St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-07-13
VAIL UNVANQU|SHED.
A Remark Attributed to La
fayette Stirs Up Quite
q Ruction.
Roger Vail, Of Minneapolis,
Says the Great French
man Didn't Say It,
While Rev. Josiah Strong Is
Just as Positive That He
Did.

Mr.. Vail Takes the Floor and
Discusses the Question at
Length.
To the Editor the Globe.
In recent letter to a morning paper
I offered $50 to any charitable instltu-
ton in Minneapolis if its editor could
| give any genuine reference for the al
legged phrase attributed to Lafayette, ''1f
the liberties of the American people are
ever destroyed they will fall by the
hands of the Romish clergy" He adj
| mitted he could not do so, but stated
| he had requested DR.. Josiah Strong,
author of '.Our Country" from which
| he had taken the quotation, to furnish
the desired reference. l then said: 81
shall be happy to reply to DR.. Strong
when his letter appears, and If | fail to
show his inability to verify the per
verted quotation from Lafayette l will
| give 500 to any Protestant institution
in this city which you may designate.
In that paper of last Monday Dr.Strong
puts on the stand two ancient wit
nesses whose testimony was already In
my possession and was long
ago proved worthless, and before
l had asked a single question
| in cross examination or offered any evil
dence in rebuttal, the editor declares the
| controversy ended, claims the 500 for
Bethany Home and announces that his
cashier is ready to give me receipt for
the money. DR.. Strong, the eminent
| authority, had spoken, and that settled
| it! This summary way OF closing dis
| cussiOn is characteristic of this editor,
whose egotism is of the most sublime
| character. He is in bliSsful ignorance
| of this whole subject, and fOrgets that
| he lives in land of liberty and free
| speech, where intelligent men and
| women are willing to hear both sides of
| question before rendering decision.
1t is now more than fifty years since
Prof. Morse, of telegraphic fame, first
gave to the American public the motto
attributed to Lafayette. When called
upon by Bishop Spaldiug to YER
ify the authenticity Of the quotation:
been much quoted for some years. 1t
| stands as motto in the title page of a
| work which I edited in 1887, entitled
Confessions of French Catholic
| PRIEST They who quote the motto may
| have derived it from this source, or from
| Gen. Lafayette in some other way"
What a nice proof of the genuineness
OF the quotation is this!
And yet it is quite satisfactory to DR..
| Strong. Again, when speaking of the
anonymous French Catholic priest,
Prof. Morse said: 1.-The phrase in ques-
ton, l have not the least doubt, he de-
rived from Lafayette, directly or indi-
| rectly."
Though no one knew who the French
| Catholic priest was, Prof. Morse had not
the least doubt. even though he may be
myth, that he got the phrase, directly
such evidence as this be ac-
cepted before any judge or jury
| in the land, unless the judge and jury
were men like the Minneapolis editor?
| But Morse again says that Lafayette ut
| tered the words to more than one
| American" and that she made use of
| The same warning" to himself at the
very last interview he had with him at
| Paris; thatin letter Lafayette" alludeS
| to the whole subject" and charged it
upon him as sacred duty to acQuaint
his countrymen with the fears enter
tanned by the friends of republican lib
| erty in regard to this country. When
asked to produce the letter containing
| the ''warning"he could not do so,and it
was not until six years had elapsed and
Lafayette had been three years in his
| grave that Prof. Morse, during the
Rnow-nothing excitement, first gave to
the American people tine warning" re-
ferred to. He even admitted that he
"cannot remember the Identical words"
used by Lafayette, land yet he published
| to the world the identical words!
| DR.. Strong, the general secretary for
the Evangelical Alliance, has the most
| implicit confidence in Prof. Morse, and
says that any one who denies in the
| face of Prof. Morse's declaration that
Lafayette used these words brands this
eminent American as liar. 1t is to be
| regretted that eminent men imbued
with religious or political prejudices
will sometimes stoop to lying to carry
out their purposes. Morse was either
guilty of deliberate falSehOOd or Lafay-
cite was a consummate hypocrite, as we
will see further on: DR.. Strong himself
has such an elastic conscience when
speaking of "Romanism" as peril to
our republic that his statements are not
to be believed without producing suf-
ficient evidence to SubStantiate them.
His peSsimistic utteranceS regarding
"ROmaniSm'' are ridiculous, and Ameri-
cans more eminent than he give contrary
opinions on the subject. He has acted
the part OF literary Scavenger in col
lecting for his chapter on "Roman-
ism," the most silly, vague and indef-
mite quotations, for which he is unable
to give any more authantic authority
than for the Lafayette motto. take
the following as specimens.
SIN her relations to the masses, Rome
has adhered to her own prOverb, Ig-
norance is the mother of devotion y
DR.. Strong cannot produce this proverb
from any recognized Catholic authority.
''The archbishop of st. Louis once
said, 'Heresy and unbelief are
crimes.'"
"Efectual plans are in operation to
give us complete victory over Protes-
tantism.'' A former bishop of Cincin-
natl.
..There is ere long to be state re-
ligion in this country. and that state re-
liglon is to be the Roman Catholic
Father Hecker, 1870"
No good government can exist with
out religion, and there can be no re-
ligion without an inQuisition, which is
wisely designed for the promotion and
protection of the true faith.-Boston
Pilot.
| John Boyle O'Reilly has frequently
asked for the date of the Pilot contain
ing this sentence, but DR.. Strong will
not and cannot give it. The eminent
doctor must have great faith in the Gre
dulity of American Protestants when
he expects them to swallow without a
grimace such absurd. nonsensical quo
tations without questioning their au-
thenticity.
But to resume the Lafayette matter.
When Prof. Morse was asked to give
the names of "more than one Ameri-
can" to whom Lafayette had spoken the
words in dispute. he called on Rev. P.
/. Van Pelt, of the Dutch Reformed
Church, San eminent clergyman" ac-
cording to DR.. Strong. Eminentin what?
Let us see. Van Pelt was in his
dotage, being eighty years old at the
time of the Morse-Spalding controversy.
| no rolofoc that hn had stvivid apd