I think that these men made a mistake and our party made a mistake in accepting without protest a decision that was far worse than the one delivered in the case of Dred Scott. By accepting this decision the most important issue was abandoned. The Republican party must take the old ground that it is the duty of the Federal Government to protect the citizens, and that it cannot simply leave that duty to the State. It must see to it that the State performs that duty. _Question_. Have you seen the published report that Dorsey claims to have paid you one hundred thousand dollars for your services in the Star Route Cases? _Answer_. I have seen the report, but Dorsey never said anything like that. _Question_. Is there no truth in the statement, then? _Answer_. Well, Dorsey never said anything of the kind. _Question_. Then you do not deny that you received such an enormous fee? _Answer_. All I say is that Dorsey did not say I did.* --_The Commercial_, Louisville, Kentucky, October 24, 1884. [* Col. Ingersoll has been so criticised and maligned for defending Mr. Dorsey in the Star Route cases, and so frequently charged with having received an enormous fee, that I think it but simple justice to his memory to say that he received no such fee, and that the ridiculously small sums he did receive were much more than offset by the amount he had to pay as indorser of Mr. Dorsey's paper. --C. F. FARRELL.] PLAGIARISM AND POLITICS. _Question_. What have you to say about the charges published in this morning's _Herald_ to the effect that you copied your lecture about "Mistakes of Moses" from a chapter bearing the same title in a book called Hittell's "Evidences against Christianity"? _Answer_. All I have to say is that the charge is utterly false. I will give a thousand dollars reward to any one who will furnish a book published before my lecture, in which that lecture can be found. It is wonderful how malicious the people are who love their enemies. This charge is wholly false, as all others of like nature are. I do not have to copy the writings of others. The Christians do not seem to see that they are constantly complimenting me by saying that what I write is so good that I must have stolen it. Poor old orthodoxy! _Question_. What is your opinion of the incoming administration, and how will it affect the country?