From the Columbia (S. C.) Daily Phoenix, 10/17/1869, p. 3, c. 2

The National Intelligencer criticizes with just severity the appointment of a Mrs. Van Lew, as Postmistress at Richmond, Va. Her recommendation seems to have been that she played traitor to the Virginians in the late war, by acting as a spy and smuggling through information to the Federal army that would enable them more successfully to kill off her own countrymen. A spy in one’s own country has always been looked upon with detestation by the civilized world, and even those that love the treason scorn the traitor. The war, however, has inaugurated a new system or morality in this country. To say the least, if Mrs. Van Lew’s recommendations be genuine, she certainly must be most offensive in the eyes of the people of Richmond, whose postal business she has been appointed to transact, and, consequently, if it had not been intended – and we hope it was not – no greater indignity could have been put upon them.

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