The Arkansas banner., 1848-03-21
For fAs Bgsa0. FEB ATFaCK UPON REV. MI. MAFFITf.
.An1i altefa,s paylsn

Poof Parson, are fearful odds. Hcyne 7bcke
 i Mn. EpFrua-I had just concluded letter to . distant fdend, when the last Gazette was handed o
 me. and m5 eye fell upon editorial. headed "Ire- tures-Mexico.- Aslsr reading the article, added post-'erps 10 ny letter, of which the following is eepy Tfycu deem T appropriate to 'he occasion, it is ai yoar service for the Banner, and such other papers ss choose to re publish if.
 The editor of the Gazette has norght to complain, f-in return for hts unprovokcd. uhohsritabie, and diseOurteous assault upon peaceful min ster. on the eve of his departure from the sesne of his good works,--he ands himself in the ungioved hands Of JUSTICE.
 "P.S. I have just read in the Gazette, ns-p1r- fy WIlaot ProUiso-- IsOuId- br-arhis -in- digsise newspaps-, of this place. what Is author evidently designed as profound and witty crtqas, but what really i, a wretehed frade. against the Rev. JoHS N. M1rFIrT. And wherefore. do you suppose suoa an attack was made ? Why sir, be- cause on last Friday evening. that gentleman deIiv- cred to large enlightened and apfured auditory Lecture on the Meziean Var in which lecture, he presented. in pictnrrs of glowing msgniheence, tho peerless deeds of our army in MexieO-comPar- ed, with philosophic discrimination and power. the various races of man, and demonstrated the almost immcasurabIc superiority of the Anglo Saxon blood developed under AmeTiean institutions ted, with the hand Of master and the heart of phlanthrop'. the Prsss sna the Sword, the great ! moral and political levers which move the world and upheld, with moro than poets inspiration, and all chIsian's zeal, the Bible doctrine of the over ruEng providence of God, in tho whole economy of the Universe. extending from tho creation of worlds to the "fsll of a sparrow" and embracing within its wise, benc6cene yet mysterious scope. the destinies of men and natons in their progress decline and dissolution. "The head and front of his offending hath this extent no more." And yet, for this. of which any man of legitimate ambition might well be propd, this "slaShing" Paul Clifford, of the Gazette, declares thst "his cloth shall not protect him from eensure." That you may see and judge this "censars'' a itis send you the whole slip cut from it's parent sheet. Could
 present you the Lecture also, in all its fair pro- portions, then might bid you-HLook here on this pictuse and on thIs!" but from your excellent taste and good judgment, find cause to ask-"Could you this fair mountain leave feed, and batten on this moor9"
 It was my original putpose merely to call your attention to this specimen of false taste and vulgar ttemper, on the part of one who has usurped the place of Censor morHm st laerdrum; and. abusing his "litte brief authoiy, has fully established bis rank among those ''poor devils" that heedlessay crush in where Angels fear 10 tread" But since my hand is in, canaot fnrbear, small as the game un- doubiedly is, to indicate something even worse, on the part ofthis soi-disGni critic than false taste and vulgar temper. You will observe that he says "ths Rev. GeniiemaR is an indifferent lecturer in al! respects save a finished elocution." And yet. this occidental Jeffrey, only thirty days before. characterized the. lecturer as ''the distinguished Divine and Orst9r;' ani that, too- alter be had heard him lecture. Again, a week afterwards, he says :" a5- Rev. Prof. Mafitt gave aH able and eloquent lecture, last night, to a crowded house" And ssll. again, one O,her weeklater. well known correspondent, generally regarded as seeondsel or fte editor, in his first editorial column, and as from the tripod, speaks approvingly of "the Rev. Prof. Msiiit, in his series c 6riSanC iseures; and urges the eitiz"asto 'the rick repa that awaits them,' in hearing him. Albeit he is now Ian ia- different lecturer in all respects savc finished elo. cution.' In view of this, am ready to excIa:n. with the i1tc ediior of the Gazette, when commend ing Mir. MatTittta this community, in hIs paper of February Sd, that "Genius is shining mark against which enry has ever delighted to ding the mud and filth in which she herself watiows." What an apt complication does this just sentiment find, in the disrepu'able course of rbc pressnt editor. and his strcet.corner eompeers. An additional feature, in the exerplidcatiOs. is suggested to the minds of 7 x.k~ haya had Inc. to editor, himself perpetrate srafory; when the fastid- ous Prince of Denmark, might have ordered even ga passion torn to tattersto very rags. in glad lief from the boring monotony, and snufhns droae, of school boy recitation and post-like rigidi'y.
 But, the state pride, we'll as the polished taste of this modern QaintiliAn, is grossly iusuited un- pardonably outraged, by the Lecturers imposition upon him, of "such tissue of trashy disconnected and dull newspaper detail" Now it so happens that this same series of lectures, wnch inc Gazette one day ealis "brilsian' another able and eloquent, but now ''duIl trashy disconnected and indifferent have been received, with honor and applause, by College Faculties. Lelrnei Societies, and the most cultivated auaitores, in various portions of the Uni ted States. well remember having been in the city of Baltimore, when of them were deliver ed there; and although greatly desiring to hear the
 found it impraeticable, sn account of the crowds of people who 6ed, asi even surrounded the house, atanearly hour Such, too, has baeA their reception, in the other chief cities of our country Itis well known hst the late venerable .Ioha c Qliacy Adams, himseH '.the old man eloquent than whom there were few better orators, andfewer still who knew so wei in what true eloquenee consisted, even he was won't ts hang with delight, upon the words. as they Sell sin linked swee'ness from this Lecturers lips But that which delighted Adams could not satisfy the editor of the Gazette! And the wonder ceases, ed no image Of beauty upon ihs Saiyr; and that the classic bird of Juno has taste in with the nau.eeus bnzzayd. Why need l, however, go abroad,