In the Current of the Revolution 373 



After the speech was recited it attracted much 

 attention; was published in newspapers, periodi- 

 cals, etc., and was extensively quoted. Jefferson, 

 as we learn from his Papers at Washington, took 

 it down in 1775, getting it from Lord Dunmore's 

 officers and published it in his "Notes/' in 1784; un- 

 fortunately he took for granted that its allegations 

 as regards Cresap were true, and accordingly pre- 

 faced it by a very unjust attack on the reputed mur- 

 derer. Until thirteen years after this publication, 

 and until twenty-three years after the speech had 

 been published for the first time, no one thought of 

 questioning it. Then Luther Martin, of Maryland, 

 attacked its authenticity, partly because he was 

 Cresap's son-in-law, and partly because he was a 

 Federalist and a bitter opponent of Jefferson. Like 

 all of his successors in the same line, he confused 

 two entirely distinct things, viz., the justice of the 

 charge against Cresap, and the authenticity of Lo- 

 gan's speech. His controversy with Jefferson grew 

 very bitter. He succeeded in showing clearly that 

 Cresap was wrongly accused by Logan; he utterly 

 failed to impugn the authenticity of the latter' s 

 speech. Jefferson, thanks to a letter he received 

 from Clark, must have known that Cresap had been 

 accused wrongly; but he was irritated by the con- 

 troversy, and characteristically refrained in any of 

 his publications from doing justice to the slandered 

 man's memory. 



A Mr. Jacobs soon afterward wrote a life of 

 Cresap, in which he attempted both of the feats 



