True American. [volume] (Steubenville [Ohio]) 1855-1861, 1855-07-25
Iafayette-His Religious Views.


Lafayette, has recently been rescued from
oblivion and placed upon record. The
manner in which this developement has oc-
CURED, is given in detail in the New York
Observer Of the affair we will give a
brief statement, in introducing the histo-
rical passage
There has been dispute between Prof
S, F. B. Morse, of PoughkeepSie, N. Y,
(the Telegraph Inventor and DR., Spaul-
ding, Catholic Bishop, on the authentic
ity of the allcdged saying of Lafayette =
I"Fe0er The Liberties ofMe United Sta tes
arc Destroyed, 1t ,oW be By Romih Priests. 3"
Prof. NJ afirms, Bishop S. denies, and
charges the Professor with originating the
saying, He asserts that it is not only
groundless, but is directly the reverse of
the truth, making the French patriot say
directly the opposite of what he did say
lie then gives an extract from letter said
to have been written by him from Paris,
in 1929, to Protestant gentleman in New
York, in which the following sentences oc-
cur:
! 81 can not but admire your noble SEN
timents of devotion and attachment to your
country and its institutions. But l must
be permitted to assure you that the fears
which in your patriotic zeal you seem to
entertain-that if the liberty of the Uni
ted States is des troyed, it twill be by Ro-
miSh Pricsts-are certainly without any
foundation whatever. An intimate ac-
quaintance of more than half century
with the prominent and influential priests
and members of that church, both in Eng
land and America, warrants me iu assu-
ring you that you need entertain no appre-
hension of danger to your republican insti-
tutions from that quarter"
Professor Morse pronounced this letter
of Lafayette fraud and demanded evil
dcnce of its genuincness.
The Jesuit man, hard pressed, or some
adhcrent in his behalf, affects to give the
title of n small work published at Paris, in
1885, but does not give the publishers
name.
This alleged French book proves to be
hoax Or pious fraud, as the Investigations
of Professor Morse fully show. He says:
"For myself, | need no other evidence
Of its forgery than the letter itself affords,
as quoted by you, especially as it is made
manifest in the light Of my own personal
intercourse with General Lafayette. My
first expectation, indeed, was that | should
actually find such letter S you quote in
the alleged book, and in such connection
as would afford some clue to the culprit,
and 50 | sent to Paris to procure the work.
TO my surprise, learned from my cores
pondent that the most eminent bibliopho-
lists of Paris, after dilligent search, hnoV
Of no such aoorh, and they write me with
one accord that "no such work is to be
found in PariS' l could hardly bring
myself to believe; notwithstanding the well
known and avowed principles Of your cor
poration warranted the EXTREMIST diStrust,
that the whole fraud had extended not
only to the forgery of letter of Lafay cite,
but to the forgery of q false title to false
book, false author, false place of pub
lication, false date, false size, false
number Of pages, and in connection with
these, purely fictitious account of the i'm
aginary author, and all the other fabulous
of its ideal existence. But
to this extent, in the present state Of the
research; this plOus fraud seems already
to have reached.
"Since writing to Paris, / find that it
was not necessary for me to have written
there, in order to ascertain whether such
work had been published even in any part
of France. lu the Astor Library, of New
York, is the "BiLliographie de Ia France,
O'eJournaI General de i Imprimerte, et
de Ia AJrairc," which is weekly period
ical containing complete catalogue Of all
the works published in Paris, Or in the de-
partments, arranged in three tables lst.
An alphabetical table of the wcrks; I'd.
An alphabetical table of the authors, and
Sd. A systematic table of the works.
This catalogue is so comprehensive as to
include everything that is published in
Paris, down to a /ourPuged ephemeral ell
ection address.
"ln company with the accomplished Ii
brarian of the Astor Library, 1 carefully
examined this catalogue and tables for the
years lS34-35-36, and no such work, nor
that could be mistaken for it, is
therein to be found. The most insipnif-
cent four-paged pamphlet is not omitted,
and yeta work Of 50 much political prcten-
sion as to occupy 245 pages is omitted =
With the fact before you, sir, you can
draw your own conclusions, and the pub