It was mentioned in our second edition last week, that
Mr. M.Ghee, the Exeter Hull orator, had written a letter to the Standard, coilfessing that the epistle to the Irish Bishops, which lie ascribed to the Pope in his address on the previous Thursday, was a fabrication ; but the whole of M-Glice's letter is worth insertion, as it is characteristic of the man and the set who employ him, and has moreover been the basis of much discussion during the week. here it is.
"Louden, Saturday, July la.
" Sir—I could not for a moment allow an erroneous impre,Si011 to rest on the public mind. dot even against the Pope, as to any matter or tact within my know ledge t and therefore I beg. through the 'militant of your valuable journal. to state that I have just this post been informed that the encyclical letter. of ankh some extracts wen. read at Exeter tall by nit% was only an ingenious cb rice re.; ted to Iv 'fly learned filial, bringing moat impor. on! truths before the Mute:tams of this enquire. flaying stated the facifiltat it l o tpust been put into my hand late the night below, and having only given it just as it was, as a document winch the translator pr. fes,ed to (care as dodged, only beteing one ingeinotts mark of authenticity, I was not, I believe, understood by any person present to make ally remarks that were not hypothetical un it; only recom- mending. as I most earnestly do, that every person should possess themselves of a .opy of it.
" The authenticity of the document itself does not in the least greet the :rapt rt ant truths it contains. and I (July beg to submit to every Protestant the tutlowing a-eget:tints oil it. If the Pepe actually issued orders for the sites of the National Schools in Ireland, could they be more careitilly posited to insure a perpetual application to Popish pur- poses out a perpetual exclusion of Protestants? If the Pope 'issued his orders on the grounds stated in that letter to his Bishops how to govern the Board of National Education as to their translation and notes of the Scriptules, could his injuuctiun be more explicitly followed? " If the Pipe gave directions for the appointment of certain individuals who should most eflectually abandon the interests of the Protestant cause. and must effectually promote those of Popery, could he have more apposite iustrunieuts than are to be found in certain departments of Church and State? " If the Pope were to employ persons to sow dissensions among Protestants, and to give directions for making some of them tools in the hands of Popish demagogues, to merge their own interests, and :he interests of truth, its Popish schemes, for the tills- niembermeut of the Empire, could the Pope more effectually promote his own cause, and tie the Protestants of England. according to the image in that letter, more like foxes by the tails, with their heads pointing in different directions ? " Let the Protestants read that docuineut, well worth possessing, though fictitious, for the talent it displays and the valuable information in the appendix, and let them make this one reflection—Here is a letter professing to be from the Pope, which, if ere- /Sacred as genuine, glees such atrocious directions fur the advancement of ks interests, that I cannot suppose he can hare a wish beyond it. Hut, at the same time, it so accurately details the events actually- iu progress, that I cannot possibly believe it was written V.fore it was accomplished. Would I revolt with horror from the thought that the Pope was actually to issue orders for governing this land ; and am I to sit in listless indifference while his p Iwer actually subverts Lie institutions that maintain the ,l'i testant religion, and hold the Word of God as the standard for the education of our country ? "I shall feel thankful, Sir,ifanyattention can hare been raised to consider this fact by sly efforts of mine.
" I have the honour to be your obedient servant, "R. J. APHttEx."
The jesuitical impudence of this letter was too much even for the Standard; who was moved to denounce the "ingenious device" of Mr. M'Ghee's forging friend as a clumsy forgery, and declared that he liked neither " forgery in jest nor poison in jest." It is the first time, perhaps, that a person detected, as M'Ghee has been, in the dis- semination at least of forged calumny, expressed himself gratified by his exploit, and lauded the ingenuity of the fraud. This man goes further; and atter admitting that his document is forged, argues upon it as if it were genuine, and stigmatizes as atrocious Popish directions the inven- tions of his learned friend "—his confederate in forgery. Further, he states an absolute falsehood, when he pretends that the translator
(said to be a Reverend Mr. Todd, of Trinity College., Dublin) pro_ fessed to leave the authenticity of the document in doubt; for the translator, in his preface, says (and 111‘Ghee quoted his words at Exeter Hall, and vouched for his friend's perfect honour), that if he were at liberty to state how it came into his hands, " the doubt which may now, perhaps, be expressed as to its authenticity, could not have been raised." It will be recollected that the extracts from this pre- tended letter threw the audience, but more especially the female part of it, into an eestary of Anti.Popish horror. Compared with this part of M'Ghee's speech, all the rest was " trifling," us we learn from the Standard. The fraud therefore had great temporary success; but the rebound must be fatal to the missionary—" the great moral agent," as Lord Powerscourt calls him.
The Committee of the Protestant Association have anxiously dis- avowed all participation in the fraud. Mr. Finch, the Chairman, in a
letter to the Standard, " deeply deplores the publication of the letter in question ;" charges the author of it with being guilty of u " sus- tained fraud ;" and says that his " much-valued friend Mr. M‘Gbee.,ti
must have overlooked some of its passages when he recommended it to the perusal of Protestants, "instead of instantly denouncing it as unchristian and libellous ;" and Mr. Finch expressly points out for re- probation the passage in which the Pope is made to give the Catholic hierarchy permission to disguise their real sentiments, and to net ac-
cording to the necessity of the times. But Mr. Finch's "much-valued friend " could not have overlooked those passages; in his letter to the Standard he speaks of he Pope's " atrocious directions," and meow- mends the perusal of them as if they were really the Pope's. There is nothing to choose between the author and utterer of this forgery. Mr. AP Ghee has not mended his case by a second letter to the Stan- dard. Ile apologizes to the Protestants for deceiving them, and to the Catholics for slandering them; and as an excuse for his phrase "inge- nious device" says- " In calling it ' an ingenious device,' on which such weighty charges have been founded, I spoke on the supposition, not that it was inteni7ed as a forgery, which could really be ascribed to the Pope—in which case I should call it a wicked machination—but as I considered it intended a satire on the divi- sions and criminal neglect of Protestants, in giving up the vital principles of truth to the Church of Rome, and which the writer did not intend should be ascribed to the Pope."
But Mr. 111‘Ghee knew that it was a forgery, and that it was intended to be ascribed to the Pope : " his learned friend's" letter left no doubt on that point. As to its being a satire on the criminal neglect of Pro- testants, Mr. Al.Ghee is not such a blockhead as to suppose any thing of the kind. The intention of the writer is perfectly evident, and Mr. M‘Glice himself never thought of' the letter being a satire on Protestants when he used the term he now seeks to explain away; for, in that very letter, lie recommended the perusal of the forgery as a genuine expose of Popish plotting. On the whole, we congratulate the gang on the success which has attended the commencement of their campaign of charity and good- will to men. They have only been detected in forgery, and in the jus- tification of forgery. They will only be hooted wherever they go, as calumniators—as wilful and malicious liars. It will be sonic time, we suspect, before we have again to record their doings in Exeter Hall.
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