Wesley Corpus

10. 'Remark a missionary inflaming the rabble and propagating black slander.' Remark a San Benito cap, painted with devils; but let him put it on whom it fits. It does not fit me: I inflame no rabble; I propagate no slander at all. But Mr. O'Leary does. He propagates an heap of slander in these his Remarks. I say too, 'Let the appeal be made to the public and their impartial reason.' I have nothing to do with the 'jargon or rubbish of the Schools,' lugged in like 'the jargon of the Schools' before. But I would be glad if Mr. O'Leary would tell us what these two pretty phrases mean. The whole matter is this. I have without the least bitterness advanced three reasons why I conceive it is not safe to tolerate the Roman Catholics. But still, I would not have them persecuted; I wish them to enjoy the same liberty, civil and religious, which they enjoyed in England before the late Act was repealed. Meantime I would not have a sword put into their hands; I would not give them liberty to hurt others. Mr. O'Leary, with much archness and pleasantry, has nibbled at one of these three reasons, leaving the other two untouched. If he chooses to attack them in his next, I will endeavor to give him a calm and serious answer.--I am, gentlemen, Your obedient servant.