New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-06-10
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4 ELSE 1L1RM

The announcement "a rev udyS ago InhO Dl'
George ii. Moore, of the Lenox Library, an
erudite and accomplished scholar, who is ex-
tremely liable to have proofs at hand whenever
| he ventures an assertion, had read paper be-
fore the New-YOrk Historical Society denying
that Thomas Jefferson was the author OF the
Great Declaration" and claiming the credit
for the same for John Dickinson, of Delaware,
sent a thrill of CONSERVATION through several
hundred recently organized Jeffersonian Clubs
throughout the country. These clubs have taken
il upOn themselves to seize the falling standard
of Democracy, and with the freshly painted
name of II. Jefferson upon it rally once
more around it the routed remnants OF
| the party. They were making uncommonly
! good Roadway at it. The saint was
fairly canonized. His birthday had already
been spread over the whole month OF
April and part of May, so that the clInk of
the glasses of his devotees celebrating the day
might follow the new moon across the CONT
nent. very much as Mr.. Webster described the
martial airs of England accompanying day
break round the globe. Tammany Hall, too,
had appointed a committee to see abOut erect
ing statue to his memory, an honor paid no
other statesman except William NJ. Tweed
though truth compes us to say that the Tweed
monument was encouraged by large number
of bona fde subscriptions, he being then in
! the flesh and in ollice-while the Jefferson
monument so far as we can learn, has yet to
he endowed with the first dollar But the JEFF
fersonian business has made, Notwithstanding,
very fair progress. A great many drinks were
taken to his memory, good deal OF windy
oratory was delivered, many letters were
written about him by distinguished statesmen,
and although he had received the Endorsement
of Tammany Hall, Mr. Tilden whispered his
approval of him.
And there was danger that all this would
come to naught For though Mr.. Jeler-
son was very great statesman, it must
he confessed that his fame rests largely
upon his authorship of the Declaration
of Independence. There may have been
doubts as to what he believed in relig-
ious matters or whether he had any kind
of religious belief, and there certainly have
been serious questions raised rs to his views of
government and of politics-though Mr. John
Kelly and Mr.. Augustus Schell and a few
! others have no doubt whatever that he was in
all, above all and through all an Anti Tiden
man of the most Anti-Tilden type-but
! there has never been, to our knowledge,
any doubt or. question as to his having
invented out of his own head the Declara-
! ton of ndependence-always excepting the
old charge of plagiarism from the Mecklen-
burg Declaration. Beyond this, for more than a
hundred years he has had the full credit
of it, and the party that took his name and as
sumes to have been founded by him has done
more able-boded stealing from the public
upon the strength of that claim than ali other
parties collectively since the beginning of the
| Government. But on Wednesday morning
| of this week orr Stalwart contemporary,
| The Herald, announced that on the pre-
vious evening DR.. Moore, of the LenOx
Library, had read paper before the New
York Historical Society "upon the Declare
ton of independence, which he said was
"not written by Thomas Jefferson, but by
John DickinsOn.n And our contemporary
quotes DR.. Moore as saying: " The question of
the authorship of the Declaration of Inde-
"pendence is not very complicated one.
"There il only one adverse claimant, and his
"pretence is only to part of the work. But
" his reputation is of the highest, and the
"part he claims was said to be the best.
"propOse to settle this question now and
here. But if any further defence is needed
% will defend against all corners the absolute,
Il" sole and undivided claim of John Dickinson
q" to that imperishable trophy of his pen,
the original draft of which, in his
town handwriting, l hold in my hand
and shall further exhibit hereafter
Proofs from historic sources in support of the
assertion were adduced by DR.. Moore, the whole
making something more than a merely plaus-
ible statement, amounting indeed almost to
demonstration, and the argument was fairly
reported 10y our contemporary.
Imagine then the thrill of horror that ran
through the Jefferson Clubs and all Jeiiersondom
at finding that the Immortal Declaration, D"
as our contemporary describes it, was not
written by the Immortal Jefferson" at all,
but by the not widely known and compare
lively mortal John Dickinson, of Delaware.
The returns are not all in yet of the number
of Jeficrsonian Clubs that hurriedly met and
changed "Jeffersonian u to "Dicknsonian ~
upon the strength of The Heralds interpreta-
ton of the subject of DR.. MoOre's address.
The political season being a little backward,
the full effect Of it can hardly be gathered for
several days. But no one who is at all famil-
lar with the phases of current politics can
doubt that the supposed revelation has
been anything less than a large charge of dy-
Mantle under the new Jetiersonian movement.