Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1855-06-14
For the Louisville Daily Courier.

Tor the Louisville Daily Courier.
Professor Ndorze on Lafayette.
GIVE publish by request, the following
letter of Bishop SPAuLDrVe of Louisville, in
vindication Of his character for yeraeity.-
The Bishop certainly seems to have the best
of the argument. a party must die which
resorts to such shifts as those of Professor
MORSE, to make political capital;
TO TIE PUCLIC.
s. il rs d. JsAs. C. zst es.'sn rs4etaat.AoLIERE
Onmv return to the city, on yesterday,
was able to attend 10 the long letter of Profess
sor Morse. which was published IN the Cou-
qssr on the day after my departure. The
Professor is Is prolix as ever, and though he
now makes some attempt at reasoning, he
alleges little that is new, and nothing that IS
conclusive, as trust to show. But first, must
briefly allude to the manner in which this
discussion was forced on me; as the origin of
controversy and the true issue seem to be stu
diously kept out Of view.
1t will be recollected that, on the 10th Of
last March, during my absence from the city
4 virulent aud almos tsavage attack was made
upon me- in which L was charged with %
most high-handed and daring attempt to fal-
sify history" and the choice, polite, and ele-
CANT Christian epithets, ''villainy, mendacity,
literary forger," &c, We're freely employed
And what provoked all this fierce and un-
gentlemanly denunciation? The simple fact
that had dared to publish in the Introduction
to my Miscellanea, quotation concerning La
Fayette, taken from the columns of journals
conducted by Protestant, and circulated all
over the country, without any contradiction
then known to mel had given my author
ity at the time, in the margin Of the book It.
self; and / was simple enough to believe
that respectable Protestant editors would not
willfully circulate forgeries in favor of the
Catholic church. In my vindication | gave
my authorities in full, with chapter and verse
and / showed farther, that the statement OF
the Cincinnati Enquirer had been questioned
at the time by the Boston Bee and other viz
ulent anti Catholic prints. The authority of
Professor Morse having been alleged to prove
a contrary saying Of Lafayette, and his name
having been paraded as likely ''to live when
the last remnant of Popery lciH he smothered
in Bibles and teIegraphs," / ventured tenn
perately to assign my reasons for believing
that his statement was wholly unsatisfactory
and unreliable, and this, whether the quoted
letter of Lafayette was genuine or spurious.
But went a step farther. The second edl-
ton of the Miscellanea was then passing
through the press, and / availed myself of the
occasion to qualify my adoption of the letter
published in the Cincinnati Enquirer and other
Journals, as follows
Yet this is the case, if we may rely on
the genuineness of the following extract from
a letter of the French patriot, purportlng to
have been written by him to a gentleman in
New York in 1920, and which has been cred- |
tied and pretty widely circulated by por- |
ton of the secular press. As it seems to be
authentic, we republsh it, as we find it in
circulation" I'D edit. Miscellanea, p. XVIII |
This course was manifestly fair, and it
should have satisfied every impartial and
reasonable man !; and have reason to believe
that it was satisfactory to the most intelligent
portion of the community, of all shades of
opinion. But it did not suit the purposes of
those who had so bitterly assailed me. At
sufficiently long intervals, Professor Morse
was brought again and again to the charge, |
each time exhibiting more and mere his Bit
ter prejudice against the Catholic church
Accused himself of having without sufficient
grounds, originated or at least given currency
at once the accused, the witness, and the ar
bitter of the controversy
About one-half of his last letter, dated |
May 2, but published only May 12,) is taken
up with an attempt 10 show that the Cincin-
natl Enquirer was guilty Of circulating for
gerry, in publishing the letter of Lafayette |
fatty contradicting the motto ascribed to the |
French patriot by the Professor. He says
hot a. IL g. IL
editorial columns of Protestant paper, but
from one who coneeals himself under the
mask OF Old Line writing IN protestant
paper" l beg the Professors pardon: the
article signed Old Line did appear in ''the
editorial columns of the Enquirer it was
loaded like the other editorial matter, and it
had no mark of being communication ex-
cept the signature. 1t was credited simply to
the Cincinnati Enquirer By another Protest
ant paper''--the Louisville 1fnes-from
slip Of which it was printed in my book
The Professor continues l hazard little in
saying he cold Line , is no Protestant -
and intimates farther on that he is "a Jesuit"
between whom and myself there NAV have
been " a ooalUenient COLLISION p 1 thank him
for the compliment, so delicately conceived
and so gracefully expressed Ii is well
ed and accomplished French Catholic Mar
quis, whom he would fain represent to the
world in the new light of a modern fanatic
and ranter Luckily, am enabled to nail
this and similar charges to the counter, and
to show that the professor is as little reliable
here in statins the facts occurring under his
very eyes and during bis own day, as he is
IN stating, on his vague recollection Of oral
Iufo fbok 4 Ill
the motto
But before give the evidence, | will fur
nlsh specimen OF the Professors reasoning.
lie says, and tries 70 prove, that the book
from which "OlI Line" had quoted the let
ter Of Lafayette, and the title of which he
had given in full, in the original French. is a
forgery, with "a false title, false author, a
false place of publication, Jalse date, false
size, false number Of pages, and in connex-
ion with these purely fictitious account of the
imaginary author, and all the other fabulous
circumstances Of it, ideal existence" (the
italics are his, )-he might have added ga
false binding, falss type, false punctuation,
Jatse paper, false everything - And how
does he prove this sweeping charge? First,
hls correspondent could not find the book in
Pans; and, secondly, he himself could find
no account Of 1t in a catalogue of French pub
neatlons kept In the Astor Library of New
York This new species of argument might
be appropriately styled jumping or fying 10 a
conclusion-by telegraph
Perhaps the Professor may belong to the
class Of "nimble" reasoners described bv tho
poet
"Whie others toll with phiOsophic force
Their nimble nonsense takes a shorter eou,se.
Filings lPsltsf) al your head conviction in the lnmp
And gains remote conclusions az jump -
Now mark how the Cincinnati ENQUIRE
meets these bold allegations of the Professor,
and how il cuts this Gordian knot Of logic
This time it is not "Oll Line" who speaks
even in the editorial columns; it is the re-
sponsible Protestant editor himself, in propria
persona. In its issue Of Nav 18th, the En-
nllirsz hos tho fnlln,,-ir,r ,.liiorinl IL