[Major Downing.—We were just preparing an article, going
to show that we doubted the authenticity of the remarks of our
friend of the Portland Courier, who claims to be the only publisher
of Major Downing's Letters, by stating what we before
asserted, that we believed ourselves his only publishers, when
by due course of the mail we received the following letter from
the Major himself. We find that we, like our friend in Portland,
were equally hoodwinked by this astute politician, who
led us, by inuendo at least, to believe we individually were his
exclusive publishers; and now it turns out that he, like other
politicians of the day, dealt out his notions to suit latitudes—
`hogs' fat to one, and fresh butter to another.' We but do the
Major common justice in believing that his letters originally
published in this paper (now to the number of about twenty,
and some pretty considerable long ones), embracing his invaluable
Bank Report, contributed mainly, and we had almost said
exclusively, to his present celebrity. We have no other interest,
however, than to see in the event of a publication, that our
hero may not have occasion to say he has been shorn of his
fame by his friends, in publishing his `hogs' lard' and not his
`fresh butter' letters.—Eds.]
