The Portland daily press., 1880-08-07
APPLETON VS.. JOHNSON.


"When bad man publishes a bad book
and fails in his endeavor to force its sale
ON IN unwilling public, owing to its de-
merits, he tries another n,e thu by appeal
Ing 10 the passions md prejudices of the
people by Illuminating false charges
against another work OF great and sterI-
ing value, the foundation and building of
which arc facts and facts nIone; such n
course but rea cts ON the inventor, w h0 sud-
denly comes TO PROSTATE sricf."-Bacon.
or Johnson's Cyclopmdia, is groaning under at
the present time. His significant challenge
to the Appletons" has been before the publ .
Tor several years and is now being revived and
rehashed in various forms until it has reached
the enormous limit of $4,000! The style in
which this challenge is Haunted before the
public is strongly suggestive of the quack doc
tor or patent medicine vender. The fact that
for time L aoas ground in the johnson mill is
rather my misfortune than matter of public
concern. My opinion of Appletons Cyclic
p@di was then largely influenced by ca parte
statements and denunciatory documents furn-
ished by A. j. johnson himself, togethes with
criticisms and testimonials written for the
most part by the associate editors or contribu
tors to his book.
So far as "Johnson's Catholic BOOM is con-
cerned, that was started, discussed and ex-
ploded long ago. In 1874, Mr.. johnson ex-
pected ''to arrive the American Cyclopse-
dia' from the field" by charging the pub
fishers, editors, revisers and contributors of
the work with having "Catholicized" it, and
he attempted to prove the charge by citing
several articles Thomas a Beckett, The Abb
genSes, st. Bartholomew Massacre, &C., as
imparting an undue Catholi. tendency The
only ground upon which such scandalous
charges could be based was that the services of
an eminent Catholic clergyman ere secured to
write some OF the articles relating to the Catho-
lie church. The readers of the Press know
the plan upon which the American Cyclop;e-
dia is made. In religion, as we'll as in science.
representative men in the different fields of
knowledge are chosen on account of their pc
culiar fitness to do the work. In short all
branches are intruSted to fair and friendly ex-
perts, subject to the criticism of the staff of
revisers, which include ten celebrated Protest.
ants and one Catholic gentleman. the associ-
ate editors and finally the editors-in-chief,
Geo. Ripley and Chas. A. Dana.
Only the narrow-minded, blinded with pre-
judice and bigotry, will hold that such q plan,
executed by a corps of men of such ability
lnsures anything more than magnanimity and
justice to all. But Mr.. johnson, to use his
own favorite expression, Event off half
cooked" as he found to his sorrow. As soon
as the base charge came to the notice of the
authors of the articles criticised, they were not
only stoutly denied, but curiously enough, it
was found that the authors We're all Protest
ants and two OF them contributors to john
sons Cyclop9dia. The following from one of
the contributors to Johnson's work speaks for
itself:
New YORK, April 4, 1874.
Editor of the Chistrian Intelligencer:
Sir-I have before me the Christian Intelli-
gencer of April 2, containing paper on the
article est. Bartholomew" in Appleton's
AMERICAN CYCLoPEDIA. That article was
written by me, who am Protestant, and
graduate of the Union Theological Seminary
in New York. The article was written after
careful examination of the historical evidence,
and believe it embOdieS all the essential facts
in the case. AT all events it was in no way
suggested or modified by any other person.
Until it was printed, as it now appears, no
other person saw it, except my co-associate
editors and Mr.. George Ripley and Mr.
Charles A. Dana, the editors-in-chief of the
CYCLoPEDLA, no one of whom is Roman
Catholic; beyond theirs, it was submitted to
no other ''eye of authority" 1 adopted a
brief summation from Lingard, because be-
lleve it to embody the truth, and to be sub
stantiated by documentary evidence of un-
questionable authenticity.
am, very truly yours,
ALFRED III. GUERNSEY,
Associate Editor of the American Cyclopadia
DR.. 7. j. Conant of Brooklyn, the Reviser
OF all the Ecclesiastical articles in the Ameri-
can Cyclop@dia, is one of the most eminent
of Baptist divines in the United States, and
by common consent is one of the most accom-
plished Hebraists in America
lead the fouoacing letter to the publisher:
Having myself been long familiar with the
first edition, and having carefully compared
the two in the religious articles reFsed by me
for the second edition, feel bound to say
that there is no ground whatever for the
subject Both Protestants and Catholics land
am glad to say "both') have been treated
with judicial fairness, and in strict accord
with the truth of history. Having been in
trusted with the revision OF articles affecting
the different branches of Christendom, 1 felt
myself bound in conscience and in honor to
be faithful to the truth, and to those whose
opinions and judgments were to be influenced
BY the articles l was revising. If they con-
tain abundant proof of a leaning toward
Roman Catholicism 1 certainly should have
found some of it, and nothing could have been
more offensive and repulsive to me. Nor
would any such thing have been. admitted by
the editors, who accepted nothing in their
articles which had not my full approval.
The article on Papal Infalliblity, for ex
ample, is simply a statement of the doctrine of
the Romish church on that subject, and pro-
fesses nothing more. The Cyclopedia is not
committed to the truth of the doctrine. 1t
simply states. and aims to state truthfully,
what IS held by that church, and what Prot
estants ought and should desire to know as
the accepted doctrine of the church. Not
few Protestant writer's on the subject might
have found it instructive.
In the article on the Saint Bartholomew
Massacre. necessarily abridged in a new edi-
fhn ~, hot,
Both trace alike the train of events, political
and religious, that led to that carnival of
blood (Bluthochzeit as German writers well
express it, and both ascribe it to the same i'm
mediate actors and influences; both acquit-
ting, and on the same historical evidence, the
See OF Rome from any completely or conniv-
ance with the devserS and perpetrators of the
horrible tragedy. A comparison of the two
articles, line by line, shows that both leave
the responsibility where it belongs, with those
to whom the truth of history has already as
signed it.
Well knowing whereof L affirm, feel my
self bound to acquit the editors of the new
Cyclopedia and their work from all leaning
toward Romanism; and to assert that the
charge that their work has been "manipu-
lated in the interests of the Roman Catholic
church" is itself against the Ftruth of history,
and is without any foundation.
Very respectfully, T. j. CoNANr.
Brooklyn, December 49, 1878.
But IN lace OF these InconteStable proofs of
justice and truth, the brazen-faced johnson
seems determined that the infamous charge
should "stick" by force of mere repetition and
emblazoned head lines, and consequently he
has made the best possible use of the
handful of letters he received before
the explosion of his "Catholic BOOM"
But he cannot deceive intelligent people by
quoting parts of sentences from articles. in the
American Cyclop9dia in order to pervert the
meaning of the whole article, nor can he mis-
lead them by publishing long lists of important
omitted subjects when these very subjects are
treated in their proper places which are readily
discovered by reference to the index.
A large number of scholars hvve shown their
opinion of Johnson's work by exchanging it
for Appleton's.
This list includes in the city of New Haven,
Conn, two of the writers in Johnsons work
Daniel G. Eaton, NJ. A, professor of Botany,
Yale College, who writes "Ferns," and Jno.
G. Baird, assistant secretary of the Connecti-
cut Board of Education, besides
Leonard Bacon, D. D., LII. D., Yale Col
lege.
Francis Bacon, M. D., Yale College.
Cyrus Northrup, LII. D., Yale College
Ariel Parish, Superintendent of Board of
Education.
Mark Pitman, principal of Woolsey school.
Jno. E. Todd, pastor Church of Redeemer,
and.mOra than Sixtv Othars