William Denison Lyman

“ What kind of a spirit does that show in a historian? On pages 7 and 8 of Eells' Reply are quotations from letters by John Fiske to Marshall in which he counsels him "to be less vehement," and says "there is great value in a quiet form of statement." Marshall, on pages 50 and 51 of his "History vs. the Whitman saved Oregon Story," goes into a clumsy explanation of this in order, I should judge, to make an extra slap at Eells, and to convey to his readers the impression that he and John Fiske were great friends. ”

“ On page 99, volume 2, of Marshall's "Acquisition of Oregon" the same principle is stated in a quotation which he calls an unquestioned canon of historical investigation, as follows: "A single authentic contemporaneous written statement of the reasons which impelled any man to do any deed must be held to outweigh any number of subsequent explanations, however ingenious, that he, and much more that his friends may have put forth to account for his actions." ”

“ What can Professor Bourne of Yale and his major students find to expose? They must find something in order to maintain their reputation as "scientific historians." Well, here is that Whitman story which some missionaries and college builders in a distant state seem to take much comfort in as an example of heroism and patriotism! ”

“ Some people would make errors if they wrote it down within an hour. Others would retain and correctly report their knowledge years afterward. And we may well emphasize in this connection the well-known fact of human nature that the big things are ordinarily accurately retained and reported. It is the little things in which memory is so treacherous.
Therefore at this point we must needs consider the character of the witnesses to the Whitman claims. We refer here to Eells' Reply to Bourne, page 54 et seq. These witnesses were men of unusual mental vigor and moral rectitude. ”

“ There is a second working hypothesis, not so specifically stated, but practically worked to the limit by both Marshall and Bourne. It is this: Errors by a witness in one part of his testimony invalidate the rest of it. Such, simply and briefly stated, is the basis employed by these two writers in the Whitman case. Starting with this basis they lay down two fundamental propositions. ”

“ When we call up his long years of unselfish devotion, how he and his faithful wife almost worked their hands off at their farm at Waiilatpu in order to raise money to found Whitman College, how he travelled up and down on horseback through Eastern Washington, sleeping under a tree at night and living on dried salmon, parched corn and spring water, superintending schools, founding churches, ministering to the needy, with never a thought for personal gain or comfort, making such a place in the hearts of people of all sorts that throughout this state he is considered a veritable St. ”

“ Spalding, were the only ones who could be called "cranky," and they, have been abused and maligned by the opposition beyond all reasonable limits. While they had some intense hatreds and prejudices, their general powers of observation and statement were excellent. ”

“ Hence "the origin of the legend was vastly more sordid than I had previously supposed." And I would ask the people still living in Oregon and Washington who knew Eells and Atkinson, as well as their descendants who knew of them, what they think of a historian who· places those heroes and saints in the ranks of petty grafters. Read those letters of Atkinson and see whether Marshall gives them any fair interpretation. And what of Father Eells? ”