answer. I know of no such interview with said Committee, nor was I present at the conversation with the person whom I called Mr. Wilks out of the church to see. The report of the Committee was written and signed by all the members, before the meeting of that morning took place, and there was no word altered, none inserted, none stricken out, not an i dotted, nor t crossed afterwards that I know of.
Yours truly,
Charles S. Close,
Reed Sk, East of 4th St.
B. F. Barrett, Esq.,
Orange, N. J.
In this reply, it will be observed that Mr. Close denies point blank, that Mr. Wilks was summoned before the Committee after we had both been requested to retire. Mr. Close "knows of no such interview with said Committee," as I referred to. Mr. Wilks was called out of the Churfch to see somebody else, not the Committee; and Mr. C. "was not present at the conversation with the person." And as Mr. Close was the gentleman who invited Mr. Wilks out, who should know better than he, where and for what purpose he was summoned. But the most singular thing about all this is, that all the other members of that Committee, (for I addressed the very same inquiry to each of them) should have agreed in stating the exact opposite of what Mr. Close says. They say that Mr. Wilks was summoned before them after we had both been requested to retire; and state for what purpose he was sent for. Thus Dr. Towle, under date of June 19th, says to me.
“In answer to your inquiries, I have to say, that, after you and Mr. Wilks had retired from the Committee, a question arose as to the reply that Mr. W had given to the inquiry, ' Why he did not correct and put down the story in question, when it came to his knowledge that it had assumed a character which did injustice to you, and conveyed a false impression to the public?' This, according to my recollection, was the only point in the case, spoken of or considered during the time to which you allude."
And Mr. Hinkly, in his reply, under date of June 18th, 1856, says: "The sole object of our having Mr. Wilks before the Committee again, after we had requested you both to retire, was, to ask from him some further explanation in regard to his not having taken active measures to put a stop to a rumor injurious to your character, even though he was not responsible for it. ”[1]
- ↑ It will be seen from this, as well as from the extract from Dr. Towle's letter, that the Committee assumed on Mr. Wilks' naked declaration, and in opposition to the best of testimony, that he was not the originator of the calumny. Hence the diffi
