“VERITAS” DEFENSIVE.

Marlborough Express, Volume IV, Issue 155, 30 January 1869, Page 4

“VERITAS” DEFENSIVE.

To the Editor of the Marlborough Express. tint, —W \. sounds the trumpet of victory —a bud sitm. Was lie afraid no one else would do it ? Haul names, ’ says W.N., “are simply a reluge for the destitute in argument.” He is judged by bis own winds. He says I “ have meddled with another’s business.” 1 think it is he who is guilty, by laying on the Catholic Church charges lie will never be able to establish. In his long answer, has he refuted one of my arguments—destroyed any of my authorities ? Nothing of the kitd. My quotation from Josephus “ i- a pious fraud,” asserts W. [V., •* proved over and over attain.” Hut try whom, and when, or what proof do they "ive lor it? It is d>ffi. nit to iiutnit tit..l, because Josephus alludes to Uianv pussa es of 11 in New lesliimenl to i.is " ,tiit*(piit.es vtf llf Jews. Are Hey all pious (ndeVs? Iheu vvc must throw tee book overboard. But, ulv

the quotations from Tacitus, Suetonius, PH nv the younger, Dyonisius Cassanus, Usuhius, Bede. Lingard Hume, amt Goldsmith all “piousfrauds?” And what authorities does he bring agamst. the principal historians of different nations ? A\V E. H. Lecky, M.A., Surpi (and not Sharp, as W. N. has it) and Llorente. sworn enemies of Christianity * the two last, writers of t he most unscrupulous character (see Feller’s Biogrnphe (Jiiiversede). |) r Milner, in his “ Letters t« a Prebendary,” affirms on *>ood authority that Sarpi. in his ”-History of the Council of Trent.” Inis introduced several hundred falsehoods ; so also Mr. Taylor in his “ Liberty of Prophecying,” another good authority.

Now, with respect to « lie homhle description of the Inquisition— the persecution of protestauts by catholics, the Alhlgenses. St. Bartholomew, fcc. _ not a sinele one of these assertions can stand the test of history. Vayiac. in Ins “ llis»..rv of (lie Pieseut T mes of Spain.” has avenged the tribunal of the 1 1 (position against all the calumnies ,j e . I vered against it. and that it has saved that country from many civil wars and revolutions. Feller in his work before quoted, says that Vayrae’s work •* is th« most truthful and sincere” on the question. The Comte Joseph de Mai-ne has also done the same; so li 8 Mu-areiM in his Treatise de Inqnsitione, Halmes’s Civilisation of Europe, Mariana’s History o f Spain, Don Jean d’ I'erreros’s History of Spain (the lie-t we have of that nation, says Feller in his Biographic Uuiverselle), and lastly, I.e Baron HenrioiTs flistoire (Jenerale de PEgiise, all well-known writers anil historians.

Bes),acting tin- figures attributed to Llorente, of 31 000 persons Being hnrnt by the Inquisition, I am afraid tins is another of the “ pious Bauds” of the enemies of Christianity. Llorente was secretary to the seciet office of the Inquisition, and was ilonblf ss well acquainted with the proceedings of that tribunal; but falling into disgrace with the King of Spam, lie had to leave that country Then, at the instigation ut Ins friends, he published his treatise as a revenge—you may guess w hat authority he is Me was at erwards banished fr-un France for his n.isde ds. W. Cobbett, a freethinker, in Ins History of the Beloniiatinn, tells ns what we must think of the exaggerations of the enemies of the ('atbolie ( nnrch, speaking of the Massacre of t. Bartholom w, he says:—“ Lite protest.mts began by etmumeraHng the vi«-ti■ s at 100,000 then they fell to 70,000. then to *20.000, then to 15 000, and ..t, last to 10,000. all in round numbers C >ue of them in an hour of indiscretion ' enlured upon obtaining a return ot the uarm-s from the ministers themselves, and then out came the 786 persons in the whole Ah uno disce omne ! VV.N. is wrong when he says that the 1 ope returned thanks for the massacre ol M. Bartholomew. Baton Hu lion’s I lisloiie (iem rale de I’Kglise prove.- wuh written documents Irom the Court ol Franco that the Pope had been deceived, and made, to believe a conspiracy had been discovered. So says AineOel (labor and Loreticie, two of the principal h sioians of Frame For the Alhigeneses and the treatment they met with, see the same historian just now mentioned, and you will he convinced that those enemies n( all civilisation and religion who covered the south ot France lor several years with blood, rum, ami devastation, (maid not he treated too severely. The Illiniums of New Zealand are almost angels eoinpaied to them. So also were several sects severely dealt with by toe .Unman Fmperors, and besides the war against them was began by the King of France and not by the Pope Muh respect to the cruelties committed in the Low Countries, his figures arc rather exaggerated, as I will proceed to show Were not toe Anabaptists of that country mere tel els against the lawful authorities? Did they not attempt to kill the Duke of Alva at Ca di and Hisot ? 'They used in cry in the stm ts hat

' God li:t<l given them that country, ami that vengeance awaited them that did not join them Y; ami also, ‘Kill ilia priests I Kill the monks and the magistr les ! ’ ” Wherever Vamlernierk and Sonoi —both lieutenants of the I'rineo of Orange—went, they killed in cold bli oil the pi tests ind monks (see History ties Masers, by the prut stunt minister d’Hrandl) ; also, Ur I'atison. in his Jerusalem and Hupei, pp .’536. a eelehruted biographer already mentioned says that Vanderinerk slaughtered more unoffending eatliolic priests and peasants in the year 1572 than Alva executed of rebel jiroti slants during Ids whole government (see also 1’ istoiiv de Hid.ande, by M, Kerronx. a prole-tant wriier, ami well known historian). So, I think it is plain enough that W.N *s assertions are as yet mere assertions, and, therefore, do not prove that ‘'the uman hmpire was Converted by the sword,” or that *■ the sword was the chief propagandist for centuries.” It theie lias been sore aliases ot authority in some princes, it is wrouu .lo throw them on ehr stiamty. and roundly condemn it. This will close my communication with W.N, I am, &<•. - V IiKZTAS,