EDITORIAL COMPLIMENTS.
"We find the following editorial in the 'Jonesboro' (Tenn.) Sentinel,' a Locofoco print, in relation to the editor of the 'Jonesboro Whig:'
"Brownlow made an awkward attempt last week to caricature a person who was hung some years ago in North Carolina, whom he termed the cousin of Col. Johnson. But it turns out to have been the nephew of Gen. Winfield Scott, a distinguished Coon leader. Poor Brownlow!—it ought to be his time next. Wonder how many hen-roosts he robbed last summer?"
"We have nothing to do with whose time it is to be hung next, nor with the number of hen-roosts robbed, nor by whom robbed, but we will take occasion to correct the 'Sentinel' as to the person hung here 'some years ago.'
"In the spring of 1841, a man named Madison Johnson was hung in this place for the murder of Henry Beasley, but we were not aware that he was any relation of Col. Johnson, if it be meant thereby Col. R. M. Johnson, of Kentucky. He was, however, connected with A. Johnson, the candidate for Congress in the Jonesboro' District, Madison and he being first cousins.
"The last man hung in this place by the name of Scott, was Mason Scott, in 1820, and if the 'Sentinel' means to reflect upon the Whig party by saying he was a nephew of Gen. Winfield Scott, a 'distinguished Coon leader,' we are willing for him to indulge in such misstatements.
"IF THE 'SENTINEL' HAD TAKEN THE TROUBLE TO CONSULT MR. A. JOHNSON ON THE SUBJECT, HE WOULD HAVE SATISFIED HIM OF THE FACTS, AS HE WAS IN THIS CITY ABOUT THE TIME MADISON WAS EXECUTED."
It will be seen, that while Johnson was uttering his solemn but false denial at Jonesborough, he knew he was lying, for he was in Raleigh "about the time Madison was executed!"
But we told our friends to hold on, to have patience, and to give us time, and we would make good our charge. Accordingly, in the same issue in which we brought out this extract from the Raleigh Register, we published the following letter from Gov. Morehead, in answer to one we had written him:
Raleigh, 24th April, 1843.