University of Virginia Library

It may perhaps be expected that we shall give
some account of our intercourse with our friend
Major Downing, previously to the date of the first letter
in the following series; but not foreseeing what
was likely to grow out of it, we were not careful to
preserve any of his Communications, before the
commencement of what he emphatically calls “The
Grand Tower.”

The Major did not, on his arrival here with “the
Gineral,” call on us as he had promised; and, as
we naturally supposed he was mixed up with
great folks, above our calibre, we did not call on
him. We candidly confess, that not esteeming, as
perhaps we ought to have done, the company he was
in, we were a little inclined to avoid unnecessary
familiarity with him.

After the “Grand Tower” left us, and had preceeded

Eastward, a “Coroner's Inquest” was handed
us for publication; and it was with an odd mixture
of regret and pleasure we saw that a body had been
picked up in the Bay, which, from the description,
was supposed to be that of the Major—“ drowned at
the bridge at Castle Garden;” and it was published
by us.

This article no sooner met the Major's eye, than
he sent us the letter which commences this volume,
and which we published immediately after its receipt.
It gave such evidence of there being something
in “the critter,” that the whole town came to
us for a printed copy of it, and the papers throughout
the country gave it an insertion. The Major
saw, no doubt, that he had at last hit the nail on the
head; and he continued writing to us, and we as
often published his letters. His fame soon rose to
an elevated station: and from his letters exclusively
to this paper, he owes his exalted reputation; as
his Letter No. XVII. in this volume fully acknowledges.

In offering this volume to the public, we are perfectly
aware that much of its contents has already
been read by the community at large, in the public
papers. That these letters have experienced a degree
of popularity, of which no other fugitive production
of our country can boast, is well known to
every person who has had an opportunity to see the
newspapers in various parts of the Union. That they
discover genius and talents of an original and distinguished
character, will be admitted by every competent
judge. The plan of them is new, the satire

keen but good-natured, and the humour irresistibly
ludicrous. And when it is considered that all
the articles which have appeared in the New-York
Daily Advertiser, under the signature of “J. Downing,
Major, of Downingville Militia, 2d Brigade,” and are republished in this volume, are the work of
one hand, the fact will afford conclusive evidence of
the truth of the remark just made respecting the
author's genius and talents.