Polk Family Papers Box 10 Document 20

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Letters: July 1, 1861

1861, July 1

W. L. Leacock, New Orleans LA to Bishop Polk, re: expressiong of shock and wonder over the Bishop's decision, begging him to write and explain to him why he felt it necessary to accept the commission; stating that he would not attend the meeting for reasons he cared not to mention; feeling that the meeting had lost its object since the dis-membership is now a fact recognized by the whole confederacy. 2pp

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New Orleans, July 1 1861

My dear Bishop,

The whole canonade of the [North?] [ed.?] [was?] have shaken me more than the announcement of your course-- but I stood the fire, because I had confidence in my Leader _ nevertheless, injuries were rife upon the streets & when forced to answer, I cd. but say, the [?] is right but I condemn the act _ which condemns the right? Yes - He is too rash for me _ I know he is right because he has reasons for what he has done _ I condemn the act, only [one?]. I am not in [justification?] of those reasons-- but when I ascertain them, I feel confident I shall [oppose?] them. Now I never was afraid of you before -- but I am now, because I know you [?], and I am afraid that these have had more influence in determining yr course, than the [consequences?] of our cause _ I pray you write to me _ I do not desire a full explanation of yr every [?]. it may be imprudent to give them by letter in these times.

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but only tell me, that yr. views have been conveyed & endorsed by uninformed, right - thinking, Christian men, & I shall be satisfied, tile I see you. I take you seriously & affectionately, I am afraid of the Polkism of yr nature. You are right, inasmuch as you violate no law - but is it expedient? if it is, then surely our cause is hazardous - write - if I tell you, you have shaken me to the very core for my Being.

I shall not attend this meeting, for reasons that I cannot now mention - nor is it necessary, for the object, for wh. it [may?] called, buy a recognition of our dismemberment, is now a fact, recognized by the whole Confederacy. It is at best but a preliminary_

Yrs. Affectionately W. L. Leecock

Right Rev. L Polk Memphis

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[Treason], Lee, and Davis?

The incident so profusely commented upon on both sides of the ocean, of Bishop Polk of Louisiana having accepted a commission in the Confederate army is no derogation from the religiousity of Confederatism, but rather the contrary, irrespective of the right or wrong of the proceeding itself. Bishop Polk had been educated as a solider; and he was antecedently to his consecration at first 'missionaryBishop of the South-west,' an office he held before Louisiana was raised into a Diocese, a proprietor— a slave owner, we grant, on a considerable scale— but a seigneur-cleric, who baptized, catechized, and married all his belongings. He believed, with whatever truth or falsehood, that the irruption of the United States' invading army would be the advent of all disorder and irreligion into his State and diocese. He was the contemporary and the friend at the military academy of the President, to whom, outside of his State obligations, his allegiance was pledged. General as he is, he is so far from forgetting his sacerdotal functions, that, as we learn from the Church Journal, he recently ordained, under exceptional circumstances, an army chaplain. Pupil, as he was, of Bishop M'Ilvaine, at WestPoint, it is very likely that Bishop Polk does not draw the inferences adduceable from early canons unduly tight: while possibly the examples of Abraham and Aaron, of Samuel and of Maccabaeus, are not absent from his recollection. We should be sorry to assume the office of his apologists; but at the same time, without appealing to the ex post facto justification that his diocese is the State which Butler now rules, we may venture to trust that there is a side to the question which would bespeak a

lenient estimate of the proceedings of the squireBishop, who made an offering of the experience which he had gained in his youth to his beleaguered country at its extreme need.

[page is torn] its statistical strength, the Church[page is torn] we believe, fulfilling a

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Rev Dr Leacreck New Orleans

Requesting information of the Bishop's Course to which lead him to accept the appointment of Maj. Gen.

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