The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1869-04-30
awII,IIAM TEE SILENT"
Mr.. Douglass Replication Replied

cation Of Mr.. Douglass to my critical stric- l
lures on his lecture, William the Silent, -
Barring few slight exceptions, the honor
able gentleman has been courteous and re-
spestfal, and have noreason to be dissat-
isfiSd with tone and temper of his reply, in
which, however, utterly failed to see my
structures answered. ...- q.
There 10 no answer. This astonishes me,
for gentleman of Mr. Douglass renOwn for
amsrtness aud intellect should have seen,
that it he can not give distinct, short and
pointed rstOrt and answer it would be bet
ter to pass the matter in silence, and not to
disappoint his devOtses by weakness, and
to give bis opponent a fresh, vulnerable
point for the leveliDg of his shafts.
Passing the res, 4 nadetwo points against
Mr.. Douglass: one against HIS MANNER and
the other against HIS STATEMENT. Mr.. Doug
las not touched the first even remotely, and
the second with virtual, I may say literal,
acknowledgement of having been wrong
Now, it is not my custom to diffuse the head
points of my arguments with any, particu-
larly able, antagonist in flood of verbiage
and catching phrases, 1 try to give them
tsrSe prominence. 1t is the subterfuge of
these, that have made wrong steps, 10 go in
to struggling explanations; to color up the
nishaps by VerbOsity, and sometimes TO
make excuses only by more expansive, and
perhaps, in their belief, to the public they
address, pleasing reiteratiOns of their Grim
mating blunders. 1t is on the contrary the
part of truthful and conscientious logic to
give bold relief, emphatic and concise, to the
salient points, about which the question
turns. Faithful to this last rule, let me once
more give conspicuous eminence to the char
ges preferred agaiust Mr.. Douglass
1st, the lecturer stating the fictitious bless
ing of the Pope on the purpose of an assss-
sinG'i1p. slept from behind his stand or table,
al shaking, like a Boanerges, his arm aud
hand at the audience, apOstrOphized Cath
olicS present in these words: you cannot
overcome or disprove that fact, my dear
Catholics etc. Now if his statement were
true, Catholics present would not trouble
themselves to disprOve it; and if false, then
it could not be improved in veracity by any
theatrical posture; and in any case, no! help
| ing his illustration any, and lending no ad
| ditional light, etc., such direct address to
any listeners, sacrificing so unreasonably
and uselessly their feeling to the snappish
jeers of some shallow-head, is a ruthless
disregard of the commouest comfy, polish
and courtesy.
The gentleulanly and courteous replica
ton, with all its misteps, shows that Mr.
Douglass spoke in an uDguarded moment,
betrayed by his unclaimed ardOr, and if he
only would acknowledge the misdemeanor
| frankly and humbly, not by any means dis
| hororably, l would easily forgive and for
get. We live no more in political lat least)
| Know ROthingism, hence the time should
have past to Ostracize US even in lecture
rooms, By pointing directly and personally
the finger at US, and holding US up to ridi-
cule, for acts (and these only supposed, and
falsely so in the case,) done by the political
barbarians of a savage time.
The I'd charge made is, that Mr.. Douglass
made an iUiuriously false statement in the
ASSERTION, that the Pope, the venerated head
of the greatest religious body in Christian
ity, has given his blessing to the assassin of
William.
Examine now impartialIy the reply of Mr.
Douglass to my charges. Did Mr.. Douglass
assert that he did not make the offensive
apostrophsl No. Did he excuse it2 No.
/ Did be even touch it with view of contra
statement? By no means. In his No. l, he
launches out into easy reiterations, begging
the question, into sweeping charges of the
horrors Of Catholic persecution, the burning
Of heretics, etc.; and usurping the spirit of
prophesy, be sees already the breaking-doWn
of the Church of Rome. Isn't it strange to
hear, in an enlightened society like ours, on
the one side intimatioDs and expressions of
fear aud danger over the rapid growth and
the steady advance, like a Macedonian Phl-
lsnx, of the Church of Rome, and on the
other (toO frequently however, from the s7me
| individual, and if memory fails me not,
could quote even Douglass in these contra
dictions) the exultant prophesy Of near-at-
hand and already begun tottering and break
ing Of the samel Men, indeed, are inconsis-
| tent, and always by necessity the more so,
as they have wandered away from truth and
as they have been, as the New Eaglander
would say, snarled into embarrassing situa-
| tions
Ny distinguished opponent and the hon
ored public will take notice, that the point
made in my No. /, isnot sgainst the WHAT
of the subject matter; but against the HOW
OF its treatment in one poignant, Initiating
instant. He mistook the What for the Hole.'
l reserved the latter for my No. 2, and only
in solitary instance, namely, the fictitious
blessing of the Pope. / did not desire to
follow Mr.. Douglass in volumnOus excur-
sion through the long aud dismal passages of
Medieval history. presume, now, that the
substitution Of someteing without relevancy
to the case as an answer; and the total silence
on the real topic is to be taken as an implied
confession of wrong. ,,-,
Whist does Mr.. Douglass say TO my 2
charge, i: e. the false fact of the Pope's
blessing ete.2 ''I don't know that 1 en-
ployed the phrases 'Benedietion,' Blessed
do not find them in my written lecture;
but admitting that did use these words and
admitting that they are technically errone-
GUS, it is easy to show them in substance
correct" This IS The language of Mr.. Daug-
lass in answer to No. 2 He then proceeds
to say, that if it was not the Pope, it was
Cardinal Granville, that procured the mur-
der Of Will, cardinal who IS only little
lower than the Pope, and who, with all the
other Cardinals, lived under the constant
benediction Of the Pope, and not less after
than before he procured tire murder of Will
liam, Prince Of Orange. How feeble is this.
What d round-sbout-way must Mr. Douglass
take to criminste the Pope by such labor
ed, yet clumsy and lAughably limping con-
struction. As to the words, he did use them;
for this l have many witnesses. He has
them, the phrases, not in his written lecture
we'll, that is no proof. Besides, he evil
IDENTIFY went off at several points from his
notes. '' tt '-t
Mr.. Douglass makes confession, that he
was techn cally wrong, but substantially
Correct. That is a soft and dOwDy cushion,
indeed, TO fall down on. Some generals
have been more admired for their retreats,
than advances, and some more skill and
practice in Mr.. Douglass will render him
quite artful in this line of distinction.
expected the lore of intricate citations
from some inimlcsl history; but instead
thereof l behold with satisfaction the i'd
mission Of a technical error, which is quite
deal 70 me, and the poor Pope must become
accessory to the blo5dy deed of William
assassination only through aweak and finn
81 circumlocutory inference. Now, Mr..
Douglass, take friends advice, and do not
attack the Pope any more 80 directly, when
you have to bring In evidence only such fall
lible interpretations 1t works well for the
Pope; but badly for you.
!, Now for the interpretation itself Gard
inal GranYella was the civil Minister of Phil
lip II. In the Middle Ages, and iu the Is
and l7th centuries, dignitaries Of the Church
were frequBnHy employed by Sovereigns as
civil Ministers. There is Richelieu, Mazar-
in, Alberoni, beside our Granvella. In such
character they were no more under the
POpe's jurisdiction OF blessing than Mr..
Dougl'ss, ifhe were minister to Hayti Did
Cardinal Richelieu live under the constant