Chancellor Kent told me that your book is the most interesting he has ever read, and that the attack on it amounts to nothing.

Others have paid it the same compliment, and I think your fame is in no danger of being injured by the Trio." Mr.Baldwin, a legal gentleman of high worth and standing, made the following observations in one of the city papers, under the signature of "Albanian":-- "True criticism is a liberal and humane art, and teaches no less to point out and admire what is deserving of applause, than to detect and expose blemishes and defects.

If this be a correct definition of criticism, and 'Trio' were capable of filling the office he has assumed, I am of opinion that a different judgment would have been pronounced upon Mr.Schoolcraft's book of travels; and that they would have been justly eulogized, and held up for the perusal of every person at all anxious about acquiring an intimate knowledge of the interesting country through which he traveled, and which he so ably and beautifully described.

It is certainly true, that we abound in snarling critics, whose chief delight is in finding fault with works of native production; and though it is not my business to tread upon their corns, I could wish they might ever receive that castigation and contempt which they merit from a liberal and enlightened public.

In the first article which appeared in your useful paper, over the signature of 'Trio,' I thought I discovered only the effervescence of a pedantic and caviling disposition; but, when I find that writer making false and erroneous statements, and drawing deductions therefrom unfavorable to Mr.
Schoolcraft, I deprecate the evil, and invite the public to a free and candid investigation of the truth.