THE BALLANTYNE REPLY TO MR. LOCKHART.

Tuts is a curious pamphlet, and in essentials a clinching reply. Curious, for the light it throws upon Sir WALTER SCOTT'S charac- ter,—his keen selfishness; his close attention to the minutest affairs that concerned his own interest ; and the constant hot water or anxiety in which he passed his life, from the ill-regulation of his desires and the recklessness with which he pursueethem. As a reply, it is conclusive against Mr. LOCKHART. It is shown that the moral charges against BALLANTYNE in his Life qf Scott were un-- warrantable ; and that, in his Bdlantgne-Humbug Handled, he has been guilty of distorting and suppressing the fact in matters of account, and asserting what closely borders upon untruth in mat- ters of statement. A's regards the representations relating to the earlier connexion with SCOTT and 3smns BALLANTINE, it is poi- sible that he did not understand what lie undertook to investigate and pronounce upon : but, unless the Trustees have been guilty of forging accounts and letters, the plea of ignorance is scarcely available in the other cases.

Having already entered into the discussion at considerable length upon two former occasions, we shall not fatigue our readers with minute detail or cumulative proofs, but state the results of the principal specific points, and then pass on to more general subjects.

1. The over-draft by JAMES BALLANTYNE, during the first year of the printing business, of 1,5911. beyond his own share of the profits, turns out pretty mud; as we conjectured from Mr. LOCKHART'S own showing.* The book-debts or the old business of JAMES BALLAN- TYNE, amounting to 1,6041., were collected by the new firm for con- venience, but the proceeds belonged to JAMES, who was to pay the debts of the old concern. Hence the items on 13ALLANTYNel private account, paraded by Loci:HART, were either payments which SCOTT might fairly have insisted on seeing made, or with which lie had nothing to do. The insinuation of Loc.:sumer, that " the states" ceased to be kept after 1809, is disposed of by the fact, that the stock of each partner was by that time equalized, and the business re- modelled according to a minute which he must have had before him. In short, there is not a shadow of pretence for his charges of miscon- duct or fraudulent over-drafts against BALLANTYNE ; and nothing but utter recklessness, or a strange degree of ignorance, could have i& duced him to make them. At the same time, it seems clear, as we formerly intimated, that BALLANTYNE had embarked in a business beyond his means, and was driven to straits in raising money,—a re- mark, however, equally applicable to SCOTT. Whether he would have anode a fortune, had he continued gradually increasing his own growing business, instead of joining Scow, is of course impossible to tell. Bat it is neither unnatural nor illogical for his family to charge the pecuniary difficulties which embittered the prime of his life, and the ruin which finally overtook him, to his participation, not as as equal but an instrument, in the gigantic speculations of SCOTT. 2. A not very liberal transaction of SCOTT'S, slightly alluded to by LOCKHART, is stated at full ; from which it appears, that, using his in- fluence over BALLANTYNE, or taking advantage of his necessities, he forced upon the firm a loan of 3,000/., at an interest of fifteen per cent., at a time when the cost of banking accommodation was only from 6 to 7 per cent. Nor does SCOTT'S close attention to his own' interests end here : his brother Major Scorr advanced 1,2001. of the 3,0001., and a lien upon the company's premises was given hits as an additional security.

3. That Scorr wound up the publishing-business, in which he em-

barked himself and the BALLANTYNES, without loss, is reiterated ; but the proof is not conclusive ; and a considerable part of what he gained, was gained by forcing the publishers of his novels to take the dead- stock off his hands. However, this is so far of small consequence, as the failure of the bookselling business was owing to Scorr's injudicious choice of publications.

4. No specific account of the winding-up of the printing business in 1816, when ScoTT for a time took the whole to himself, is given,—an unfortunate omission. The 3,0001. then due by BALLANTYNE to Score is represented as being the loan at 15 per cent. already men- tioned, with the whole of which BALLANTYNE was charged instead of one-half. But this statement is not made out, nor is the latter part of it credible. It is clear that JAMES BALLANTYNE, in 1805, possessed a business, with a capital of 3,0001. (less some debts,) and by 1816 had lost it all, besides owing Scorr 3,0001. How this unpleasing reverse was brought about, cannot be learned either from LOCKHART or the

Trustees.

5. The argument of LOCKHART, that the bills, atnounting to about 26,0001. in 1822, and swelled to 46,5001. in 1826, were not for the accom. modation of ScoTT, but were part of the partnership debts, or the effects of the BALLANTYNES' personal extravagances, is satisfactorily disposed of: but the charge was so improbable, so ill-supported by argument, and so contrary to the evidence which exists, that it was never credible. The Trustees admit, that from 1822 to 1826, JAMES SAV.

• Spectator, No. 562; 6th April 1839, p. 324.

LANTYNE drew more from the business than was consistent " with eco- nomy ; " but they deny that he drew more than he had a partner's right to draw, and they assert that Mr. LOCKHART has overstated the amount of his drafts by more than 2,0001. This last charge, (pp. 105- 107,) moreover, involves so grave an imputation against Mr. LOCK- HART'S veracity, that, not quotinsrthe accusation, we will not character- ize the offence.

0. The assertion of Mr. LOCKHART, that Scorr WAS kept in ignorance of the business and bill transactions, is confuted by every figure and every fine he wrote. His attention to the minutest circumstance—the quickness with which he seized the gist of a complex subject—the ever-present perception of petty details, even when one would suppose his mind must have been diverted by composition, pleasure, business, and the extent of his domestic affairs—is wonderful, and forms one of the most extraordinary traits of his extraordinary mind.

Quitting the specific points, we turn to more general matters. The following letters relate to a borrowing transaction between JAMES and his brother, which LOCKHART coloured : but we quote them to show that there was not always unjudging submission on the part of I3.11,IANTYNE—to give additional evidence of the straits to which the grasping cupidity of SCOTT had early re- duced him—and to indicate that the BALLANTYNES could hardly have been the penniless adventurers LOCKHART paints them. Edinburgh, 231 September 1814.

"My dear Sandy—I have a letter from — [Mr. Scott], in which he ex- presses himself as unprepared to agree to the transfer of the house to you, say- ing, '1 ou n 1 think it questionable how fits money borrowed for the advantage ssf a partner ought to be guaranteed by the company. As it so stands, Mr. IL must take the chance of the other creditors. I cannot think of sanctioning any arrangement which would dispose of your house in his favour, and to the pre- judice of others ; and if you will consider it in this point of view, you must be sensible it would be au improper transaction. The matter may lie over till we meet.'

" I suppose you are quite willing to talc the chance of the other credi- tors? You huce the bills of James Ballantyne and Company, and cannot lose. I shall answer —'s ktter triumphantly. He talks of it as an improper trans- action.' Why, Sir, he has, at this moment, an obligation from us in his pos- session, binding us to give his brother security over the printing-office, fir money advanced as part of his stock, and for which he regularly received 15 per cent. That plain talc should put him down, methinks. For here, he receives this enormous interest as n partner, runahry risks; and lie takes an obliga- tion for a security which would prevent the possibility of his running any risk. How that should be a wrong transaction applied to my brother, which he thought a right one when applied to his brother, my blunt intellects cannot see. So, no more of this. 1 rest here, that you mina lose in the long run. You have, as above said, the bills of the company : and the company can pay. " Most assuredly, you can draw interest at only 5 per cent. We have too well got over the bond transaction, to renew the same difficulty with the bills. They are new securities, untainted by the vice of their predecessor, and must be kept so. " In haste, yours, J. 13." JAI■TES apparently despatched " his plain talc;" for the next day SCOTT Writes- " You seem to think that, in making arrangements for clearing off your bro- ther's debt, you give him no preference. I ask you, for what other creditor of the concern you are making similar provision ? All those who advanced money to me would be equally glad, I promise you, to be paid, and I can hardly keep some of them quiet. Yet their money, to live times the amount, was equally advanced to the concern as this 1,000/. of Sir. A. Ballantyne ; and I presume the circumstance of its having passed through your hands instead of mine, can give you no special right of preference. I presume your brother's pinch not to be extreme, since he was willing to take the house instead of cash ; so I con- ceive he wants security rather than money. But if lie choose to stop the house, of course he may. It is wholly in his power ; for I cannot be responsible for paying these bills when they become due. Every farthing of my salary you have long received from the Exchequer as it fell due ; and I assure you my family live bare enough. But 1 repeat it, if your brother choose to stop the Louse, it is quite in his power. Ile will hardly increase his chance of speedy payment, which seems morally certain if he choose to give time. The blow, too, will come from an unexpected quarter : but many uncommon things hap- pen in this world ; and he certainly may have the credit of ruining a man who has done, or at least tried to do, something for his family, with his two brothers into the bargain. I do not suspect you of any wish in this matter to pay off your own near relation at the expense of me and mine, and leave us all to the chance of the distress and disgrace which may happen if all the spare funds go off to make good this obligation. You appear to have been a kind brother to him, and are surely entitled to some forbearance from him ; and I cannot doubt that you will ask it. More unpalatable applications are wrung from me every day of my life. I put the case, that you have been misled in this matter by a very natural wish to comply with your brother, who as naturally wishes to have his money ; and truly sorry am I that it is impossible lie can have it in the time and incliner proposed, with any justice to others or safety to the con- cern." . . . " I wish to God you could scud me 251. or 30/. just now, as I am almost penniless. You know where my last quarter from Exchequer went."

We only quote part of the reply of BALLANTYNE ; and that to show the manly tone of his address, and the fine feeling which, be his weaknesses what they may, seems always to have flashed forth

on fitting occasions.

" The very serious nature of the charges implied against me in your remarks

upon the proposed transaction with my brother, Alexander Ballantyne, not only authorizes but compels me to lie open and explicit in my answer to them ; and I anxiously trust, that my earnestness in my own vindication will not be miscontrued into the slightest feeling of irritation or of disrespect. I am con- scious of neither.

" You state your surprise at finding a debt you never heard of, starting up

in Mr. A. Ballantyne.' My answer is very short and simple. The different sums composing that debt were regularly entered into the cash-book as they were received ; and are now to be found there, with their application on the op- posite side. They made a necessary part of every state of the company's cash concerns that was submitted to your inspection ; nor is it for me either to com- prehend or explain how that should be the only debt that escaped your obser- vation. That the other debts due by me, those to Mrs. Gibson and Mrs. Bruce, should be more frequently spoken of; I can easily understand ; because it was necessary always to hold these as it were in the eye, in case of a demand for them ; whereas it was needless to use the same precaution in regard to my brother's, as I knew that he never would distress or embarrass me, but would rather struggle, as he has struggled, with distress and embarrassment himself. As to any idea of concealment, I shall only say that there was no concealment ; that every publicity was given to the transaction that figures could give it."

After several remarks, and hitting SCOTT upon the Major's secu- • rity, he continues-

" With regard to the application you wish me to make to my brother for delay, certainly I shall make it, for the motives are very strong. He thinks much more of my kindness than I do myself; and Ile chooses the time to show his sense of it when I am wholly left without further power. He is not ambi- tious of the credit of ruining either his brother or a man for whom his regard approaches to veneration ; and I think I may venture to say in his behalf, that no blow to strike down our establishment will come from his hand. Were he not my brother, I should say he had behaved nobly in this business. He struggled for ninny months with his own difficulties rather than increase ours; and at length left it to me to fix the date of the bills at my own pleasure. I took nearly three years for the payment."

The readers of the Ballantyne-Humbug handled may remember a long list of extracts from JAMES BALLANTYNE'S private cash- book, adduced by LOCKHART to show his extravagance. Upon these garbled quotations the Trustees remark— He has brought together from 31r. Ballantyne's cash-book a number of items scattered over a period of four years, marking sonic of them with single, some with double, and sonic with triple notes of admiration; and Mr. Lockhart's usual unfairness characterizes his selection. Thus, to show Mr. Ballantyne's extravagance in regard to wine, he inserts all the entries he can find of pur- chases of that article ; but Mr. Lockhart, we presume, did not see the entries on the other side, of sums received from various persons to whom Mr. Hanna. tyne parted with portions of his purchases. Mr. Lockhart, of course, did not see the following-

1824, January 24, Received from Mr. George Thomson for wine +:14 8 0 April 27, Received from Mr. Bruce fiir wine, sold by him for me ... 48 0 0 1825,

February 23, Received from John Patterson for wine sold him 11 5 0 Whilst on the subject of wine, it appears, on reference to the same cash- book, that in the course of eighteen months, Mr Ballantyne paid on Sir Walter's account for who!, &c.—

John Cockburn and Co. .£892 17 0 And to Ealkner and Thomson 94 0 0 £986 17 0 Besides accounts for spirits, &c.

Mr. Lockhart, while he puts down, in like manner, several payments for horses bought, did not see any receipts fin' horses sold ; and, by this convenient blindness, makes it appear that James Eallantyne (who never Lad more than a horse for his gig or plias on) actually kept a stud. Another piece of bad faith, though trilling in itself; is curiously characteristic of Mr. Lockhart. He finds the folios ing article : " Seven sovereigns to my son John, to amuse him while confined, 71." This he blazons with his usual mark of wonder ; and returns to it many pages afterwards, to make it the subject of ridicule. " One entry of his expenditure for 182;3 is, "To seven sovereigns Ibr my sin John, to amuse him while contined,'—in other words, for the young Ascanins to play with when he was in bed with the measles! 1-his rocking-horse and his pony, adds our censor, with his usual kind feeling, " were ready for him when he re- covered:" And why not, pray? But while Mr. Lockhart was so much as- tounded by the aspect of these seven sovereigns, lie did not see, we suppose, an entry a short time afterwards, on the opposite side of the cash-book, which runs thus: "Prom me John, for lent him during his illness last December, 4/. 2s."— the remaining :Y. 18s. having no doubt been spent by Mrs. Ballantyne in household expenses. A word of comment on this would be superfluous. scorr IN HIS GLORY.

During six months of the year he resided at Abbotsford. The most wealthy of the English nobility are accustomed to entertain large parties of guests at their cauntry mansions at certain periods of the year, such as Christ- mas holydays or the commencement of the shooting•season, for a few days, or a week or two perhaps at as time; but the halls of Abbotsford, for months and months in succession, were tilled with parties of noble and distinguished guests, and crowds of pampered servants, while the stables might at any time have mounted a troop of horse. Mr. Lockhart somewhere in his book speaks of the time. when "the new castle was complete, and overflowing with all its splendour ;" " but by that time," he adds, " the end also was approaching." No wonder !

As regards accounts of a very extensive nature, extending over twenty years, a controversy can be made interminable ; and we doubt not that, in an entangled concern, more matters might be picked out not over-creditable to either party, since it is the sure effect of embarrasment to three men to commit actions from which they would naturally shrink. It is possible, too, that, with the usual recklessness of an involved man, BALLANTYNE might imi- tate SCOTT upon a small scale, and indulge in expense better avoided. But the first and main position of the Trustees is, we think, established—that SCOT'r ruined BALLANTYNE, not BALLAN- TYNE SCOTT. Had the BALLANTYNES never existed, SCOTT'S ab- surd and ever-craving ambition to found a thmily, would have driven hint upon other speculations with other coadjutors. Had JAMES BALLANTYNE never engaged in partnership with SCOTT, it seems reasonable to believe that he would have passed through life with greater peace of mind, and died with a larger worldly competence.