I never expected from you favor or mercy _because_ you were my friend (it would have been unworthy of us both) but I did expect justice from you, _although_ you were my friend.

That is reasonable.
And I consider that as a conscientious critic you were bound to read through the whole of the 'rhyme' called 'A Curse for a Nation' before ticketing it for the public, and I complain that after neglecting to do so and making a mistake in consequence, you refused the poor amends of printing my letter in full.

A loose paragraph like this found to-day in your 'Athenaeum' about Mrs.Browning 'wishing to state' that the 'Curse' was levelled at America _quoad_ negro-slavery, and the satisfaction of her English readers in this correction of what was 'generally thought'; as if Mrs.Browning 'stated' it arbitrarily (perhaps from fright) and as if the poem stated nothing distinctly, and as if the intention of it _could_ be 'generally thought' what the 'Athenaeum' critic took it to be, except by following his lead or adopting his process of a general skipping of half the said poem--this loose paragraph does not cover a great fault, it seems to me.

Well, I have spoken.
As to the extent of the 'general thought,' we cannot, of course judge here, where it is so difficult to get access to periodicals.

We have seen, however, two virulent articles from enemies in 'Blackwood' and the 'Saturday Review,' the latter sparing none of its native mud through three columns; _not_ to speak of a renewal of the charge in several political articles with a most flattering persistency.