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Show A LEARNED CRITIC. If for no other reason but to show the widespread wide-spread interest taken in the letters of our learned correspondent, Oswald Crawford, we publish in this issue a communication from Stanley Quinn of New York, taking exception to Mr. Crawford's contention con-tention that St. Brendan visited America and preached Christianity to the aborigines. At the time Mr. Quinn wrote his criticism he had not yet read Mr. Crawford's letter which appeared in our last issue. When he has read General Butt erf ield's letter and critically examined the result of his research, re-search, his "perhaps that Mr. Crawford's enthusiasm enthusi-asm is due to mistaken loyalty to the soil of the shamrocks" is not so, but to his profound learning and widespread archaeological knowledge, and that his conclusions are as ''logical as they are commendable." com-mendable." Mr. Quinn, in "registering his protest," assumes that St. Brendan's voyage to be a myth, because. "as an educated and intelligent reader of history be can not but accept as final the decision of those historians and cartographers whose works in all departments de-partments of research has stamped ihem as able and impartial." But are they infallible in their decisions de-cisions i If not, Mr. Quinn's acceptation is not a logical conclusion. He quotes certain authors who "unite in declaring that the chances of St. Brendan's Bren-dan's discovery of America are highly improbable." Here we would respectfully ask Mr. Quinn to complete com-plete his syllogism. His "but" and ergo according to the rules of logic will give him nothing but an improbable conclusion. New discoveries are being made each year which prove conclusively that America was visited by Ku-' Ku-' ropeans in pre-historic times. Last week the dispatches dis-patches told of the discovery of rare coins. Roman eagles, which antedated the Christian era. Archaeologists Arch-aeologists will no doubt, if the discovery proves to be genuine, add another chapter to pre-historic America. Mr. Quinn will not contend that all historical research re-search is exhausted or that the history of all ancient an-cient pathfinders has been written. This Mr. Quinn admits when he writes: "Perhaps he (Mr. Crawford) may have some new and hitherto undiscovered undis-covered proof of his assertions." These proofs were given in General Butterfield's letter. They are given giv-en by Oswald Crawford, not as conclusive evidence, but as the result of a deep research of a disinter ested scholar whose only ambition was to solve the supposed voyage of St. Brendan and his monks. Our scholarly and brilliant correspondent is not writing history, but resuscitating old traditions and verifying these as far as historical research and human hu-man testimony can go. The letter in this issue proves lhat Mr. Crawford does not. confine his argument ar-gument that the Indians were versed in Christian knowledge to their veneration of the Cross. They believed in baptism, confession, etc. This the writer writ-er verifies. It is now up to Mr. Quinn. when he reads the testimony, to draw his conclusion. |
