S."
But even that and the date at Berkeley
Springs might have been omitted, be-
cause there is no other man in Morgan
county (nor in any other county) that
has the capacity to write the English
language after such a fashion. Those
who ever heard the ponderous J. Rufus
on the floor of the House—like "the
bray of noisy brass" (with the "br"
left out)—will recognize the ear-marks
in the written rhetoric of the letter
writing Smith.

This seems to be a fitting occasion,
and we improve it, to tender to our em-
inent friend, along with these brief re-
spects, renewed assurances of our dis-
tinguished consideration. We com-
mend to him the good resolution once
formed by his great prototype, Fal-
staff, whom he resembles in all things
save in wit, to "purge, forswear sack
and sin, and live cleanly like a gen-
tleman." Then he will be better fitted
to appreciate a good newspaper.