Moulton, J.T.: West Fork, Arkansas to William J. Onahan: Chicago, Illinois, 1893 January 1

Moulton, a non-Catholic, writes to Onahan in the hope that a concerted effort may be made to revise the style of writing in which non-Catholics are addressed. It is a human tendency to introduce bias in the study of history which is pronounced among Protestants since the results are in their favor. Catholic devotion is associated with a great diversity of outward objects. Protestantism, a gigantic conspiracy, tried to smash Catholic worship. Greater severities were practiced in defense than in attack. A balance of severities is just what the Protestant debater wants. Protestant controversial literature—Beecher, Dowling, McGavin, is largely a relic of the period of the great religious wars, and war talk is necessarily unjust. But Catholic controversial literature—Spalding, Wiseman, Milner, bears the marks of the period when the initiative was conceded to Rome. A powerful effort has been made to wrest the initiative from Rome which cannot be ignored. In opposing Catholic research to that of the Protestants, there is such a boundless field that most shrink from entering. Nor is it possible to place full confidence in Catholic research, which set up Jausseu against D'Aubigue. The German historian has undoubtedly been compelled to suppress ninety-nine percent of his material, but his suppressions may have been modified by a desire to win souls. Moulton's idea is that a vigorous review of Protestant polemics, excluding all allusion to Catholic authorities would promote the intelligent and profitable study of history.