Edward William Johnston to Thomas Willis White, October 4, 1836

[Edward William Johnston at New York City to Thomas Willis White [at Richmond, Virginia], October 4, 1836. Container 9.7, Edgar Allan Poe Collection, The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Center. Note that in the original, Johnston's text frequently employs the old-fashioned "long s" -- i.e., when the letter "s" is doubled up in a word, the first "s" looks more like a lower case "f."]

Notes:

Johnston informs "My dear White" that on October 3, 1836, he sent the latter the "proofs" of what would be published as "Classical Bibliography,” Southern Literary Messenger: Devoted to Every Department of Literature and the Fine Arts Vol. II, No. XL (October 1836): pages 677-684. Richmond, Virginia: T. W. White.

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moajrnl/acf2679.0002.011/683:6?rgn=full+text;view=image

Intends to quickly write one or two more articles for White and will send them along.

"Have the goodness to tell Mr. Poe that I had yester-day a second conversation with Saunders and Otley upon the affair of the M.S. that they seem much disposed to become the publishers, here and in England, but can not, apparently, take it upon themselves to decide for their fraternal house abroad. They were anxious, therefore, to have the finished M.S., in order to send it out by the next packet."

Johnston "told them" that the "tales" were not ready for publication, and suggested they send what they had back to Poe so he could finish them for publication in November or December. They would direct what they had to Poe via "your bookseller Smith, or by the regular mode of conveyance." Advise Poe to complete and send back to manuscript "with all possible expedition."

And: "Give him, at the same time, my sincere compliments and good wishes."

Johnston says he's not likely to "fix" himself in New York City. The local literary publications that he might have worked for are "in a wretched condition," and he doesn't want to do political writing "unless it were in a region where other interests and more reputable principles prevail." He then makes vague references to an opportunity in Washington City, which though he doesn't mention by name, is a reference to plans to revive The Southern Review that were alluded to in a previous post here.

Sends regards to Mrs. White, "and believe me truly yours . . ."

Finally, as a postscript, he directs White to send future correspondence to "Mrs. Ed. W. Johnston" at No. 30, Chapel Street, N. York. And, he intends to "go South in a week or 10 days."

[Many thanks to Natalie Zelt, American Studies -- who in June 2014 was Public Services Intern at the Harry Ransom Center -- for assisting in scanning and processing the original letter at that time.]

[Thomas Willis White (1788-1843), founding editor and publisher of The Southern Literary Messenger, which began publication in 1834.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was White's assistant from mid-1835 until early 1837 -- Poe basically took over as editor for most of his rocky tenure.

Edward William Johnston (1799-1867)

Saunders & Otley = Simon Saunders and Edward John Otley, Librarians and Publishers to the Queen, Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, London. 

The address given of 30, Chapel Street, N. York, is that of the hotel and restaurant owned and operated by Jerome De Cressac Villagrand (1776-1845), stepfather of Edward's wife, Marie Antoinette Estelle Costar (De Cressac Villagrand) Johnston (circa 1802-1848).]

[Many thanks to William Myers, Mary Davy, Sally Young and Sue Davis for their ongoing research collaboration.]

Edward William Johnston to Langdon Cheves, Jr., September 25, 1836

[Edward William Johnston at New York City to Langdon Cheves, Jr., Attorney at Law, at Columbia, South Carolina, September 25, 1835. Cheves Family Papers (1808-1934), South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina. This is my rough transcription. Note that in the original, Johnston's text frequently employs the old-fashioned "long s" -- i.e., when the letter "s" is doubled up in a word, the first "s" looks more like a lower case "f." Extra paragraph breaks added for easier reading.] 

N. York, Sept. 25th 1836

Dear Cheves

My arrival here, 5 days ago, gave me your first letter; and your second came yesterday. The latter lets me see that you understand why the former remained unnoticed: and tho', perhaps, this is the very occasion for giving a large to excuse it -- because, for this once, I might make them with every advantage of a good cause. I shall spare you, 'till my eloquence finds some more pressing occasion to exert itself.

You give me the only written news I have of Columbia. Of the heavy festivities of your ermined buffoons, there is nothing to be said in any thing so dangerously tending towards somnolence as a letter. I pass by, therefore, a subject so infectious of dulness [dullness]. 

Your history of the ravages which those horrible barbarians of the Sand-hills are committing among the trout is certainly the most appalling story that has been written since Nennius, that Celtic Jeremiah wrote (or wept) his de excidio Britannia. 

How different the tale, which I have to relate, of a four-days expedition, on foot, with but a single companion, into the wildest recesses of the Virginia mountains! How you will glow, when I tell you of the 53 speckled trout caught in a day! How you will turn pale with envy, to hear how we climbed untrodden hills and plunged thro'  torrents never visited before! And then, the scenery! -- whatever of picturesque, black forests and gigantic mountains and vast rocks, and wild clear streams falling into continual cascades, can offer by their most fantastic combination. 

My forte is certainly spirited description and stirring narrative: but, upon an occasion, like the present, where, if I shine, I am sure to make a friend unhappy, I know how to forbear. Do I not know that, with all my self-control in hiding from you all the fairest part of the picture, you will yet have seen enough to through you into a nympholepay, with which I shall find you wasting away, when I return.

Of the other part -- the civil part, as it might be called -- of my adventures in Virginia, it is hardly worth while to speak. I shall go on with the undertaking as to Mr. Henry. I have gleaned much that is of interest; and am in the way to get more. I am satisfied in one particular especially -- that I can turn to miracle of his eloquence and all that, into a regular result from education and laborious attainment, He was a far-better educated man than his marvel-loving biographer -- that I am sure of. Among other things, I have a complete list of the library which he left at his death, It is, for that day, a very large one, and made up as if by one whose active and inquiring mind embraced every thing. There is, too, an unusual quantity of Latin, with some Greek, and French enough to show that even this had caught his attention.

It will, however, interest you, more than all this, to hear of the progress of my designs, as to future occupation. I need not particularly mention several abortive affairs, that have been presented to me: nor can I speak of any thing here, where my perquisitions have, as yet, been very slight. An offer had been made to me, at Washington, which I am much more disposed to embrace than any thing else at all likely to present itslef. Duff Green, you are aware, has in the strangest manner, turned all his great imaginations into gold-realising, from one of his many charters alone, some 700,000 dollars for himself and most immediate associates. 

He is, therefore, in the most successful state; and, with his present resources, able safely to undertake the design in which he is anxious to engage me -- that of re-establishing the Southern Review, at the head of which he wishes to place me. In the attempt, he has the zealous concurrence of those who are most able to promote its success -- Preston, Calhoun & Hamilton; who are to aid him, during an expedition he is presently making to Georgia, Carolina & Virginia, in organizing the matter. Of course, till all is arranged with the Southern public -- who will form, in some sort, the company, the Stockholders of the affair -- he can make no positive arrangement with me; but can only engage for the intentions & efforts of himself and his friends (to whom I may add my own) to fix the matter, with a good sound compensation, upon me.

I should, for reasons that you can easily divine, prefer this position to any other at all attainable to me, even tho' such might be, in point of mere profit & income, a good deal more advantageous. I cannot, in truth, abandon the South without an extreme an extreme reluctance.

In the view, therefore, of securing this matter, my present purpose is, to glance around me here enough to survey the ground against any contrary event, and to pass some 2 or 3 weeks in cultivation of certain general literary objects, that belong to this undertaking. After that, I must get back at my post, and endeavor to assist in furthering the general scheme, as well as in promoting my own particular part in it.

In both these, you and those other friends to whom you can speak, must bestir yourselves for me, without delay. I know that set [line inked out] will fix their eyes upon a totally different person -- namely Legaré. He, however, is lucky, but still little disposed to second them, and more luckily still, is unfit for the thing in every thing but talents. Superior as his are, you know how totally unworthy to be trusted he is, in general political views -- of which this thing is, of course, to be a leading organ: and how dangerous he is, in the Special matter of Slavery -- one of the chief concerns of the plan. In this, his timidity is more to be dreaded than even the treachery of Pinckney.

Preston is more particularly Duff Green's counsellor in his choice of me. You can, therefore, talk with him freely. Afterwards, do whatever, upon consultation, may seem likely to be effectual.

You know that I have been so much occupied, in idea, with this matter, that I am entirely prepared to give it the strongest organization, in point of literary plan and the concert of collaborateurs. Of both of these, I have great confidence in our resources, as I am sure of being able to muster them.

I can secure, at once, 8 or 9 good writers, of different casts, to give an article each, for every number. This is enough for the body of the work. An irregular corps of 30 more can be enlisted; whose contributions will make up all the occasional matter. My plan will be, to make nearly 1/2 the matter of a miscellaneous & popular cast, so that it may in some sort, combine the Review & the Magazine. Syd can tell you more particularly of all this. 

I regret exceedinly the plan of Sausure [De Saussure?], or rather its necessity. Nobody knows better, or loves better, his worth and that of his wife, than Estelle & I. We love them, both for themselves, and as members of a family, who we esteem above all others in Cal'a [Carolina]. I do not except Ellen, whom we regard as misled, though pardonable influence, and whom we entirely excuse, as a child. 

Farewell. If you do not hear from me again, you shall see me. Do not think me negligent of writing, from the example of past. I never am so, except under circumstances that render the contrary almost impossible. My wife sends you her most affectionate remembrance. Neither of us will easily come to form any image of an agreeable life, in which the old familiar, fraternal intercourse with you shall not be a part.

                                                                      Ever truly yours
                                                                      Ed. Wm. Johnston

[Edward William Johnston (1799-1867). He had written an article for The Southern Review in 1831 and completed an article for The Southern Literary Messenger in 1836. 
Marie Antoinette Estelle Costar (De Cressac Villagrand) Johnston (circa 1802-1848)
Langon Cheves, Jr. (1814-1863), pro-secessionist, later killed in action during the American Civil War. 
Henry = Patrick Henry (1736-1799)
Duff Green (1791-1875). Former editor of US Telegraph, pro-Andrew Jackson until he tilted toward John C. Calhoun. Sometime in 1837, he established the short-lived The Reformer.  
Preston = William Campbell Preston (1794-1860), US Senator for South Carolina.
Calhoun = John Caldwell Calhoun (1782-1850), US Senator for South Carolina.
Hamilton = James Hamilton, Jr. (1786-1857), former Nullifier.
Legaré = Hugh Swinton Legaré (1797-1843), in Europe at the time. Former editor of The Southern Review, which folded in 1832. 
Pickney = probably South Carolina Congressman Henry C. Pinckney
Syd = Algernon Sidney Johnston (1801-1852)
William Ford De Saussure (1792-1870), married to Sarah Jones Davie De Saussure (1793-1854), part of the Columbia socio-political elite.
Ellen = [?]
Note: The Southern Review resurrection project apparently did not come to fruition.]. 

[Thanks to D. Travis Brand, Library Specialist, South Caroliniana Library (SCL), University of South Carolina (USC), for providing a scan of the original that also included a partial typed transcript. Thanks also to Jessica Crouch, Archivist at USC as well as to Mike Berry of the SCL.]

[Many thanks to William Myers, Mary Davy, Sally Young and Sue Davis for their ongoing research collaboration.]

John Warfield Johnston to Louisa Smith Bowen Johnston, October 31, 1836

John Warfield Johnston at Columbia, South Carolina, to Mrs. Louisa S. Johnston [Louisa Smith Bowen Johnston] at [Maiden Spring], Tazewell County, Virginia, October 31[-November 12], 1836. Box 1, John Warfield Johnston Papers, 1778-1890, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University].

[The first part of this letter details dramatic scrapes over perceived students' rights with the faculty at South Carolina College (aka College of South Carolina). Professor Francis Lieber (1798-1872) is mentioned. 

The second half of the letter was completed by November 12, 1836, and is stamped with that date, Columbia, SC. Several of the details here can be cross-checked with Edward William Johnston's November 24, 1836, letter to Louisa. Here is a link.]

Uncle Edward is here himself, has left Mrs. J. in N. York. He has, at length, got into a place which will both suit his taste and gratify his ambition, viz. the editorship of the Southern Review. It is to be published in Washington, where, of course, he takes up his residence for the future. The place was first offered to Hugh Legare [Hugh Swinton Legaré (1797-1843)] (of whom, I suppose, you have heard), who is said to be a man of greater literary attainments than almost any other in the Union. He was obliged to decline accepting it, and now, to give it to Uncle Edward, is a compliment of which he will feel the force. 

Uncle Joseph passed through this place yesterday (Nov. 12th[?]) on his way to Florida, the bearer, it is said, of a plan (Gen. Jackson's) of a campaign which is to terminate the Seminole war on the spot, without the slightest difficulty. How great is the arrogance of man! The president is so mad as to believe, that he, without any knowledge of the country, or the resources of the Indians, at a distance of 2,000 miles, can do what skillful generals were unable to perform, although possessed of every advantage.

The College is full and flourishing; and I am getting on quite well in my studies.

[Louisa Smith Bowen Johnston (1800-1873)
John Warfield Johnston (1818-1889)
Uncle Edward = Edward William Johnston (1799-1867)
Mrs. J. = Marie Antoinette Estelle Costar (De Cressac Villagrand) Johnston (ca. 1802-1848)
Uncle Joseph = Joseph Eggleston Johnston (1807-1891)
Gen. Jackson = Andrew Jackson (1767-1845)

Note: Edward had earlier in the year completed a project in New York City that resulted in an uncredited 1837 publication -- Systematic Catalogue of Books in the Collection of the Mercantile Library Association of the City of New York with a General Index, and one of Dramatic Pieces; Together with an Appendix; Containing the Constitution, and the Rules and Regulations of the Association. New York: Harper, 1837.  https://archive.org/details/systematiccatalo00merciala 

He had also earlier written an article for the Southern Review: [Uncredited]. “American Literature,” Southern Review, August 1831. Vol. VII (1828-1832): pages 436-459. Charleston, S.C.: A. S. Miller, 1831.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015028574864?urlappend=%3Bseq=446]

For their help and assistance, many thanks to the staff of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. For more information about the John Warfield Johnston Papers, here's a link to the guide. 

Edward William Johnston to Louisa Smith Bowen Johnston, November 24, 1836

[Edward William Johnston at Columbia, South Carolina, to Mrs. Louisa S. Johnston [i.e. Louisa Smith Bowen Johnston at Maiden Spring], Clifton P.O, Tazewell County, Virginia, November 24, 1836, Box 1, John Warfield Johnston Papers, 1778-1890, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University].

[The first four paragraphs discuss John Warfield Johnston's good health and progress in his studies; having seen Jane Mary Wood Johnston in September (seemingly at Bedford, Virginia); and his (Edward's) great delight in helping guide John; also that his lofty goals in life have not been directed at becoming prosperous].

I am here alone, and only for a short time; having been engaged in a literary undertaking (now being organized) which is to carry me to Washington, if it succeeds. For this reason and because I had, indeed, made up my mind to seek my fortunes elsewhere, I left Estelle in N. York. Jane & her husband, after mature deliberation, have adopted the same course as we; and have already put it partly in effect, by breaking up in Bedford. They have sold their farm & effects; and Harvey has gone to painting; which, indeed, was absolutely necessary. He is gone to the south-west -- Mobile. Jane is to stay in Liberty, till he returns. But if my plans succeed, I shall take her to Washington, as I go on there; and she will make that her head-quarters, while her husband tries excursions wherever encouragement offers itself. 

This will, you see, be a delightful arrangement. Washington is a pleasant residence, and a cheaper place of house-keeping than Columbia. We can live together there very snugly and very very happily. You know that Joseph is very frequently by there, too. By the bye, he passed along here, the other day, on his way to Florida: being sent there with orders for the commanding officer. He is, however, to return immediately.

I hear from Estelle by a regular weekly letter. She is very well, by her last; and seems, in the pleasure of getting new drapes, to find the only consolation for a separation which we both feel very severely. She is, of course, with her mother.

From Jane, I received a letter, some 10 days since, announcing the arrangements that I have mentioned above; and I replied by letting her know what I should do, if our enterprise goes into operation. All this was a matter of previously discussed and settled between us; so that all is certain, in the event of my going to Washington. 

I have written to the Major, since my return here, a letter intended to apprise you all of our movements, and in ample detail. No answer yet from him.

Enough. I have written much more than I had time to write. Syd is well. Commend me very kindly to your father, Rees, & Ellen.

Affectionately, dear Louisa,
yours
Ed. Wm. Johnston 

[Louisa Smith Bowen Johnston (1800-1873)
John Warfield Johnston (1818-1889)
Harvey = Harvey Mitchell (1799-1866)
Jane = Jane Mary Wood Johnston Mitchell (1811-1892)
Edward William Johnston (1799-1867)
Estelle = Marie Antoinette Estelle Costar (De Cressac Villagrand) Johnston (ca. 1802-1848)
"Her mother" = Joséphine Labarrière Costar De Cressac Villagrand (ca. 1776-1858)
Joseph = Joseph Eggleston Johnston (1807-1891)
The Major = Peter Carr Johnston (1793-1877)
Syd = Algernon Sidney Johnston (1801-1852)
"Your father" = Henry Reese (Rees) Bowen (1770-1850)
Ellen = Ellen Bowen (1817-ca.1850)
Rees = Rees/Reese Tate Bowen (1809-1879)]

For their help and assistance, many thanks to the staff of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. For more information about the John Warfield Johnston Papers, here's a link to the guide. 

Edward William Johnston to James Henry Hammond, March 24, 1836

[Edward William Johnston at Columbia, South Carolina, to James Henry Hammond at Washington City, March 24, 1836. See glossary of names following letter. My rough transcript. Original in James Henry Hammond Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.] 

Columbia [South Carolina], 24th March 1836

My dear Hammond[,]

I have just received yours of the 18th, and am much rejoiced at your resurrection. I trust you will take care of yourself and make it permanent. Pray don't eat much. That and too much stroking cannot be borne, unless we were gods -- especially when that which they are pleased to call our immortal part is working hard at the same time. All the nobler functions overtasked at once, it is impossible that one should not become "entennated" [attenuated] of his strength.

For a man just out of the obscurity of a sick room, you seem to me to gaze at the political suns about you with a pretty undazzled eye. But you have only counted the spots of one side of them. Wait a full year, till you have seen the opposite side. Clay, god help us, is only an honest man by contrast and out of power. His principles -- by which I only mean the habitual inclinations that most direct him -- are certainly worse than even Van Buren's. As to Calhoun, he is a man against whose faults of temper and of mind -- not of honesty -- one must be perpetually on the watch. Genius, he may certainly be said to possess, and patriotism. Could he mix, with the first, a slight grain of calm, even sense and of well-formed steady purpose or could he join, with the second, a little less of that visionary ambition which continually wishes to put itself at the head of affairs, he might do the country a service and win perhaps ultimate success, which no man is at present less likely to achieve. 

You do not speak of Preston, and naturally enough. He makes men speak of him no longer. His laziness has finally mastered his ambition, huge as that was, and he is now content with indolently performing a secondary part. Yet, I hold Preston's little finger to have more capacity in it, more real ability, more wisdom, than the whole bodies of a dozen Calhouns and Clays. But what of abilities that will not work to the full measure of their strength? [O]f what account is Wisdom, that wants a great & persevering & steady aim? Preston is there, to dazzle the country. by an occasional display; perhaps to do it an important service, in some sudden conjunction. But this is all. Affairs are to be directed, and public wants controlled, not by the man who can pull a horse about by the tail, but by him who has steadiness enough to pluck out each hair of that tail, singly.

As to the schemes of Distribution, I dislike them all equally. Gen'l Jackson's, of bribery by fortifications &c, vary little more than Clay's or Calhoun's. I am for letting the country take the mischiefs which its own faults or follies have brought upon it. If a cure is to come, let it be from Nature herself. Driven to her own resources instead of being aided by drugs, she may throw off the disease. But your quack salvers, that can chase away no malady, unless by creating another, are not the thing for the present time. Mind, I am not talking of the Steam-doctors, for whom I have, in comparison with those folks, great respect. A little red-pepper-tea might really help the body politics, but Distribution & the like can only change the form of the disease. 

As to Van Buren's letter, I entirely differ from you. It has, you will observe, a substantial part, and a formal part. An additional authority thrown in the seal of the Constitutional claim of Abolitionism, is entirely the first. An argument against the exercise of the power conceded is a mere shadow. It is a claim at law, where the Judge gives you a delightful disquisition on morality, for one side, and a charge to the Jury upon the law, for the other. Besides, what is the effect of any such thing from a man whom will believe sincere -- whom all will suppose equally ready to have argued on the other side?

But enough. We are drifting here, perfectly the sport of the winds. In Charleston, the course of Pinckney's friends will do, I think, great mischief. It has paralyzed the State, as to that fateful movement. Unhappily, McCord was a party to the consultation held there, which settled this mode of proceeding. He & Nott(!) [Dr. Josiah Nott, possibly] stood for the opinion of our quarter.

I regret, very strongly, the unusual policy, which keeps McDuffie away from all intercourse with us. Were he here, we should have a head. I wish, most heartily, you would all urge him to come to stay here till the adjournment of Congress. Events are certainly quite likely to happen, that will make it increasingly dangerous to remain as we are -- without any concert throughout the state -- without any point from where the impulse may be given. I know that it is somewhat natural for you all to wish in some sort to direct things here yourselves. But this cannot be. The State can have no councils, which you try to carry on such a system. Pray take what I suggest into consideration among you. I think it of great & pressing importance. Butler will probably arrive in a few days. His influence will do things good. I do not speak to you of McCord (tho' distinguished of the part he is playing) because we have fallen out. Judge of him by his own correspondence with you.

Pray send me a reply of Preston's Report on the Bouterlin Library. Also Clay's & Calhoun's Distr. Bills. Commend me to all friends. What am I to praise Grayson Campbell & Griffin about? For I know they deserve it, and I am anxious to [?] . I want to have some visible fact to hang their praises on.

Glossary of South Carolina names:

The Columbia Telescope, 1828-1839. Weekly, semi-weekly. Algernon Sidney Johnston was one of its publishers. 

Pierce Mason Butler, Governor of SC, December 1836-1838
John C. Calhoun, US Senator (Nullifier)

William Campbell Preston, US Senator (Nullifier)
Thomas Cooper (1759-1839), ex-President of SC College
Henry William de Saussure (1763-1839)
Franklin Harper Elmore, US Rep (States Rights Democrat)

William J, Grayson, US Rep. (Nullifier)

James Henry Hammond, US Rep. (Nullifier)
Robert Young Hayne, Intendant of Charleston, 1836-1837

Richard Irvine Manning (Jacksonian)

David James McCord (1797-1855), editor of The Telescope in its earlier incarnation
George McDuffie, Governor of SC, 1834-1836

Frances W. Pickens, US Rep. (Nullifier)

Henry C. Pinckney, US Rep. (Nullifier)

James Rogers, US Rep (Jacksonian)

Robert Barnwell Smith (later Robert Barnwell Rhett)

Waddy Thompson, US Rep. (Anti-Jackson)

Edward William Johnston to James Henry Hammond, March 9, 1836

[Edward William Johnston at Columbia, South Carolina, to Hammond at Washington City, March 9, 1836. See glossary of names following letter. My rough transcript. Original in James Henry Hammond Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.] 
Columbia [South Carolina] 9th March 1836.

My dear Hammond

I wrote to you, about a week since, in reply to your last long letter. You will since have seen that one proposed to have had a public meeting here on Monday (day before yesterday). We were compelled, by the state of the weather, to postpone it, which we did the less unwillingly because next Monday (court-day) will offer a better occasion. Everything is ready for that time. Old Cooper and I have prepared the Resolutions; and I have engaged Bookler to move them. They are not in denunciation of Pinckney nor of his Union accomplices. Him we shall mark with marked disapprobation, but them not at all. Our business is to condemn him, chiefly on general propositions, and by expressing our warm approval of the course of our true Representatives, all of whom we mention by name, with thanks. Pinckney we must not abuse, 'till his own constituents have dealt upon him: and Manney & Rogers we must leave entirely unmentioned. 

The former of these, by the bye, sent me, a day or two since, Talmadge's speech on the Abolition question. I thought it rather a shame that he should be circulating such things among us. 

We are here in a difficult situation. Columbia has, to a great degree, lost its lead, in the movements of the State. We have, since Preston quitted us, no one capable of directing things. Charleston takes the lead; but does it badly -- wants energy and simplicity and rationality of views -- is guided, in a word, too much by merely local policy. It cannot therefore act for the State, and will never carry with it any warm concert in the interior. Hamilton is absorbed in his damned Bank, and cannot, indeed, be expected to suffice for everything. He is really alone, in Charleston -- entirely without second or support. Hayne is a poor devil. McDuffie is the only man whose position fits him to wield the State; and he never comes among us, and mixes with nothing that can carry on public movement. You see, therefore, the state of helplessness in which we are. I have not a soul to consult with, except old Cooper, and nobody to act upon the people for me. Every thing has to be done by the Press. Butler is away. Elmore absent (tho' he would do nothing if he were here). I need say nothing of Gregg & DeSaussure. As for McCord, he is only in the way. 

I sat down, merely to let you know of the course as to the Public meeting. Cooper had rec'd a long & gloomy letter from Pickens. I shall speak, in the next paper, of the present position of things. It is really necessary to alarm our people. This matter does not give them half of the apprehension it should.

In haste, Your
Ed. W. Johnston  

Glossary of South Carolina names:

The Columbia Telescope, 1828-1839. Weekly, semi-weekly. Algernon Sidney Johnston was one of its publishers. 

Pierce Mason Butler, Governor of SC, December 1836-1838
John C. Calhoun, US Senator (Nullifier)

William Campbell Preston, US Senator (Nullifier)
Thomas Cooper (1759-1839), ex-President of SC College
Henry William de Saussure (1763-1839)
Franklin Harper Elmore, US Rep (States Rights Democrat)

William J, Grayson, US Rep. (Nullifier)

James Henry Hammond, US Rep. (Nullifier)
Robert Young Hayne, Intendant of Charleston, 1836-1837

Richard Irvine Manning (Jacksonian)

David James McCord (1797-1855), editor of The Telescope in its earlier incarnation
George McDuffie, Governor of SC, 1834-1836

Frances W. Pickens, US Rep. (Nullifier)

Henry C. Pinckney, US Rep. (Nullifier)

James Rogers, US Rep (Jacksonian)

Robert Barnwell Smith (later Robert Barnwell Rhett)

Waddy Thompson, US Rep. (Anti-Jackson)

James Talmadge (1778-1853) of New York

US House of Reps. seating chart from Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives can be found here.