the subject of Miscegenation and the little
pamphlet in question. Mr. Tilton was the first to announce a belief that
the book was a hoax. I quote from his article:

"Remaining a while on our table unread, our attention was specially
called to it by noticing how savagely certain newspapers were
abusing it."

* * * * *

"The authorship of the pamphlet is a well-kept secret; at least it
is unknown to us. Nor, after a somewhat careful reading, are we
convinced that the writer is in earnest. Our first impression was,
and remains, that the work was meant as a piece of pleasantry--a
burlesque upon what are popularly called the extreme and fanatical
notions of certain radical men named therein. Certainly, the essay
is not such a one as any of these gentlemen would have written on
the subject, though some of their speeches are conspicuously quoted
and commended in it."

* * * * *

"If written in earnest, the work is not thorough enough to be
satisfactory; if in jest, we prefer Sydney Smith--or McClellan's
Report. Still, to be frank, we agree with a large portion of these
pages, but disagree heartily with another portion."

* * * * *

"The idea of scientifically undertaking to intermingle existing
populations according to a predetermined plan for reconstructing
the human race--for flattening out its present varieties into one
final unvarious dead-level of humanity--is so absurd, that we are
more than ever convinced such a statement was not written in
earnest!"

Mr. Tilton, however, hints that the colored race is finally in some
degree to form a component part of the future American; and that, in
time, "the negro of the South, growing paler with every generation, will
at last completely hide his face under the snow."

One of the editorial writers for the "Tribune" was so impressed with the
book that he wrote an article on the subject, arguing about it with
apparent seriousness, and in a manner with some readers supposed to be
rather favorable than otherwise to the doctrine. Mr. Greeley and the
publishers, it is understood, were displeased at the publication of the
article. The next morning nearly all the city journals had editorial
articles upon the subject.

The next point was, to get the miscegenation controversy into