THE
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VEIL  REMOVED,
i
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i
OH
W.  W,  SLEIGH
UJV-ltASKEO.
          NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED AT 132 NASSAU-STREET,
        Opposite Clinton HaU.s
January 4, 1836.
 
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THE
VEIL    REMOVED,
W.  W.  SLEIO
UJVm&SKED.
Qncrevk' J6B.cVvfc.Ve.c-
          NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED AT 132 NASSAU-STREET,
        Opposite Clinton Hall,
1836, 
W2L
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THE
VEIL  REMOVED,  &c.
      It is a most erroneous idea by some entertained, that the cause
    of religion is best subserved by palliating the faults of its professors,
    and cloaking their iniquities. So far is this from the fact, that those
    who act in accordance with it are considered partakers of  the very
 ^  sins which they  thus attempt to screen, and  thereby  increase, in-
 -~  stead of diminishing, the injury and disgrace which wickedness in
 >'  its adherents never fails to bring upon it.  Consequently, those who
    not only walk uprightly themselves, but discountenance and discard
    the iniquity  of others, are the ones  who manifest for it the greatest
    regard, and who do the most to promote its true interests.   So that
 v  it is  no less a dictate of reason  than of Scripture, that public trans-
^   gression be openly rebuked.  And we find the great Author of Chris-
    tianity himself carrying out this principle to its fullest extent.  While
—  he was all mildness and mercy  to the penitent, he uttered the most
    fearful denunciations against hypocrisy.  And  so far were these
    denunciations from injuring true religion by affording  opposers the
    opportunity to sneer, that it deprived them of that very opportunity,
    by showing that whatever might be the fact with regard to the hyp-
    ocritic themselves, there did exist  that true religious  virtue which
    held their deeds in abhorrence.  And when churches discipline dis-
    orderly members,  they manifest to  the  world that they have no fel-
1    lowship  with  their misdeeds, and  thereby preserve  religion from
    that  reproach which would otherwise fall upon it.  It is  not those,
    therefore, who raise their voice  against wickedness among profes-
    sors of religion, that injure religion  itself.  On the contrary, they
    render it the most  important service ; while those who are for cov-
    ering iniquity, and sustaining the guilty, do it  most serious injury.
    Hence, those who fearlessly and faithfully denounce hypocrisy, act
    the part of true  friends to religion ;  and those who excuse and pal-
    liate it, act a faithless and an injurious part.   Indeed, the exposure 
4
 of hypocrisy by Infidels themselves, however intended, has a salu-
 tary influence on the Church, by making her more watchful; so that
 Infidel opposition in this respect is far better for the interests of re-
 ligion, than the attempts of her adherents to screen the guilty.  Let
 rigid discipline  be enforced ;  let the  Achans  be  expelled  from the
 camp ;  let those who are Christians exhibit  the proper regard for
 right, by hunting iniquity from among them ;  and one of the princi-
 pal objections of Infidels, nay,  the one on which they lay the great-
 est stress, would at once be removed ;—the objection that Christians,
 by suffering wickedness among them to pass unrebuked, can scarce-
 ly be supposed  to care for or believe the  religion  they profess—a
 religion that denounces wrong with the most unsparing severity.
   The foregoing considerations will suffice, not only as an apology
 for the course which I have pursued, and am still pursuing, in rela-
 tion to the individual who is the  theme of this  pamphlet, but also as
 the reason why  I feel imperatively bound to pursue it.  As a friend
 to religion ;  as  one who has toiled night and  day for years  in her
 service ; I will  not see her disgraced in the eyes of the public, as
 she has been  by the late discussion in this city, without making one
 effort commensurate with the importance of the subject, as far as my
 powers can go,  to obliterate that disgrace,  by inducing the religious
 community at large distinctly to discard the individual who has dis-
 graced her, and with him,  all  who give him countenance.
   No one will  deny that  there are bad  men—hypocrites—muu of
 moral turpitude so great, as to be capable, perhaps, of any conceiv-
 able act of wickedness within  their physical power to accomplish.—
 There are liars, swindlers, thieves, robbers, pirates, and murderers.
 And, as if to make  wickedness still more outrageous, there are
 those who assume the religious  garb, to enable them to perpetrate
 their abominations  with  the  greater  facility and security.  Thus,
 there is hardly an act of wickedness which has not been committed
 by one or another under the cloak of religion.  There have been
 false prophets, false pretenders to miracles, false religious teachers,
 and knaves assuming the character of religionists.  No one will
 dispute this.   And when we duly  reflect on this  admitted fact, it
 would seem no longer incredible that a stranger, assuming ever so
 much o{ the religionist, might prove in the end to  be  one of the
 greatest of villains.  Keeping this consideration in view, let us now
 proceed to the examination of the case before us.
   A stranger  appears in our midst, preceded  by the introductory
 annunciation  of a victory"achieved  in controversial combat  over
 the Infidels of a sister city in another State,  and of arrangements
for a conflict with the Infidels among ourselves.  Public curiosity is
excited.   Multitudes flock  to the  scene of action.  But of  the
stranger little is  known.  He may be a good man or a bad man ; 
3
but he remains to be proved.   He  is understood  to be  a medical
gentleman of fortune and leisure, having no occasion to practise in
his profession, and therefore, although a layman, devoting his ener-
gies to the promotion of the great and sacred cause of religion, and
appropriating the receipts thereby obtained to charitable objects.—
A character  truly worthy of admiration,  if found to be  genuine.
To be sure he requires  an admission fee,  no portion of which is to
go to his opponents; but its  supposed devotion to charitable ob-
jects, and  his holy abhorrence of Infidelity,  which prevent his con-
senting to  permit any of the receipts to be diverted from those ob-
jects to fill Infidel pockets, make all appear fair on that score.—
The discussion at length begins.   A sad committal the very first
evening respecting the absolute inability of the heathen to ascertain
what is right or wrong, exhibits in  our stranger at the outset the
tyro in theology, and bodes no very auspicious result.  But it is an
error of the head,  and is  therefore passed by.  At length,  in the
progress of the discussion, our Christian champion exhibits a want
of the proper gravity and  seriousness for a religions disputant,  and
a disposition to  triumph rather than convince.  He resorts to the
little" artifices known more commonly as the  quirks and quibbles of
the bar,  and to that  angling for plaudits which succeeds  best with
the occupants of the pit and gallery of the theatre.   Nor is this the
worst—at  least  for the cause he espouses.  As the discussion pro-
ceeds, he exhibits more and more his ignorance of his subject, and
his want of competency to do it that ample justice which its import-
ance demands.   He first shocks all  decency and moral feeling, by
attempting to dispose of  the Infidel  objection of the intermarriage
of the children of Adam and Eve,  by declaring incest to be no phy-
sical evil unless practised to a certain extent,  and  there leaving it!
He next disappoints the high-wrought expectations of the public, by
leaving the  case  of Jewi.-h polygamy  in a  worse condition  than
he found it, inasmuch as he condemns polygamy among the heathen,
without showing that the  Old  Testament condemns it  among the
Jews.   In the third  place, he fails in his  attempt to solve the diffi-
culty in the case of the  lying spirit and  the prophets of Aluib ; also
that in the case of Gad's deceiving  the prophet, as mentioned by
Ezekiel, &c.  Nor  does  he even attempt to show how a divine mir-
acle can be distinguished from a diabolical one, or a divine messen-
ger from a false  pretender ; nor yet,  how the heathen are to blame,
on his supposition'that they are unable to ascertain what is right and
wrong.   In short,  he shows himself to be a perfect novice in his un-
dertaking.   And to add to all  the rest,  he resorts to assertion the
most unfounded, to evasion the most  miserable, to sophism the most
flimsy, to perversion  the most gross, and to assumption the most un-
warrantable,  as  a  momentary  substitute for that theological infor-
                              1* 
                               6

mation without which no  man ought  to assume the public defence
of Christianity.  His reckless course  induces one of his opponents
to retire from  the controversy in disgust;  brings him into collision
with one of bis own moderators, which terminates in a  separation ;
disaffects many serious-minded Christians ;  strengthens  the hands
of Infidels, and increases  their  number; and finally, results in his
being excluded from the Chapel in which the discussion  is  holden.
And thus the sublime humbug ends !   Not so,  however,  the after-
piece, which is still  in progress, and  of which the exhibitions  in
this  pamphlet constitute the  principal  part.   Let us now shift the
scene.
  No man can rid himself of his identity : no one can escape from
himself.   The villain in Cincinnati will, if he come to  New York,
bring the brand on bis brow, and his name and fame will tread hard
upon his footsteps.   Scarcely had  Mr. Sleigh set himself down in
our city, ere a rumour was in circulation among some, that he had
been incarcerated  in Cincinnati.  But such was his explanation of
the case, as to prevent its being made public at the time.  It was,
that an Infidel, with whom he never had a shilling's dealings, obtain-
ed  his imprisonment, on the  pretended ground  that he  owed him
$1800 !  A strange story on the very face of it,  and well calculated
to excite  suspicion  that " the truth,  the whole truth, and  nothing
but the truth," had not been told.  Although, therefore, the matter
was suffered to rest for the moment, a letter was despatched to Cin-
cinnati to inquire into it,  and at length a reply was received, an ex-
tract from which I have already published in my reply to  Mr. Sleigh's
pamphlet.   How different a  view of the case does  this account fur-
nish ! Prior, however, to the  publication of this, a published account
of the affair had fallen into my hands, which I  republi.-hed in my
letter to the  six clergymen,  making the same  charge against Mr.
Sleigh of having defrauded a lady of $1800, as that made in the
letter.  Besides this, the letter contained another piece of informa-
tion of a similar nature, viz., that the Loudon Lancet charged  Mr.
Sleigh with embezzlement of  money in England.  So confident
was I of the truth of these statements, both from their  internal evi-
dence and the respectability of the writer, that I  had no  hesitation in
publishing them on his authority, without taking the  trouble of ex-
amining the various volumes of the Lancet.  Mr. Sleigh supposing,
no doubt, from my publishing nothing from the Lancet itself in  con-
firmation of the letter, that I had not that work within my reach, hies
to Mr. Buchanan,  the British Consul of this city,  and, as it would
seem, presents  for examination in his office certain  volumes of it,
and  then  publishes  to the  world the following  memorable  doc-
 ument :— 
7
Bis Britannic Majesty's Consulate, \
   New York, Dec. 22,  1835.    J
  I certify that Dr. Sleigh submitted to my examination, various
documents, letters and testimonials, which he received in London.
With several gentlemen who have signed the same, I am personally
acquainted, and I have no hesitation in saying such are authentic.
  I further certify that, at the request of Dr. Sleigh,  I caused to be
examined in my office, the London publication, called the Lancet,
for the years 1831, 32, 33,  34, and up to March,  1835, and the
name of Dr. Sleigh does not appear in said publication.
                (Signed)             JAMES BUCHANAN.
   p. S.__Dr.  Sleigh begs to observe, that this journal has thus been
examined for three years before he left London, (Feb. 23d, 1834,)
and for 13  months subsequently.   But had he heen abused in it-
he would have shared the fate of every Hospital Surgeon in London,
viz. Sir Astley Cooper, Abernethy, Brodie,  &c.  For the refutation
of the calumny respecting Cincinnati, he refers to his Attorney, Mr.
Drake, and to all the clergy in that city, the Campbellites excepted.
   It will readily be perceived, that an attempt is here made to im-
press on the public mind, that the Lancet has nothing derogatory to
the character  of Mr. Sleigh, and consequently, that the statement in
the Cincinnati letter with regard to it is false, and its writer unwor-
thy of credit in iolo.   Short sighted man !  to suppose that a publi-
cation like the London Lancet could not be found in a city like this,
or that an individual as well acquainted with his slippery tricks as I
am, would not be on the look  out for him.   I must confess I was
somewhat  surprised to see  such an annunciation as the  foregoing
from Mr. Buchanan;  fori  had supposed that the circumstance to
which the Cincinnati letter referred was of a much more recent date
than Mr. Buchanan's  statement would go  to  show.   But I  knew
that Mr. Sleigh's name was somewhere in the Lancet at  all events,
 having myself seen it attached to a letter or two of his own inserted
 in that  publication.   So to searching I  went; when  lo  and be-
 hold ! I discovered in the Index of one of the volumes the following
 ominous phrase : " Sleigh v. Pope."   On  examining the article to
 which it referred, it proved to be a trial in the Court of King's Bench,
 in which certain severe charges against Sleigh's character were sus-
 tained !  The  account of this trial 1 republished forthwith in the Sun,
 to correct the erroneous impression made by Sleigh, that  the Lan-
 cet contained nothing against him,  and to show, also, that the Cin-
 cinnati letter  was entitled to credit.
   The London Lancet is a weekly pamphlet, with a cover on  each
 number, on which are advertisements.  Each year commences the
 latter part of  September,  and  consequently one year of the work 
                                 8

  itself contains a part of two years ; so that the dale on the first page
  of each number is expressed by both the years, of parts of which a
  year of the Lancet is composed.  For example :  " London, Satur-
  day, April 2 [1330-31.]"  Each year also constitutes two volumes,
  six months to each,  so that a person  unacquainted  with the work
  would be very liable to be confused with regard to the year in which
  a particular number might have been published.   There is indeed,
^ somewhere in the course of  each  number, an Editorial head con-
  taining the year in which  it  is published, and  not the other year.
«JBjlLtke Lancet  head itself,  on the first page, has  the prominent
  date, and is calculated to confuse and mislead one not familiar with
  its peculiarities  of date and division.   Under these circumstances,
  together with the declaration  of Mr. Buchanan before my eyes, that
  the Lancet of 1831, and so up to 1835, did not mention Mr. Sleigh,
  I got the impression at once, on seeing the date of the number con-
  taining the notice of the trial  already mentioned, dated with the two
  years 1830—31, that that number, of course,  belonged to 1830, and
  I so published it accordingly. Be astonished, then, 0 heavens ! and
  hear O earth ! to learnj that the Lancet of June 25th,  1831, contains
  a notice of a trial in the Court of King's Bench, in which the seve-
  rest reflections on the character of Mr. Sleigh as surgeon of his de-
  funct " hospital," were declared to be amply  sustained, even before
  the close of the trial,  and that he  must accordingly  be  non-suited
  suns ceremonie—which was done !
    It is difficult to conceive  how a critical examination of the Lancet
  could have admitted of a mistake with regard  to the years of its pub-
  lication, and to have led the  examiner to suppose that he had seen
  the whole of the year 1831, when, unless he  saw the very volume
  containing this  trial,  he could have seen  only six  months of that
  year.   Admit, however,  that the  examiner did  actually mistake,
  by supposing he had seen all of 1831,  there is no chance for such
  an excuse on the part of Mr. Sleigh.   He knew the  year on which
  that trial took place.   He knew that the Lancet of 1831 mentioned
  him, and  noticed the trial.  He is therefore guilty, in this instance,
  of a triple deception ;  first, in conveying the idea to the public, that
  the Lancet contained  nothing derogatory to his charac ter ; secondly,
  that the whole of the  year 1831 had been examined ; and thirdly,
  that during that year,  he was  not so much as named.  " A threefold
  cord is not easily broken."   Let those who have snapped a single
  string, by palliating the only deception in this case hitherto brought
  into view, try now their strength on this cord  of three strings.
    But it is not merely one, or two, or three article*  in the Lancet,
  that mention Mr.  Sleigh, and mention him  too in no very fa-
  vorable terms.   The Cincinnati letter is scarcely a circumstance,
  qrhen compared with the disclosures which rise to the astonied  eyes 
9
 of the reader, on looking more fully into that work!  0 ! how silent
 is this sarme London Lancet  with regard to Mr. Sleigh !  How un-
 worthy of credit the  Cincinnati letter-writer!  Lo!  what a " con-
 spiracy" is on foot against this poor, persecuted man !  Divine Pro-
 vidence itself seems at length to have joined the  " conspiracy," and.
 to have rendered his very trickery subservient to his ruin !  The day
 of his utter overthrow appears at length to have arrived, and his ini-
 quities, after so long a period, to have come  down  concentred on
 his ungodly pate !!!
   The reader will be a little curious to know how it  happened, that-
 Mr. Sleigh and his concerns  should have been  so frequently men-
 tioned in the first years of the Lancet,  and not afterwards. The fol-
 lowing Editorial note in  that work,  appended to a part of a letter of
 Mr. Sleigh, will solve the mystery, and show also how the charges
 against his  character, which he prosecuted as libellous, but which
 were  substantiated in Court,  came to be published  on the Lancet
 wrapper as an advertisement.
   " We cannot insert the remainder of this letter  for two reasons :—
 first, we have not  space  for it, and, secondly, it contains innumer-
 able libels.   Mr Sleigh should bear in mind, that a  libel upon an at-
 torney is not quite so easy to  defend as to write.   The controversy
 upon the affairs of  the Western Hospital has already  extended to on
 unreasonable and inconvenient length, and the papers in this week's
 Lancet are  the last that can be inserted upon the subject.  Any fur-
 ther letters  must be  printed on the wrapper, and paid for as adver-
 tisements."
   How marvellously innocent must Mr. Sleigh  have been, not to
 have appeared in the Lancet  after  having been excluded from its
 columns for his libellous  communications ! And howgreatly does it
 enhance his innocence, for him to produce the volumes  of that work
 from which he was thus excluded, and make use of their silence with
 regard to him, as an argument with a community unacquainted with
 the work, to persuade them  that it did  not  impeach him at all, and
 that the testimony to this point by me adduced was therefore unworthy
 of credit!   And how tender must be the moral sensibilities of those
 who, with this his attempt at deception before their own eyes, can still
 declare his moral character  " unimpeached and unimpeachable !"
   Let us next examine this same Lancet a little, and  see hoiv silent
 it is with regard to this spotless mortal, and ivhat kind of silence it
 observes.  1 shall give the various articles in their order, commenc-
 ing with a brief historical sketch of Mr. Sleigh from  1824 to 1829,
 by the Editor of the Lancet himself, as contained in  the number of
 that work for July 25th of the latter year.
   "At that period" (1S24) "Mr. Sleigh formed a school of surgery
near St. George's Hospital, and as the medical establishment of 
10
that Hospital would not recognise or acknowledge his theatre, the
College" (Royal College of Surgeons in London) "refused to receive
his certificates.   At length, however, the worthy council, dreading
publicity,  yielded, and Mr. Sleigh became one of the recognised
teachers.  During the contest, this gentleman was loud in his denun-
ciations against the College ; but after the recognition of his testi-
monials, we heard little or nothing of his opposition ;—and in truth,
we have every reason to believe, that he was well pleased to partici-
pate in the advantages,  though small, of a most famous monopoly.—
Mr. Sleigh, then, having obtained the recognition of his certificates,
was lost to the  surgical reformers, and we heard little of him for a
long time, except in connection  with some squabbles at St. George's
Hospital.—On two occasions, he tried to obtain the office of Assist-
ant surgeon in that Hospital,   Failing of success  on both of these
occasions, and labouring under an  impression that  he  had been
treacherously dealt with on the  last, he was disappointed  and enra-
ged,  and  vowed  he  would start an  "  Opposition Hospital."   Mr.
Sleigh, with his usual industry,  immediately set to work, mustered
his friends, and selected Nutsford  Place,, near Bryanstone Square,
as the theatre for his grand undertaking. The intended charity was
advertised ; Lords, Dowagers,  and Old maids,  who seldom forego
such an opportunity of displaying their names  in print, forwarded
their subscriptions ; carpenters and bricklayers were put in requision,
and, as if  at the stroke of an enchanter's wand, a hospital capable
of containing " one hundred beds," suddenly arose to the astonished
view of the natives.  It was opened for the reception of patients in
August, one thousand  eight  hundred and twenty-seven.   Subse-
quently, His  Majesty  and the  Dukes of Sussex  and Gloucester
became patrons, the Duke of Wellington  presided, and it is now
(July 25tb, 1829J supported by a large body of the nobility.
   "Since the Institution was first opened, the wards, we understand,
have been much better  constructed for ventilation,  and the building
has been enlarged, so as to render it capable of containing from one
hundred and sixty, to one hundred  and  seventy  beds ;  and.it would
appear, that the  Institution is firmly established.—It  contains up-
wards of one hundred patients.—Mr.  Sleigh is at least equal in tal-
ent to Messrs. Lynn, Carlisle, and Guthrie ; and if we turn to other
hospitals,  we may say,  equal to Messrs Headington,  Blizard, An-
drews, Hawkins, Mayo, Joe Burns, and Bransby Cooper."
   In the foregoing sketch, we obtain an insight of Mr. Sleigh's con-
cerns for a number of years. At this  period, he  had attained a very
respectable standing. He was basking in the beams of Royal favor,
and supported  by the nobility.   His hospital was well  conditioned,
and circumstances were altogether  in his favor.  He was regarded
as a man of talent, and the Institution was considered a great public 
11
  benefit.  I find in the number of the Lancet from which the foregoing
  article is extracted, the following high testimonial to its usefulness.

                        Wyndham Place, March 20th, 1829.
   I beg leave to state, that the Royal Western Hospital, Bryanstone
 Square, has, since it was opened in 1827, rendered essential service
 to the poor of this district,  which before then had been totally desti-
 tute of such an institution.  It has  already relieved upwards of three
 thousand Jive hundred.   I  cannot but consider it deserving of every
 support.
                     THOS. FROGNAL DIBDIN, D. D.
                      Rector of St. Mary's, Bryanstone Square.

   I find likewise in the recent  pamphlet published  by Mr. Sleigh
 himself, the following  testimonial.
             " ROYAL WESTERN HOSPITAL,
                            PATRON
           HIS  MOST GRACIOUS  MAJESTY.
                       A VOTE OF THANKS
                 TO W. W SLEIGH,  ESQ.
                      PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
   At the  General Meeting of the  Governors of this Hospital,  held
 January 21, 1829.
   The Right Hon. Lord Dunboyne, in the Chair.
   We cannot neglect  the occasion afforded by the Public meeting
 of the Governors of this Charity, of expressing the high opinion wo
 entertain  of the public spirit, the indefatigable exertion, and the abil-
 ity, evinced by Mr. Sleigh, in establishing and mainly contributing
 to bring to its present state  This Hospital,  and of declaring that bis
 conduct therein deserves our warm approbation and thanks.
                                (Signed)    DUNBOYNE."

   Now then comes the grand enquiry :  How is it that this  same in-
 dividual, thus established in London six or seven years ago, is  now
 roaming about this country, obtaining a hap-hazard support by leo-
 turing and debating 1 How is it that  Mr.  Sleigh,  who enjoyed the
 favor of the King, and Wellington, and Peel, and  other noblemen
 in 1829, has been recently debating here with  Messrs Offen and
 Pursur, to obtain a livelihood? The case speaks for itself to all  who
 know how to draw a logical inference from the most striking facts.
 He must have been morally defective.  Nor is it for one moment to
be supposed, that those who were  at the period here mentioned his 
19
  supporters, still continue favorable  to him.  Who does not see that
  if this were the  case, he  would be sustained ?  He has, therefore,
  been cast off by those whose favour was worth  having ; by those
  who once stood by and sustained him, and who had the best oppor-
  tunities forjudging of him :  and for him to produce his testimonials
  under these circumstances,  endeavouring to make it appear that all
  is right with him, and that he still has the confidence of the commu-
  nity in England, bears the greatest absurdity on its very front.  But
 "I will not leave this point to inference.  I will prove by the clearest
  evidence, that the downfal of Mr. Sleigh in England is attributable
  to his moral delinquency—and to that alone ; and  that, had he been
  an honest man, he would at this  very moment be at the head of the
  most flourishing Hospital perhaps in the whole  British Empire.
    Not a single year  had passed away, from the  period  when this
  Hospital was in the flourishing condition just described,  before we
  find it in the very throes of dessolution !  " Western Hospital----
  Last effort to prop !"  says the index of the Lancet of the year follow-
  ing that in which it had given so favorable a description of it.  What!
  the Institution so flourishing but the year before, need  propping!
 nay, even the last effort to prop it already  put forth !  What can  this
 meant Let us turn over and see.  Vol. 2 of 1829—30, p. 335.
                From tbe Lancet  of May 29,  1830.
           THE ROYAL WESTERN  HOSPITAL.

    The adjourned  meeting relative to the affairs of the Western
 Hospital, was held at the  Yorkshire Stingo on  Wednesday week,
 A. Dawson,  Esq. M. P., in the chair.  There were about 250 pre-
 sons present.
   Mr. Sleigh, with great vehemence, entered upon a long scries of
 accusations against Dr. Ayre, Mr. Truman,  and others, whom he
 charged with having attempted, by the most foul means, to deprive
 him of the situation of surgeon. Mr.  Sleigh concluded by  moving a
 resolution, expressive of the benefits which  had resulted from the
 Institution in question, and the necessity for its  continuance, at the
 same time nominatinng a Committee to enquire into the state of
 affairs, and for rendering further support.

   Mr. Gale,  a governor of the Western Hospital, in seconding the
 resolution, warmly supported  Mr.  Sleigh.
  Dr.  Ayre next addressed the meeting, amidst great interuption.
 He said that soon after he became attached to the Western Hospi-
 tal, he discovered that its affairs were in a  most embarrassed con-
dition, and he also discovered that Mr. Sleigh's character was  so
bad, it was impossible the Institution could go on with him.   Mr.
Sleigh had disgraced himself in the eyes of the medical profession 
13
 by his conduct at St.  George's Hospital.  He had deluded various
 young men out of large sums of money for a pretended demonstra-
 torship, and a connection  with the Hospital, when, in point of fact,
 both were valueless.  One of these dupes had given him bills to the
 amount  of 1500/., but,  fortunately, being a minor when  the bills
 were drawn, they were  not paid.  Mr. Sleigh, also, had deceived
 many of the pupils, by representing that the certifiicates of attend-
 ance on thu " Hospital" would  be recognised by the College.  Dr.
 Ayre  further charged Mr. Sleigh  with having purloined  a dead
 body from the " Hospital,"  which he sold to the pupils  in the Bo-
 rough, and pocketed the money.   An  inquiry before a magistrate
 took place, and the body was returned,  but not  so the money to the
 pupils.  At the commencement of the  Institution,  Mr.  Sleigh had
 "received" an anonymous letter, inclosing £200  for the Western
 Hospital.  Now he (Dr. Ayre), on the authority of Mr. Gale, would
 state, that the letter was written by Mr. Sleigh himself, and was a
 trick to entice others to subscribe.  (Mr. Sleigh here referred to the
 subscription list, to prove  that the  money had  actually been put to
 the account of the Hospital.)  With a knowledge of all these, and
 other  circumstances,  Dr.  Ayre maintained that he had sufficient
 reason for attempting to detach Mr. Sleigh from the Institution.
   After a few exculpatory observations  from a Dr. Elliott, in refer-
 ence to his appointment is physician of the Western Hospital, and
 some laudatory remarks from a pupil of Mr. Sleigh, who said that a
 party had been got " up" to set Mr. Sleigh " down," Mr. Pope ad-
 dressed the meeting.  The gist  of this gentleman's speech  was to
 show, that as a member of the Committee' of Inquiry appointed at
 the former meeting, he had endeavoured to discharge his duty, and
 as a matter of course, had  been aspersed by  Mr. Sleigh ; but thus
 it was, that Mr. Sleigh ever abused and vilified those who did not
 serve his purpose.  Reference had been made  to various young gen-
 tlemen with whom  Mr. Sleigh has been  connected ; but  where was
 Mr. Lynn, of Parliament Street?—Where was Mr.  Hicks, of Con-
 duit-street, and the eight or ten physicians who had been, in succes-
 sion, attached to the " Hospital ?" Mr.  Pope then went on to show, .
 that the whole  concern was greatly involved, there  beino- a debt  of
 nearly 3000/., with  an annual rent of 270/., whilst the fixtures, and
 every thing in the  Hospital, were not of more than two hundred
 pounds value,  and  at this time there were only ten patients in the
 Hospital.  It had been got up to serve Mr. Sleigh's private purposes ;
it had failed through mismanagement; and he did not conceive that
the institution had any just  claim on the  public.
  Mr.  Lambert rose to offer an  amendment to  the  resolution pro-
posed by Mr.  Sleigh.  He had  come to that meeting unconnected
with either or any party, &c.   He concluded by moving,  as  an
                               a 
14
amendment,  *' That this meeting does not recognise the necessity
for the existence of a hospital."
   The amendment  was seconded by a gentleman whose name we
could not learn, who made some severe remarks on the objections
which Mr. Sleigh had  made to the committee of Inquiry appointed
at a former meeting.
   (Mr. Webb and another gentleman also spoke, taking opposite
sides.)
   The amendment was now put amidst a scene of the greatest up-
roar and confusion.  The Chairman  did not determine the question
in the usual manner by a show of hands, but desired those who were
favourable to say aye, and  those who were adverse no.   A division
was then called for, and the parties  were desired to  arrange them-
selves on opposite sides of the room,  and again the shouts of aye and
no were demanded.  The clamour was so great, that from not being
able to hear the chairman's directions, many were on the side con-
trary to that which they intended to support; in  consequence it was
demanded that the numbers should be counted, and that Mr. Sleigh's
pupils should leave the room,  with which request  the Chairman did
not think proper to comply. It was at length moved that the meeting
do adjourn, when those who had suppported the  amendment left Mr.
Sleigh and his well packed posse of  friends and pupils  to settle the
affairs of the Royal Western Hospital.
   The whole  scene, which lasted altogether upwards of six hours,
beggars  all description ; the most gross personalities  were indul-
ged in ; to accusations from either side,  there were  constant reite-
rations of " It is false;" whilst the  whisling, hooting,  stamping, and
various discordant  noises, could only be equalled  by  those of a
" row" amongst the " gods" in the Coburg Gallery.
   " Let  us  now," as Mr. Sleigh  would say,  " proceed  a little
further."
            From the Lancet of the  same date, p. 337.1
                  To the Editor oj  The Lancet.
   Sir,—Knowing your disposition to expose all foul  play,  I am in-
duced to furnish you with the following case :
   About two months since there was a woman  who took  a child to
the Western Hospital to have its head dressed,  which had been just
broken from the fall of an area gate against it; it was there dressed,
but not till she had sent to a druggist's shop just by for two ounces
of lint, and sixpenny-worth of strapping, and which,  of course, she
paid for ;  who dressed it,  I am  not  informed ;  however, the child
was seen  several times after, when the woman carried it there on
the days on which out-patients  are seen by Mr. Sleigh, who, by the
way, told the woman it would be necessary for  her to get a letter of 
15
recommendation from some subscriber, which she neglected to do
till Thursday,  the last day she took it to the  Hospital, when  the
following very jufit and moderate demand was made her, and that in
Mr. Sleigh's own writing too, for I hold the original:—
   " Mr.  Sleigh does not furnish accounts to his patients ; however,
in the present instance, Mr. Sleigh, for his attendance on this child,
expects at least five guineas."
   " 7, Gloucester Place, N. R.
     "May 13th, 1830."
   Any comment of mine on the above, I feel would be superfluous ;
I therefore forbear making any, trusting you will not show  similar
indulgence.
                    I am, Sir, yqur obedient servant,
      ---------near
 Bryanstone Square, May 21.
   P. S. I forgot to say that Mr. S. did once visit the child, it not be-;
 ing, in his opinion,  in a proper state to be brought to the hospital,
 and that the little medicine which it had was bought at----, there
 bting none in the Hospital proper to give it.
     ALLEGED ABUSE IN  CHARGING FOR ATTENDANCE  UPON A
                   HOSPITAL PATIENT, p. 396.
                 To the Editor of The Lancet.
   Sir,—I trust you and  your readers will excuse my again ventur-
 ing to occupy a portion of your valuable time or publication;  but I
 am induced, lest any should be sufficiently incredulous to doubt  the
 veracity of an anonymous correspondence, to  send to your office,
 and there to remain until called for by me, Mr. Sleigh's modest me-
 morandum, a copy of which you inserted in this day's  Lancet, that
 should there be any doubters, they may  satisfy themselves.  I have
 further to state for your information and  that of your readers, should
 you think this worth inserting, that Mr. Sleigh has sent or gone him-
 self, once or twice a day (Sunday not excepted,)  to Moor Street,
 where the poor woman lives, from whom he wants to  extract five
 guineas for attendance upon a child that was taken to the hospital,
 and that all sorts of threats have been used for obtaining it, and like-
 wise to get  her to the hospital if they could, which they have tried
hard for these four days past.  Feeling that to appropriate one inch of
your space  more than is necessary, or otherwise than usefully,
would be sinning against many, I beg to subscribe  myself,
                   Sir,  your obedient servant,
                                                 Scrutator.
  London, May 29th, 1830. 
16
   REPLY OS MR. SLEIGH  TO THE LETTER INSERTED  PAGE 337.
                  To the Editor of The Lancet.
    Sir,—An anonymous letter appeared in last Saturday's Lancet,
 accusing me of having charged five guineas for attending a hospital
 patient, in proof of which a note of mine is .quoted, and this conduct
 is adduced as an instance of how the medical officers of the Western
 Hospital give gratuitous attendance on the poor.*   The  statement
 that I charged  a hospital  patient, is as false  as the  note  of mine
 quoted  to  prove  it is true.   The facts are these :—A fine boy was
 brought to  the hospital (as persons of the first distinction  have been
 on similar occasions, in consequence of a violent injury of the head.
 The woman who brought him  stated to the house-surgeon and to
 others, that she was only the nurse—that he was the illegitimate son
 of a  membei of Parliament (giving the member's name and address
 at the same time)—that his father would not allow him to be a hos-
 pital patient—but that I should attend him at her house  ; accordingly
 I did so ; prescribed for the child, and desired her to get  the medi-
 cines at an apothecary's, not because there were no medicines in the
 hospital,  as your honourable correspondent stated, but  because I
 considered  him my private patient, and of course she purchased the
 medicines where she thought proper.  One of my pupils also dressed
 the child's head daily at her house.  About a fortnight ago, she called
 with the child at the hospital, and desired I would make my bill.   I
 told her I never furnished accounts, but left my remuneration to the
 honour of my patients ; she then said she must take some  note from
 me to the parent of the child, in consequence of which I  wrote the
 note  quoted by your correspondent.  So much for the allegation
 made against me, of charging for my attendance on hospital patients.
   I pity, Sir, the malice of my enemies, who must  indeed, be hard
 driven for an accusation against me, to patch up the  above case;
 and if your readers be  improved  by perusing such productions, or
 your Journal rendered more eminent"}" by publishing them, or my
 enemies hope,  by so doing, to crush the Western Hospital—the
 sooner they open their budget the better; for my  part, I defy the
 bitter pen of calumny ; the darts hurled at me recoil on themselves.
 At all events, I hope your correspondent, if he  be  not  ashamed of
 his conduct, will in your next number let the public know  to whom
they are indebted for thus exposing the mal-practice of,
                       Sir", your most obedient servant,
                                            W.  W.  Sleigh.
Royal Western Hospital, June 2d, 1830.

  * The communication was properly authenticated, or it would not have been insert-
ed.—Ed. Lancet.
 t Mr. Sleigh must be aware that we are obliged to publish many things that do not
add to the  'eminence" of our Journal.   Nevertheless, they do  not detract from its
utility.—Ed. Lancet. 
17
      CHARGE FOR ATTENDING UPON A HOSPITAL PATIENT, p. 508.

                    To the Editor oj The Lancet.
      Sir,—The statements I am about to make will satisfy you and
„   the readers of The Lancet, whether Mr. Sleigh's communication or
    mine is entitled to most credit.
      On Thursday, the 23rd of March, the child was taken to the hos-
    pital, dressed by the young  men there, who were not told that ho
    was the son of a Member of Parliament, as Mr. Sleigh states ; and I
    again repeat that the nurse gave them sixpence to buy plaster.  She
    did not object to the boy's being a hospital  patient, but objected to
    leave him there,  because she, in common with all the neighbour-
    hood, knew that the hospital had not common necessaries for its
    inmates.  On the following  morning, Mr. Sleigh  visited the child,
    wrote for a powder, and observed, that from what  he had heard, he
    expected to find  it dead, then left, and neither he nor his pupils saw
    the child from that time till Saturday, and would not then have done
    so had not the woman taken it to the hospital; yet  Mr.  Sleigh says,
    this was a " private" patient.  Mr. Sleigh, at this visit, told the wo-
    man, on her complaining of his not having been to see the child, that
    she must get a recommendation.from a subscriber.  This  she said
    she could do, naming a Member of Parliament, in whose service she
    had resided.  Mr. Sleigh immediately ca'jght at the gentleman's
    name, and wished  the woman  to procure a recommendation from
    him, for he wanted him to take the chair at a  public  meeting, and say
    something in favor of  the hospital.   He said he had already  a half
    promise from him, and could he mention this case as having been at-
    tended to  at the hospital, it might be an inducement for him  to at-
    tend ; and then had the impertinence to say, that as it was a nurse-
    child, perhaps it was his, the M. P.'s.  The  woman replied, that she
    did not know whose it was ; she had never,  to her knowledge, seen
    the father.   With the  exception of two or  three  pupils' visits,  the
    child afterwards regularly attended for six weeks, and took his turn
    with the other out patients.   Not a word respecting " charge" was
    mentioned until the last day  of attendance.
      Such, Mr. Editor, was the case of " attendance upon the son of
    an M. P.," such was the case of a " private" patient;  and such the
    conduct of one of our "pure hospital surgeons."
                                                   Scrutator.

      " Now, we will go a little further," as Mr. Sleigh would say:—
                  From  the Lancet of Juns  5,  1830.
               EXTRACT FROM A LETTER OF MR. BEECHEY.
      I recommend Mr. Sleigh and his  friends, both for the advantage
    of the hospital and  bis  own credit, to adopt some other means of de-
                                  2* 
18
fending himself than that he has lately pursued, of endeavouring to
avert an attack which  was never contemplated (at least by  me) by
blackening the characters  of those whom he may fear as his accu-
sers.   If he regarded me in that light, he was mistaken.  I have no
adequate object, nor is my anger so easily excited ;  but he  may bo
assured I shall not tamely suffer the assaults of calumny to pass un-
heeded ;  for though a man's  character be fortified and strong as a
tower, I am aware it is not always proof against the machinations of
artifice and  misrepresentation, and  shall,  therefore,  take  every
means of repelling them.
  Trusting you will be kind enough to give insertion  in your next
number to this explanation ; and apologising for its length, I beg to
Bubscribe myself (in haste),
             Sir, your very obedient servant,
                                William Nelson Beechet.
  May 29th, 1830.

              From the Lancet of June 19, 1830.
 EXTRACTS FROM A  LETTER OF DR. AYRE, DATED JUNE 16,  1830.
   And   now,  Sir, with respect  to the  charges  so scandalously
brought by Mr. Sleigh against Sir Charles Scudamore.  Of the first,
namely, that he had recommended the purchasing of the spring-beds
of Mr. Pratt, of Bond-street,  because he was  attending one or two
of his sons ; I have the authority of Sir Charles to say, ' that prior
to the time of these  being ordered, he had not even a personal know-
lodge of Mr. Pratt,  had never been in his house, nor attended any
branch of his family, nor, as far as he knows,  any connexion of it:'
and that with regard to the second accusation, that of his having got
the obnoxious  rule proposed relative to an attendance upon servants
at the houses of their masters, he was not present when the rule was
framed, and had no knowledge of the intention to frame  it, and
never in a single instance acted upon it, for he  disapproved of it.
   But further :  to the  above statement I have now to add the as-
tounding fact,  the notice of which has only this moment reached me,
that upon a reference to the  minutes  of proceedings kept by the
Secretary, it appears that Mr. Sleigh, who gratuitously denounces it
as a crime, was ' himself the originator and  proposer of the  regula-
tion,' and must have known himself to have been so ; and he, there-
fore, is here palpably convicted of the base attempt to fix the offence
upon another.
   And now,  Sir,  a few words more,  and  I will conclude.  Mr.
Sleigh has given a list of the names of pupils who  attest their satis-
faction at his conduct;  but he does not tell us, as he might have
done, of the threats with some, and the various arts used with others
to obtain it, nor does he tell of the still greater number of his pupils 
19
who indignantly refused to sign it, and who denounce, in no  mea-
sured language, the treatment they  received  from him.   He has
given also other attestations, but he has not told us the price he paid
for them ; whether to one  who had unsparingly reviled him, a cog-
novit on his furniture and effects, which a week or two alter he sold
off; or to another a promise, which was broken, of a repayment of
his debt from the profit of his commendation.   Nor, lastly, has he
told us of the method by which he procured the letter he has publish-
ed from Mr. Buchanan, and which was not written by that young
gentleman, as it purports to have been, from a Coffee-house in Co-
vent Garden,  but in Mr. Sleigh's own house,  and according to his
dictation, and  at the instant after  the thousand pound bargain was
secured.
    But to  conclude :  Mr. Sleigh has got a  legal possession of the
house which was  formerly the hospital,  and, in despite of the land-
lord's writs of ejectment, retains it;  and he, with his associate Mr.
Gale, get  together meetings made up of a few obscure persons, un-
known before to the institution, and in no circumstances to subscribe
to it, and he calls these the meetings of the governors, and will, per-
haps, if we hear any more of him,  appeal to  the resolutions  of theso
made-up meetings as the legitimate decision of the governors.
              I am, Sir, your obedient, humble servant,
                                                J. AYRE.
 14, Somerset-street, Pdrtman-square,
          June 16. 1830.
   We have now arrived at the period already mentioned, when Mr.
Sleigh and his concerns could no longer find admission  into the
columns of the Lancet.  We therefore lost sight of him for the terra
of nearly a year, leaving hiin with  his ten patients still occupying the
hospital building, from which, his lease not having expired, the land-
lord was unable to eject him; his partizans still adhering to him,
 and enacting the stately farce of passing  resolutions  to bolster up
his fallen fortunes, just as they are doing here.  But all this availed
him nothing, nor will it now avail him.  It would seem that in June
of the following year, 1831,  a number of distinguished gentlemen,
amono- whom were several which have been  introduced in the course
of this5 pamphlet, publicly advertised Sleigh  as an individual of very
exceptionable  character, on that account he prosecuted one of them
for libel;  but the  advertisement being proved justifiable, Sleigh was
defeated, and  his bad character  thereby legally established.  The
following account of the matter is contained in the Lancet of June
25th  1831—one  of the  very years of that  publication which the
 British Consul has stated to be silent in relation to Mr. Sleigh. 
20
              From the Lancet of June 25,  1831.
             THE LATE WESTERN HOSPITAL.
 " A trial which excited considerable interest, both in and out of tho
medical world, came on in the Court of King's Bench on Thursday
last, between Mr. Sleigh,  late  of the  "Royal Western Hospital,"
and Mr. Pope, of Manchester-square, for a libel alleged to be con-
tained in an advertisement which appeared  on the  wrapper of  The
Lancet, and in some of the morning papers of June,  1830.  The
advertisement, which reflected in the severest terms on the character
of Mr.  Sleigh, as Surgeon of the "Hospital," was signed by Mr.
Pope, the Rev. Dr. Dibdin, Dr. Ayre,  the Rev. Basil Woodd, Mr.
W.  N. Beechey, and other gentlemen.
  " The defendant pleaded both the general issue and justification.
After the examination of numerous witnesses, among  whom were
the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Duke of Wellington, and Lord
Dunboyne,  Lord Tenterden stopped  the  trial  by  expressing hia
opinion that the justification which had been pleaded was most
amply made out, and that a nonsuit must be entered.  This was ac-
cordingly done, and the phiintiff being unable to obtain his costs for
which he asked, is chargeable with the expenses of both parties."
  I have as yet been unable to obtain  the  number  of the  Lancet
with the wrapper on which was published the advertisement  contain-
ing the reflections on Mr. Sleigh's character as  mentioned  in the
preceding article.  But inasmuch as it related to  him  as  Surgeon
of the  Western Hospital, and Mr. Pope, Dr. Ayre, and  W. N.
Beechey were among those who signed it, the nature of the charges
may be very easily understood, from those which we have seen they
actually did make against him as Surgeon of the Hospital,  in the
articles already inserted which  are signed by their  names.  I can
therefore do very well without the advertisement, if  Mr.  Sleigh
chooses to  keep  it out of sight;  though I expect it soon.  We as-
certain, then, the character of the charges against Mr. Sleigh, viz.,
that he was guilty of base and dishonest conduct.   And then again,
consider the character of those  who signed the charges.   There
was the Rev. Dr. Dibdin, an eminent antiquarian, who  but  two
years before, as we  have seen,, attested to the  great utility of the
Hospital, but whom Sleigh, by his misconouct, turned at length in-
to an accuser, as we see.  There was the distinguished Basil Woodd,
President of St. John's College, Cambridge.  There was Wm. N.
Beechey,  now Sir Wm.  N. Beechey,  besides Mr. Pope, and other
gentlemen.  Well,  the case was tried in no less a  court than that
of the King's Bench, the highest judicial tribunal in England.  The
witnesses on the occasion were  some of the most distinguished char-
acters  in the British empire—Lord Wellington,  (who, by  the way,
had been President of the Hospital,) the Archbishop bf Canterbury, 
21
the first ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England,  and Lord
Dunboyne,  (who also had been chairman of the general meeting of
the Governors of the Western  Hospital, about two and a half years
before,)  at which a vote highly commendatory of Mr. Sleigh was
passed unanimously.  It was where such men were  witnesses, in
such a Court, with such accusers to back the charges against the
character of Mr. Sleigh—charges of gross dishonesty and knavery—
that those charges were so amply justified  as to render it entirely
unnecessary to proceed regularly through  the  trial, and that Mr.
Sleigh was nonsuited off-hand !
   It should be recollected, that we get but a glimpse of the charac-
ter of Mr. Sleigh, from  the few scattered fragments  of the evidence
that we chance to find in the Lancet.   For a whole year previous to
the trial, not a word is  said in that publication in relation to him.—
And yet, from the little  we are enabled to glean from its columns of
a prior date, we  find quite enough to ruin a man in the eyes of any
civilized community.   Suppose, then, we had been  in Court at  the
 time of the trial, where we could have had the opportunity to hear
 in detail the testimony  of the " numerous  witnesses" on the occa-
 sion ; when, in spite of the deception and trickery of Sleigh, and of
 the partizan testimony  of his adherents, (if any still clung to him at
 the time) the light of Truth came streaming in with such  effulgence,
 that the eyes of Justice could endure no more with her lips sealed
 in silence, and she was compelled to exclaim aloud,  " It is enough !
 'Twere the sheerest, insult to my character to  imply,  by adducing
 further testimony, that I will not yield to claims already so clearly
 established. Proceed no further with this trial.  The charges against
 the character of the plaintiff are most clearly proved, and their pub-
 lication is amply justified.  Let the defendant  therefore be prompt-
 ly acquitted, and his assailant reap the consequences of an unfound-
 ed prosecution,  and of that moral delinquency  which cannot stand
 the test of legal  investigation."  Suppose, 1 say, we had been on
 the spot at the time, and heard the evidence which  produced such
 a result.   In what light, think ye, we should  under such circum-
 stances, view Mr. Sleigh? And in what light should we view those
 who, separated from the scene by the waters of a  vast ocean, and
 totally i-norantofthe whole affair  for years after,  presume, on the
 representations  made and the documents furnished by the reach-
 ed party, to pronounce his  character  "ummpeached and umm-
 neachableV' In what  light should we view a similar transaction in
 Lglaad, in relation to an individual whose character mighthus
 have been impeached  in the Supreme Court of the United Stalest
 Verily  we should regard the officious intermeddlers ^ a rare com-
 pound  of  the most consummate impudence and stupidity, thus.to
  undertake to neutralize and reverse a decision of our highest tr.bu- 
22
 Dal,  from the mere representation and showing of the guilty party.
 And in this light will the endorsers of Mr. Sleigh be viewed in Eng-
 land, when their names shall reach her shores, whither they will be
 wafted as speedily as the winds and the waves can convey them.
   To  counteract the facts heretofore published by me relative to
 his  character in England,  Mr. Sleigh has produced certain testi-
 monials  in his favour, purporting to be from the Governors of the
 Hospital, &c.   The latest testimonial of this  description  which he
 has exhibited to the public, is dated the  5th of July, 1830.   The
 meeting at which it was adopted is called a  meeting of the Insti-
 tution, at which Hon. Alexander Dawson, Member of Parliament,
 presided.   It follows :—
   Resolved, That the governors now assembled learn with regret,
 that some of the officers lately discharged from this Institution,  with
 certain of their friends, have held certain private meetings, at which,
 without any notice whatever to the governors at  large  or to Mr.
 Sleigh, they have drawn up resolutions  derogatory to the character
 of that gentleman.  They therefore feel it a duly they owe the pub-
 lic to pronounce such meetings to be contrary to every Christian and
 British principle, not only as affecting that gentleman, who has been
 THRICE so honourably acquitted,  but more particularly as calcula-
 ted  to injure this most  excellent Institution,  which has, under that
 gentleman's  superintendence, relieved so many thousands of desti-
 tute  sick.                    Alexander Dawson, Chairman.
     London, July 5, 1830.

   Now, to show what weight should be  attached to this resolution,
 it is only necessary to recollect what Dr. Ayre says in  his letter
 already quoted  respecting these same " Governors" at this period.
 His words are these : —
   " But to conclude : Mr. Sleigh has got a legal possession of the
 house which was formerly the hospital, and,  in despite of the land-
 lord's writs of ejectment, retains it; and he, with his associate,  Mr.
 Gale, get together meetings made up of a few obscure persons, un-
 known before to the institution, and in no circumstances to subscribo
 to it,  and  he calls these  the meetings of the governors, aud will, per-
 haps, if we hear any more of him, appeal to the resolutions of these
 made-up meetings as the legitimate decision of the governors.
               I am, Sir, your obedient, humble servant,
                                                J. AYRE."
  It  is true  that a Member of Parliament was Chairman of the
 meeting under  consideration ; but we have seen how Mr. Sleigh
succeeded,  in many instances, in deceiving very respectable men
for a time, who  afterwards, on becoming better acquainted with his
character and conduct, abandoned him.   Witness, for example, the 
28
case of the Rev. Dr. Dibdin, who gave so very favorable a recom-
mendation of the Western Hospital in 1829, but who was induced
by Sleigh's misconduct to become one of his accusers in 1831.__
But suppose the meeting at which the foregoing resolution was pass-
ed, to have been as regular a Governors'  meeting as were  the for-
mer ones,  when the hospital was in its glory.   Y\ hat then ?  This
resolution has hitherto been viewed as having been passed subsequent
to the trial in the Court of King's Bench, and has therefore been
considered by many as neutralizing,  in  a  great measure, the effect
of that trial.  How is it, say they, that such men continued to ad-
here to Mr. Sleigh after the Court had decided against him, unless
it was still a  doubtful case"?  Let them be informed,  then, that this
last, this  great difficulty  is now removed.   This very resolution,
which Mr. Sleigh's outrageous  deception has  been the means of
leading all parties to suppose to have been  passed after the trial, was
 passed nearly  a year before it, the resolution being stated July 5th,
 1830, and the  trial having actually occurred in the June of  1831,
instead of 1830, as his dishonesty led all  to  suppose in the  first in-
stance ;  which dishonesty has prevented him from undeceiving them
to the present hour ; by which means he has basely availed himself
of an undue  advantage for the  time, that has probably contributed
more than any thing besides to blind the eyes of the community, and
to keep him in  favor with  some portion of  it till this moment.   But
now that the veil is removed, and the deceiver unmasked in  this ad-
ditional and most unexpected imposition, it is to be hoped that those
who have thus far clung to him, will at length let go their hold, un-
less indeed they are prepared to go down  with him.
   So then it  comes to  this : that all the recommendations which Mr.
Sleigh has produced,  with the exception of  a single one from Ire-
land, are of a date a long  time prior to the  trial in  which his  charac-
ter was proved  bad, in the highest tribunal  in England.   Let him
now produce any recommendations from England after that period
if he can.  And  should  he do so, let the public consider whether thev
come from such a quarter, and are of such a nature, as to outweigh
the decision of that high tribunal, the Court of King's Bench in Eng-
land.
  The trial over, and Mr.  Sleigh  prostrate, we have no farther clue
to his history  till he absconded from London, after having embezzled
funds from an Institution in that city.   I have not yet been informed
what Institution this was ;  but from information that I have  receiv-
ed from Cincinnati,  in addition to that which I have already publish-
ed, it appears to have  been of a  literary and scientific  character.
The hospital  with which  he  was connected  may, as accounts wer*
kept, have been in debt to him,  for aught I know.   But we are not
to forget the sums of money which he managed to get, in the man- 
                              24

ner heretofore described, that ought to have been reckoned as the
funds of that Institution.  It does not however appear, that it is the
hospital whiqh is alluded  to in my advices from Cincinnati,  but
some other Institution.  I trust I shall shortly be favored with the
number of  the Lancet containing the  advertisement  itself, which I
suspect is on the wrapper, like the other advertisements, and which
I have not yet had the opportunity of seeing.  Vet I have the fact
of its existence stated to me in two  letters from Cincinnati, as will
appear anon.  And the statement is the more credible, as it corres-
ponds with Sleigh's character as poitrayed in the Lancet, and in the
letters from Cincinnati.
  The next we ascertain of him, after his absconding from  London,
is, that he was in Cincinnati.  Here, as usual, he made a dash for a
while, lecturing, debating,  &c. till his  London roguery came to the
ears of the Cincinnatians, and till he commenced his old tricks in
their city ;  when they shut him up in prison!   But  I  will not fore-
stal the documents which I have to present, one of which I publish-
ed in my letter to his six clerical endorsers, another in my reply to
his pamphlet, and  another I now  publish,  for the first  time, in
this pamphlet.  For all these documents I have responsible names,
one of which is that of  an-Editor, standing on the number of his
work containing the article,  which I have already republished.   In
this article,  Dr. Sleigh and his  fraud in Cincinnati are incidentally
mentioned, in a note introductory to  another article.  It is contained
in the Cincinnati  Evangelist of Sept. 7th, 1835, edited  by Walter
Scott, and is as follows.
                    DOCTOR SLEIGH.
   Brother Scott:—If the following is of any value, you are at liber-
ty to present it to your readers.   It  was extracted from a little book
brought to  this country by  the hypocritical Doctor above-named,
and is intended to set forth the nature and order of a Church in Cam-
bervvell, London, and her sister Churches in England, Ireland, Scot-
land, and America.  Said  Doctor, after having defrauded a lady who
had resided in his family, of  eighteen hundred dollars, left our city,
and has not been heard of since.                         O. T.
   The next document is an extract from a letter from Cincinnati
already published, which I  now republish, as follows.
   " Dr. Sleigh came here  early in  1834, as he said, directly from
London.   He told Dr. Moorehead, a countryman of his, that ho
possessed a large estate,—but no one believed it.   He lectured on
religion," &c.   " In the  mean time,  a  work called  the London
Lancet arrived, containing an account that Dr. S. had  run away
from London, after embezzling funds to a certain  amount from an
Institution in that city.   A  Miss Williams, a pious  old maid, had 
25
lent the Dr. $1800, (one account says $800,) and took his note.-—
Some* time in June or  July, 1835,  Miss W. asked for her money.
It seems that  the  Dr. had found  means  to  obtain the note, and
destroy it!! He denied ever having received any money of Miss W.
She then arrested him  for  swindling, and  he was  locked  up  in a
felon's jail. In the mean time the Dr. had an interview with Miss W.
and confessed his crime to her,  and acknowledged the debt.   She,
like a woman as she was, took his confession and his note, and he
was liberated.   He immediately quit Cincinnati—said he was going
back  to London.  He  has stripped  Miss  Williams of all her prop-
erty—left her bare—she now obtains a scanty support by teaching
music.   I believe this  detail to Le true in substance, but  I  am not
able at present  to leave my room to  consult  Mr. Underwood.* The
following persons might be written to : Dr. Wm. Price, Dr. Charles
Witslack, Alex. Flash, Linden Ryder, and  Miss Williams, the suf-
ferer  by this abominable knavery."

   The  third  document is an extract from a letter from Cincinnati,
which I now  publish for the first  time. After stating that Mr. Sleigh
came to that place about two years  ago, and mentioning his lectur-
ing, debating, &c.  the writer says  :—

   " He attempted to show that all the followers of Christ  had mis-
taken his commands,  and were in  the wrong road ;  that he alone
knew the right path,  and would point it out to others," &c.  " This
is the amount of what  he advertised to do.—In a short time after
this, he was confined in the felon's department of our prison.   The
facts  were these.   A  lady that came to this country in the same
vessel that he did, entrusted him  with 400 pounds sterling, for which
he gave his note, bearing interest.  By some  means she lost it, or
he found means to destroy it, and denied he had  received the money,
and threatened her with a prosecution for defamation of character.
But she had  other evidence ;—a paper on which he had calculated
the interest, and other  memoranda.   He finding this,  renewed the
note,  was liberated,  and immediately left the city.  He also,  by one
of the numbers  of the London Lancet, absconded from that city with
the funds  of a  Literary Society  to which he belonged.  A  former
friend of his states,  that he was fond of arguing down in private
what he advanced in public.—This is an epitome of what I  have
learnt; and of course he is considered to have lost every thing that
constitutes a  man."

  In addition to all  the foregoing, I am authorized by an  acquain-
tance  of mine in this city, who is a Deacon  of a Church, to state to

  * In another part of his letter, the writer speaks of being confined by the goui. 
26
 the public, that MR.  THURSTON CRANE, a merchant of Cin-
 cinnati, being here sometime since on business, made statements to
 him respecting the attempt of Mr. Sleigh to defraud  the lady in Cin-
 cinnati, and his consequent  imprisonment, similar to  those already
 published by rne.
   One rule  of evidence adopted by Mr.  Sleigh himself in the course
 of his discussion, as very conclusive proof, was,  "  Substantial fact
 under circumstantial variety."  I shall  now proceed  to show, that
 this rule is most completely  applicable to the case before us.
   By " substantial  fact," in the case of a question  to be proved, is
 to be understood the agreement of the witnesses in substance : and by
 " circumstantial variety," is meant those unimportant  differenced
 which occur in narration, from variety of style, aud  from the omis-
 sion or insertion of particular circumstances by each writer, accord-
 ing as their importance may appear to him, &c.
   Now then, these witnesses substantially agree on  the main point,
 viz. Mr.  Sleigh's  dishonesty, in his dealings  with  a  lady in Cincin-
 nati ; although  they relate it each one in a difierentmanncr.   One
 calls it defrauding the lady.   The others relate the particulars, and
 show that it  was only an unsuccessjul attempt to defraud her.  They
 also  substantially agree  with  regard  to the amount of which be
 attempted to defraud her ; yet this they express in different terms.
 One of them says $1800; another says $1800, with the additonal
 remark that there  was  another report of its  being but $S00 ;  while
 another says, it  was 400 pounds, which,  at $4. 44 cts.  to the pound
 sterling, and a premium ef 6 per cent, is just $1800.   The witnes-
 ses all agree, that he soon after left the city.  One of them gives no
 other particulars, having only mentioned him incidentally.   But two
 others  having heard he was  here, and  having also been requested
 to  state  particulars, do so.  These two substantially  agree in the
 representation, that the note which  Mr. S. gave the lady was mis-
 sing, and that  he took  advantage  of  her inability to produce it,
 denied  the debt, and, as the consequence, was imprisoned.   But
 the one says, (by supposition of course,)  that Mr. Sleigh  found
 means of destroying it; whde the other says, that either he destroy-
 ed it, or the lady lost it;  which was of course the fact, inasmuch as
 it was missing.  Again.  They agree in the particular of his having  (
 been confined, not as a debtor, but as a criminal ;  but they express
 themselves differently in relation to it, the one saying  that he was
 confined in the felon's  jail, and the other, that  he was confined in
 the felon's department  of the jail.  They both agree that he confess-
 ed the debt  after being imprisoned,  the  one giving the reason, the
 other not.  To add to  the strength of the testimony  of all  the wit-
nesses,  let it be remembered that  they resided in the place at the
time.  And as (o one  of them, he publishes  the main (acts to  the 
27
 world within  a fsw  weeks  after its occurrence, in the very city
 where it occurred, without being called to account by Mr.  Sleigh
 himself!—I shall not pursue  the subject.   I merely ask those  who
 reject evidence of this description, how they would  go to work to
 prove the Bible!
   It is  unnecessary  to dwell longer on the history of Mr. Sleigh.
 It is enough to know, that after quitting Cincinnati,  he made a dash
 at  Philadelphia, where he lectured and debated a short time, and
 thence took up his line of march to this city.   And here he  is, the
 same slippery, dishonest man that he was in London and Cincinnati.
 And if the New-York community continue'to be humbugged by him
 much longer,  all I can say is, they are much more gullible than the
 population of those  cities which have ejected him.   But this I am
 unwilling to believe.  I am loath to suppose,that after the disclosures
 made in this  pamphlet, a single individual can be  found who will
 still attempt  to sustain this  wretched  outcast, whose knavery has
 driven hiin from the bosom of society in other places.  At any rate,
 I covet not the society of those who degrade  themselves  so  much
 as  to introduce to  their family and  social circles this guilty inmate
 of a criminal's prison—nor the reputation which such sociality must
 entail upon them, on the  principle that " the partaker is as bad as
 the thief."
   It would  seem by  the papers, that,  notwithstanding  all that has
 hitherto appeared in relation  to his character, he is about to deliver
 a series of religious and  scientific lectures.  His effrontery in pur-
 suing such a course is altogether without a parallel, except perhaps
 in the case of  Cataline himself, who, notwithstanding his conspiracy
 against the commonwealth  was a matter too  notorious to be con-
 cealed, had the impudence  to appear in the public  assembly, just
 as if nothing  of the kind  were contemplated or suspected.   Thus
 Sleigh.  O ! to be sure ! he can deliver religious lectures.  Why not
 he ? Hasn't he talent?  Ay, and so  has  Satan ; and I would almost
 as soon have the one  lecture as the other.   It needs  character, as
 well as talent, to lecture on  religious  subjects — or indeed on any
 other. If roguery  is to be encouraged and  caressed, while honesty
 is kept in the  back ground, there will soon  be rogues by the whole-
sale.  What effect the  bolstering up of Mr. Sleigh, regardless of the
charges against him, is calculated to have on the rising generation,
every individual of the least discernment  cannot  fail to perceiv«.
Every good citizen  is  therefore bound to  discountenance  him.—
How  extremely  reprehensible, then,  must the conduct of  those
individuals appear, who have recently sent forth  to  the public the
following most extraordinary  document :—
  Dr. Sleigh.—The  followiug document in refutation of the  slan-
ders lately published respecting Dr. Sleigh, was unanimously agreed 
28
to at a meeting of several gentlemen, clergymen,  physicians, and
mechanics, held on Monday evening.
  " The undersigned having carefully examined the original docu-
ments submitted  to them, relative  to Dr.  W. W.  Sleigh, and the
Royal Western Hospital, in London, in relation to which certain ex-
tracts from the London Lancet,  impeaching the character of Dr.
Sleigh, have recently been published in this city, are unanimously of
opinion, that the professional and moral character of that gentleman
is unimpeached and unimpeachable, by any of his transactions, either
in founding that institution, of in the discharge of the duties devolv-
ing upon him in his official capacity.   The reports and minutes of
the Governors of  that Hospital, together with numerous testimoni-
als from distinguished men in all the liberal professions in London,
before and  after the medical controversies to which the  Lancet al-
ludes, and of which a vindictive use has been recently made, together
with the other papers submitted  to them, all conspire to  convince
them, that Dr. Sleigh has been unjustly treated.   Dr. Sleigh being
a stranger in this city, they have felt themselves called upon in jus-
tice to him, to make such enquiries on the subject as would place his
character beyond dispute, and as the result of that investigation, they
do hereby express their entire and unshaken confidence in him as a
gentleman of sound morals, and of the strictest honor and integrity;
and they do earnestly recommend him to the public as an accom-
plished and  skillful  lecturer on the evidences of Christianity: and
finally, they have respectfully entreated him not to condtcend hence-
forth to notice any newspaper attacks whatever, which may be made
on him, by either  Christians or  Infidels.  (Signed on behalf of the
meeting.)
  W. C. Hrownlee,  D. D.           N. Bangs,  D. D.
  Edward Probyn,                  T.  Merritt,
  A. Maclay, D.  D.                 B.  Waugh,
  Horace Holden.                  R. M'Cartee, D. D.
  David Meredith Reese, M. D.     W. M. Bangs,
  Robert H. Maclay, M. D.         Amos Belden,
     New York,  Dec. 29, 1835.
  Among the signatures  attached to the foregoing  article, I per-
ceive not the name of Rev. Charles G. Somers, one of the six cler-
gymen who signed the first recommendation of Mr.  Sleigh ; which
recommendation was published prior to the publication of the first
disclosure fron Cincinnati.  Thus has this gentleman made a most
timely retreat, and he deserves much credit for his prudence on this
occasion.   I perceive, also, the appendage of D. D. attached to the
name of Rev.  A.  Maclay, which appendage, I am informed, has no
business there, if so, I suppose it was added to give the list of en- 
39
dorsers as imposing an appearance as possible.   Let us now con-
sider the article itself to which the names are attached.
  The  gentlemen talk  of slander,  and then designate what they
mean by it, viz. certain extracts from the London Lancet recent-
ly published, that is, the account of the trial in which Mr. Sleigh
was beaten.   Surely this is strange slander.
  They speak of testimonials  after the medical  controversies to
which the Lancet alludes. Will  they please to produce any testimo-
nials possessing the  weight of a feather, dated after the trial in the
Court of King's Bench  in June, 1831, in which Mr. Sleigh's char-
acter was decided to be bad by law !  They must now keep in mind,
that he has been the  means of deceiving them, and of keeping
them deceived tilfanother undeceives them, with regard to the data
of the  trial, and that too by a whole year.  Will they still adhere to
the man who they must now be aware has thus deceived them ?
  They say, a vindictive use has been recently made of the articles
in the Lancet.   Now I am the  individual who has made use of the
only article that has  been used at  all, and I positively  deny that I
have made such a use of it; and I must be permitted to know my
own feelings better than they do.  My object in making use of the
Lancet has been, to expose a  knave, and thus  to prevent his dis-
gracing religion,  and imposing  on the community.
  They say, they are convinced of the good character of Mr. Sleigh
from the documents  submitted  to them.  But who submited those
documents?  Mr. Sleigh, the accused party.  Is this the way to look
thoroughly into a subject?  Suppose a civil tribunal  were to  try a
case in this manner,  what would these same gentlemen say to that?
What! pronounce the accused party innocent, merely  by examining
such evidences as he may choose to furnish ?  What mockery of jus-
tice is this !  If Mr.  Sleigh has not furnished them with all the evi-
dence against himself which I  have brought into view in this pam-
phlet, yea, and much more, which it was in his power to  do,  then
have they not seen both sides ;  and yet they have passed their sen-
tence on the case! But if he has shown them all, then, by  deciding
in his favour in view of the whole, they are just as bad as he is. But
what testimonials has he to exhibit which he has not exhibited to the
public ? He has exhibited some  ; and he must be a singular man in-
deed, to produce his iveakest documents in his public defence, and to
reserve his strongest  for his defence before a few individuals.   The
presumption is, that he  has already exhibited to the public the.best
he has ; and that finding these insufficient, ha enlists names and deci-
sions in his favour. But this will  not answer the purpose in this plain,
matter-of-fact  country,  this  country of free investigation, where
truth outweighs—no  matter how many mere names;—and where all
attempts to carry a cause by an array of names instead of facts,is the 
30
the sure way of defeating it.   If the gentlemen are in possession of
any material documents in this case which the public have not seen,
let them be published for the inspection of all; but let them not sup-
pose that their own opinions will answer as a substitute, under ex-
isting circumstances.
  They reiterate their recommendation of Mr. Sleigh,  as a skilful
lecturer on the evidences of Christianity.  As an  offset  to their
bare word for this, I have proved that he is a perfect novice in the
business ;  and  I now appeal  from  their decision to any first-rate
theological seminary in  the United States.   And  more than this,  I
am determined  to get the decision of some such seminary, to coun-
teract the pernicious effect which this  recommendation of Mr. Sleigh
is calculated  to produce, by leading people to suppose that Christi-
anity has no better defence than that which it receives at his hands.
  Finally,  they conclude by  advising him not  to notice any future
newspaper attacks.   A  fine piece  of advice truly.   How did they
know what kind of future attacks might be made ? what new evidences
might be presented''.  At  a  pretty pass indeed have we arrived, if  a
man may even be excused from  defending himsell against criminal
charges, and  yet repose in security under the broad aegis of a self-
constituted and dictatorial power,  unknown either  to Church or
Stale ?  Who are these dozen  "  Gentlemen, Clergymen, Lawyers,
Physicians, and Mechanics,"  that thus take it  upon themselves to
examine and decide-a case for the whole community ?   Whose re-
presentatives are they ?   What business is it of  theirs, more than of
others ?   But they have felt it a duty, they say, to do as they have
done, because Mr.  Sleigh is a stranger.   But  cannot this stranger
show his satisfactory documents to the public as well as to them ?—
to the public, whose business it  is to see for themselves,  if to them
he  would appeal? And  then again, wh;it need has he of the undue
influence of names, if he  has convincing facts ? Names to him in this
case will prove worse than nothing, by showing that he needs them ;
and the more names, therefore, the worse for his cause.  Besides,
this attempt to carry his  cause*  by  suppressing investigation,  and
bringing a partizan influence to bear in his favour, will be sure to be
resisted even on Us  own account.   The friends of truth will  never
permit this baleful power  to come to maturity.   They will crush  it
now in embryo, ere it leap full-armed into life, to prostrate virtue in
the dust, and to render iniquity triumphant! They will meet this ef-
fort to  supress  the investigation of  villainy on the very threshold,
and give it their stern,*indignant rebuke—a rebuke  that  will make
the ears of Sleigh's endorsers ring and tingle during the remainder
of their days •
   But not only is their  decision the height of arrogance : it is most
transcendanlly absurd and  ridiculous.   1 he question with regard 
31
to Mr. Sleigh's character was settled long ago in the Court of King's
Bench in England, where he was well known.   And now a dozen
individuals in America, who know nothing about him, come forward
and certify, contrary to that decision, that his character is good !
0 ! how inadequate is language to express the degree of ridiculous
absurdity connected with this grave farce! Verily,  verily, the days
of the Solomons and the Daniels  have  come once more, and the
IMMORTAL  DOZEN  now occupy the seat  of judgment! At
their oracular dictum, public opinion is to be smothered, investiga-
tion of iniquity is to cease, the decisions of the constituted tribunals
of society are to be reversed, and Truth, and Honesty, and Justice,
o'erwhelmed by  the weight of their malign influence, are to be crush-
ed to the earth,  or dragged at the chariot wheels of all-conquering
Knavery !  Tell me, fellow-citizens, shall these things be so ?  In a
voice of deafening thunder, I hear you answer  " NO ! ! !"—Let all
the people  respond, Amen.
  It is a most remarkable circumstance, that these gentlemen do
not so much as attempt to  justify th-ir protege in the Cincinnati af.
fair, nor do they even allude to it.  Yet the villainy of Mr. Sleigh
is in that instance  as evident as  proof can make  a  thing;  not-
withstanding which,  in their  summary manner,  these  gentlemen,
these prodigies of wisdom, of prudence,  and of deliberation, with a
single dash of their magical pen,  set  every thing at rights, by de-
claring  his moral character " unimpeached and unimpeachable."—
And now let me tell them what they will have accomplished by this
course, in  the sequel.   They will not  have sustained Sleigh; that
is impossible :  but they will have degraded themselves, and destroy-
ed their own influence.  And if an«individual should thereafter pro-
duce  a recommendation signed by them, " 0 !" the examiner will
say,  " this is signed by the men that endorsed Sleigh :  it is good for
nothing at all, but is rather suspicious than  otherwise.  Bring me
testimonials on which I can depend, and not such as this."
   I have already brought into view the surprising fact, that Mr. S.
is in the habit of advocating one sentiment in public, and a contrary
one in private, which, together with his conduct, leads me to believe
him to be a real Jesuitic hypocrite, disbelieving in Christiany, but
making use of it as the best  means to accomplish his own sinister
purposes,  without caring  how much he injures and disgraces it.—
As an additional corroboration of  this idea, and at the same time as
an act of justice to an  injured individual, I will  insert  a statement
furnished  to me  by Doctor Burdell,  a Member  of the  Medi-
cal Society of the City and County of New York ; the gentleman
who,  for having had the  honesty and independence, when called for-
ward by Sleigh\ to deny an unfounded assertion of his, on the last
evening of the debate, was branded by that brazen-faced  impostor 
32
as a quack and an infidel!  Dr. Burdell is neither the one nor the
other.   He is a regular, authorised physician, and a professor of re-
ligion, whose character is not thus to be maligned with impunity by
such an individual as Sleigh.   As to Sleigh himself, he is neither a
quack  nor an  infidel, in the  ordinary sense of those terms. . He
knows better than he nays, and is therefore worse than a quack ;  and
he does not believe what he advocates, and is therefore worse than an
infidel.   Christians should abhor such a man, infidels should despiso
him, " and there should be a whip in the hand of every honest man,
to lash the rascal  naked  round the world !" But for  Dr. B.'s state-
ment ; which, by the way, would not have been furnished to me, had
Sleigh made  the public recantation which he should have done :—

                   TO  MR. B AC HE LEU.
   The abuse I received from " Dr." Sleigh at  the Chatham street
chapel, respecting the contents of the pericardium, was only preven-
ted from coining before the public by his making to me an  apology,
and  admitting my  assertion  to bo correct, that it ioas not,  and
could not have been, the aqua pericardii, or " waters of the pericar-
dium," that  issued from  our Saviour's side when pierced  with  the
spear.   I believe, of course, that Christ was actuallij dead  when ta-
ken from the  Cross, and that he arose from the dead,  and  subse-
quently ascended into Heaven ; but it was certainly a gross absur-
dity, on the part of Projessor Sleigh, in holding forth the "falla-
cious" doctrine he did, in order to prove  that he could not have been
resuscitated, after having been taken from  the Cross.  If " Doctor"
Sleigh  is determined to  maintain  every  assertion  he advances,
" right or wrong,"  I think he is the wrong  man to  advocate  the
truths of Christianity, and I cannot blame Mr.  Purser for refusing
to continue  the discussion with  such an antagonist.  An honest, hon-
orable, and true-spirited Christian, (not a fanatic,) I believe to be an
image of Him who suffered on the cross ;  and such an individual is
a bright orb in the constellation of Christianity ; while a dishonest
and quibbling demagogue reflects odium upon the cause he pretends
to support, and  entails disrespect on the divine doctrines of reve-
lation.

   Comment on the foregoing is superfluous, and I therefore leave
it as it is, commending  it to the notice of Mr.  Sleigh's endorsers,
and the public at large.
   Before entirely quitting Mr.  Sleigh's " TWELVE," I must be
permitted just to jog their memory, by way  of reminding them of
the fact, that  Mr. Sleigh, when he came to  this city, repeated the
farce which he played on making his debut at  Cincinnati, by passing
himself off for a gentleman of fortune and  leisure, when he was not
tforth a cent on earth!   And should he produce any more of bis 
83
    a govenors'" testimonials as to his character, let me also just re-
    mind his Board of Examiners to inquire of him whether the Chair-,
    man of said " Governors'"  meetings (if he happen to have an M.
    P. to his name)was not the identical Member of Parliament whom
    Mr. Sleigh supposed to be the natural father of the poor child men-
    tioned in this pamphlet, and whom, notwithstanding this, he was so
    desirous of getting to preside at meetings of the kind !
        Having now attempted to  do justice to Mr Sleigh and his en-
    dorsers, I  must, ere I conclude, do one act of justice to myself.
       For the course  which I have pursued in relation to Mr. Sleigh,
    X have by some  been denounced as a Judas, by others I have been
    viewed as acting a most unaccountable part, and so on to the end
     of the long catalogue of " evil surmisings."  But ivhy have I been
     denounced as a Judas?  Why have I been supposed to act an unac-
     countable  part ?  What  have I done that I ought not to have done,
     from the beginning of this affair  till  now?  To  those grovelling
     worms of earth who can see  no motive to action  but gold,  and to
     whom an act in an individual which they cannot trace to such a mo-
     live appears strange and unaccountable, I  have nothing to say.   I
     hold no parley with such.   Their heads are incapable of compre-
     hending, and their hearts of appreciating, those ennobling principles
     of action springing from disinterestedness and love of truth.  But to
     those who are possessed of generous feeling, and  " can find a lux-
     ury in doing good," I offer a few words of explanation.
       In the  first place, I saw that Mr. Sleigh was not the man to do
     justice to  Christianity,  either  in word or deed.  In the next place,
     I had hints of his bad character, but such hints as I could not for the
     moment divulge.   Under these circumstances, I  perceived that he
     was likely to bring serious evil upon a cause which I, holding to be
     sacred, regarded  more than all things beside.   To rid Christianity
     of such  an incumbrance as this, and thereby to prevent his doing
     present or future harm, I proposed to aid his antagonist in bringing
     forward such objections as I knew would drive him from the  field,
     thus forcing upon the stage some other advocate who would not dis-
     grace the  cause, but do it ample justice, & thereby accomplish  great
*     good.   What an awful Judas I must be, to think of such a thing as
     this ! But not loo fast, my friends.  Although I  did  not recollect
     any precedent at the time, and had nought but the  plainest principle
     of common sense for my guide, I find on reviewing the  Memoirs of
     the late celebrated President Dwight, of Yale College, an expedient
     of a similar natire at least, adopted by that enlightened Christian
      advocate, for the extirpation of infidelity in that Institution, the ac-
     count  of  which I here introduce  for the information of those who
     were not aware of it before, and for the consideration  of those who
     are opposed to thorough religious discussion. 
34
   " At the time of his accession to the Presidency," (1795)  " Infi-
delity was fashionable and prevalent in the College. . To extirpate a
spirit so pernicious and fatal, he availed himself of an early opportu-
nity.   Forensic disputation was  an important exercise of the senior
class.  For this purpose, they were formed into a convenient num-
ber of divisions ;  two of which disputed before him every week, in
the presence of the other members of the class, and of the resident
graduates.   One  of the questions presented by the first division was
this : " Are the Scriptures oj the  Old and New  Testaments the Word
of God V   To their surprise, the President selected it for discussion ;
told them to write on which side they pleased, as he should not impute
io them any sentiments which they advanced, as their  oivn ; and re-
quested those who should write on thenegalive side ij the question, to
collect and bring forward all the fads and arguments which they could
produce : enjoining it upon them, however, tQ treat the subject with
becoming respect and reverence.  Most if not all the members  of
the division came forward as  the champions of  Infidelity.   When
they had finished the discussion,  he first examined  the ground they
had taken ;  triumphantly refuted  their arguments ; proved to  them
that their statement of facts was mistaken or irrelevant; and to their
astonishment, convinced them that their acquaintance with the sub-
ject was wholly superficial.  After this, he entered into a direct de-
fence of the divine origin of  Christianity, in a strain of powerful ar-
gument and animated eloquence which nothing could resist.   The
effect upon  the students was electrical.  From  that moment Infidel-
ity was not only without a strong hold, but without a lurking  place.
To espouse her cause was now as unpopular, as  before it had been
to profess a belief in  Christianity.  Unable to endure the  exposure
of argument, she  fled from  the  retreat of learning, ashamed and
disgraced."
  As to my  exposure of the bad  character of Mr. Sleigh, I have no
explanation to give.   Those who do not  know  enough to under-
stand that an impostor, especially a religious one, should be expos-
ed, and prevented  from gulling the community, could not understand
an explanation  were  one to be given.   And those who suffer them-
selves to he gulled after the exposure is made, have less understand-
ing still.   And  here I shall rest my defence, feeling conscious that
I have acted right, and that it will soon be so admitted by every man
of common sense and common honesty.
  It will be seen that I have  nowhere in this pamphlet given Mr.
Sleigh the title of Doctor.  The reason of this is, that I do not find
him thus denominated by friends or foes in England.   His  own tes-
timonials call him Mr. Sleigh ;  and  I presume the literati of Eng-
land know  what is good English.  1 have therefore given him the
title he bore in that country. 
                                34                             ^

    With regard to the two or three papers in this city that have taken
  advantage  of the unjust prejudice existing against  me for the mo-
  ment in the minds of the ignorant and the malignant, to misrepresent
  and abuse me, I have only to say, that in pursuing this course,  they
->■ have been merely at their old vocation, and that 1 am not their  only
  victim.   The Commercial Advertiser, for example, has misrepre-
  sented and abused me most shamefully ; but it has done the same to
  others, and this is well understood.  Hence, 1 apprehend no serious
  harm from any thing it has said  or may say of me.  As to another
  paper,  whose  Editor  abused Mr. Sleigh  till he  found him to  be a
  knave, and then  immediately espoused his cause, this was all  per-
  fectly natural.  His fraternal sympathies would of course gush forth
  at the sight of a brother so dear to his.heart.  In relation to a certain
  weakly concern,  all I have to say is, to advise  its Editor to go to
  school a quarter or so, and learn syntax and punctuation ; for really,
  so jumbled are his sentences, and so obscurely expressed, that it is
  sometimes  difficult  to divine his meaning.  1 do hope he will not
  become my advocate, as I should regret to be found in such illiter-
  ate company.
    Should any portion of this community continue to adhere to  Mr.
  Sleigh, after becoming acquainted with the disclosures made in this
  pamphlet, then shall  I,  for one, be constrained'to confess, that we
  are of all cities the most gullible ; and I should hardly be surprised-
  to hear, that some not only believed that man-bats had been discov-
  ered in the  moon, but that the moon itself, as it is sometimes said,   %
  is made of  green cheese !
    I will now bring this pamphlet to a close, by expressing the hope
  that it will have such  an influence with this community as to lead
  them  so to act in relation to this case of Sir. Sleigh,as will leave the
  impression on the minds of the young, that the path of virtue is the
 path of safely, while the way of the transgressor is  hard.
                                    ORIGEN  BACHELER.



   3        ^       ^       %       $       $       3

     D7POSTSCEIP  T!!!-CC

   Praise to God ! that he has not left without witness an individual
 who is striving to the utmost of his power, against a  torrent of op-
 position, to snatch the suffering cause of truth from the sacraligeous
 hands  of an impostor  whose heart is black as Erebus—an impostor
 who may be  said fairly to out-Boroughs Boroughs himself—an im-
 postor whose name is doomed, like Satan's among the Infernals, to 
                                  35

 stand pre-eminent—on the scroll of infamy, till the very name and
 memory of these devils incarnate shall  perish in oblevion !
   " The lip of truth shall be established forever, but the lying tongue is but
 for a tnoment."—Prov. xii. 19.
   I stop the press to announce, that a  letter has just been  receivec
 from  Cincinnati, dated  and post-marked Dec. 27th,  signed  by a
 respectable citizen  of that place, from which I am permitted  to
 make the following extracts :—
   " I have to apologise for not replying to your favour of the 10th  inst
 before, but must plead press of business at this season  of the year, which
 rendered it  difficult to confer with Miss  Williams on  the  subject you
 wrote on.—I have seen that lady, and she  has prepared and furnished me
 with a written statement of the  wrongs she has suffered at the hands of
 Dr. Sleigh—but as the statement is somewhat bulky, and would prove ex-
 pensive if transmitted per  mail, I reserve them for some favorable oppor
 tunity to forward them.—In the  mean time, 1 will briefly state the sub-
 Btance:—
   " In Nov. 1833, Miss W. became intimate with Dr. & Mrs. Sleigh, on
 the ground  of similarity of religious sentiments, about which time the Dr,*  *
 was in a state of pecuniary embarrassment, and was in dread of arrest for1,
 £46 str. Miss W. relieved this by a loan of that amount.   In December,  J
 a friend suggested to the Dr. that he might succeed in America  by sugar
 refining,.with a small capitif to commence with.—Miss W. increased the
 loan to £400,  and consents to accompany  the family to this  country.—
'^Shortly after (heir arrival, Dr. S. evinced great arrogance, and wished to '"
 bethought a man of property—subsequently slandered Miss W. to many
 of her acquaintances  in this city.—Miss W. having arrived  at a know
 ledge of these facts, is compelled to leave  his house, not however with a
 view of withdrawing her funds, but from the vile insinuations thrown out
 by the Doctor—together with the assertion that  he owed her nothing—
 induced Miss W. to apply  for the amount through the medium of a friend,
 He then denies the loan.  This compelled Miss W. to apply for legal aid.
 He is arrested and  imprisoned—his wife  implores  Miss W. for his re
 lease, and he writes a note stating that " The aspersions 1 have at any
 time cast on Miss W.'s character, are false, infamous, and unfounded."—
 He then gave Miss W. his note  at 18 months for $1800, and was liberat-
 ed from prison.—These are the  leading facts of this case, with which you
 may make such  use as may benefit society.—I regret that I have not time
 to spare to  enlarge on this subject.—I have seen the documents in  Miss
 Williams' possession,  and I believe  the whole of this statement  to  be
 strictly  correct."
   In view of the foregoing letter, together with the mass of evidence of Sleigh's abomina-
 ble character furnished in thU pamphlet, no reason on earth can furnish a sufficient
 excuse to his endorsers to continue to  give him countenance a moment longer.  They
 are at the least bound to say to the public, that such are now the evidences adduced
 against him, that they withdraw their  endorsement till  something furthtr can  be as-
 certained in relation to this " stranger."— One word of caution to those who attend
 his lectures.   I'ay  only as you go; purchase none of his twelvt evening, ten shilling
 tickets; lest, ere you are  aware, he give you the slip by absconding from the city " be-
 tween two days," and leave you to whistle for your money.
                                             OR1GEN BACHELER.
 
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