Analysis and refutation of the Statements of facts in relation to the expulsion of James C. Cross from Transylvania University --recently published by Dudley, Mitchell & Peter / by James Conquest Cross.

  • Cross, James Conquest.
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Analysis and refutation of the Statements of facts in relation to the expulsion of James C. Cross from Transylvania University --recently published by Dudley, Mitchell & Peter / by James Conquest Cross. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    In my Card o( the 28th August, I sny: In this view of the case, I demand the publi- cation of their pamphlet, and challenge Dr. B. W. Dudley lo the proof of a single allegation brought against me by his son. In the letter of the 25th of May, 1844, signed by Mitch- ell, Peter, Drs. Dudley and Richardson, I am told that circumstances relative to my private character induced them to request me to resign. In my Appeal I have conclusively proved, if it is proper to speak thus of any pro- position insusceptible of mathematical demon- stration, that this was a weak and most un- principled subterfuge—a shallow but inhuman and cruel pretext for the commission of a most foul and unmanly outrage. But this so far ironi having had the effect to impress him with the atrocity of the deed—of which he had been, if not the author, at least a. prin- cipal participator, only hardened a heart full of blackest thoughts, for in a transport of vin- dictive passion he authorised his son to prefer against me a series of perfectly gratuitous but excessively injurious charges, all having a di- rect reference to my private character. In my card of the 28th of August, I challenged him to the proof of a single one of them. The issue was thus clearly and fairly made up, the question and the only question was the truth of the allegations that had been brought against me. He, with his three subordinates, having most cruelly assaulted my character, and he himself having repeated the assault through his son, every candid and honest man will say that he should either have made a free and full recantation, or have freed his character from the imputation of being a heart- less calumniator by an attempt to establish by proof what had been asserted of me.* Neither of these alteratives has he thought proper to adopt, consequently I feel justified in assert- ing that he knows not how to make any bet- ter use of his own offensively rotten moral character, than to wield it for the oppression, and, if possible, the destruction of those who, would hate themselves with a deep and sovereign hatred if they could be made, by either fear or affection, to fawn on and flatter a man who has been for more than thirty *One of the trio asserts that I, better than any one else, kjirto that to have stood an investigation before the Board of Trustees would have utterly destroyed in.', and have made matters nf history and record what another one says is already history. If there is any truth in these declara- tions surely it could not have been difficult to adduce such proof as would have removed all doubt from the minds Of the most incredulous—have justified them in the judgment of all for having invited me to resign) and have at once ended this controversy. Dr. Dudley was challenged to the task but declined it, while his cringing and contemptible associates have attempted it no further than to indulge in such vague unsupported assertions as prove that they are calumniators, and that they are conscious the judicious part of mankind will think so. It is impossible to believe that men who have shown themselves capable of every ex- ecs of fiendish malignity, would have hesitated, the ino- years a plague-spot upou society. Having made me the object of the most abusive and provoking insults, and his crafty and perfidi- ous spirit having lured him from the adoption of a candid, liberal, or an enlightened course, every ingenious and undebauched mind will say that such conduct would Have torn the sword from a craven's scabbard, and will fully justify me in the eyes of the world for any severity I may think proper to employ in order to exhibit this Janus-faced cheat in such a light that all may know and understand him. These preliminary remarks having been made, I propose now to enter upon an analysis of the Statements of Facts. of which Mitch- ell, Peter, and Dr. Dudley are the authors. This, I will do in a spirit of fairness and can- dor without offending, if possible, the public taste, but with a severity that must make the most hardened ruffianism feel. Although they have filled their Statements with the most im- pudent, empty, and rancorous of assertions that ever emanated from weak heads, or were ever sanctioned by incurably depraved hearts, I will respond to them with facts that cannot be de- nied or invalidated, that will, while they free me from the imputations with which they hoped to sully, if not destroy, my character, confound them with astonishment and over- whelm them with disgrace. They may pos- sibly Beat me to dust, I care not In such a cause as this, 1'li die as a martyr. The first sentence of the preface contains an admission which must prove fatal to the credibility of the Statements in the estima- tion of every man of sense. Indeed it is a disclosure of so thoughtless a character that, I cannot deny myself the pleasure of remind- ing the Trio that I told Mitchell in my Appeal that not only are the base and perfidious, false and treacherous in all their relations with men, but God has so arranged it for wise and good purposes that they shall not be faithful even to their own villanies. The authors of the Statements, conscious that they were go- ing to give publicity to the grossest falsehoods which it was hardly possible could command ment they ascertained that I would no longer continue asso- ciated with them, to give to the public, the proof that would have utterly destroyed me had it been in their power. They know it is much easier to conjure up in the public mind cruel suspicions, that have not the least foundation in fact, than lo succeed in establishing a proposition by adequate evidence, although there may be many plausible probatf'Ai'- ties in its favor. This is all that Dr. Dudley and his accom- plices in crime expect or hopo to accomplish, for having been reduced to a state of reckless desperation, they are willing that sensible people should denounce them as slan- derers, if they can, by a stale and shallow trick, but induce weak men and silly women to propagate their calumnies, whether they are believed by them or not. It is upon the ignorance and credulity of snch people that Dr. Dudley arts, and it is with such instruments that he hat heretofore accomplished hit purpeses.