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Polk Letters: August 20, 1856
1856, Aug. 20
Bishop Polk, New Orleans, La., to Bishop Elliott, re: acknowledging receipt of his letter in reply to the printed letter sent home on the subject of establishing a Church UNIVERSITY; referring to Bishop Elliott's remarks on failure, saying that a failure in one or two, or a half dozen instances should not be conclusive against all effort to remedy a confessed evil of growing, and portentous magnitude, a very long and persuasive letter on the absolute necessity of a Southern University to supply southern schools and pupils for teaching and for the ministry, to educate southerners who can no longer be sent to the North because of the great gap and difference in feeling and sympathy. 18 pp. (1 mss. original and 1 Photostat and 1 typed copy ).
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X X X 14{penciled in a circle}
New Orleans Aug 20. '56.
My dear Elliott
I have been sick & have been to the sea-side for a few days. On my return I found your welcome letter of the 2nd.
When making that tender of a plan of union & cooperation contained in my printed letter I did not forget your experience in the matter of school enterprises & was prepared to have you remind me of the adage of "the burnt child" & felt I must accept it as a plea in abatement of any special enthusiasm on your part at the outset. It was not only a sore, but a sound & wholesome piece of instruction that of yours, & one upon which I felt we might count as an availability in the present matter. We did not fail, my dear brother, to suffer with you, while you were
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suffering, so far at least as we were permitted, by the facts & our circumstances. You have undoubt=edly been forced to see things from a point of view which will be useful to us in the general con= =ference, & may help to keep us off a rack or sand-bar. Let us not make our conclusions broader than our promises, however. Failure in one or two, or a half dozen, instances, should not be conclusive against all effort to remedy a confessed evil of growing, & portentious magnitude. The wisest & most forecasted & cautious of men, are still but men, & are not above the reach of mishaps or errors. And besides, God & providence, for wise reasons, may sometimes interfere to prevent lesser successes, that the way may be paved for greater. Who can tell? But be all that as it may. Here stands out potent upon the face of things, in bold & startling relief, a
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map of facts, touching the present & the future of our Southern Church, which demand{underlined} to{underlined} be{underlined} seen,{underlined} &{underlined} considered,{underlined} &{underlined} dealt{underlined} with,{underlined} if we mean to meet what the times exact, & keep the Church for whose success we are committed, from being swamped. I think, my dear Elliott, I cannot be mis=taken in the signs of the times. A few years more, are all that are wanted to make what now is only a shadowy phantom, an embodied & living & impressive reality. And we shall have nothing left us but bitter & unavailing reproaches, if we do not wake up to the necessity, -- the{underlined} stern{underlined} necessity,{underlined} -- of providing amply for the emergency that is at the door. You know as well as I do, the state of feeling, which is every day getting stronger among northern clergymen & teachers -- Churchmen though they be -- on the subject of coming South to
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labour. Thus far we have been able to hold that matter in check in the northern Church mind, by the independent, & manly & christian way, in which we have as Southern churchmen dealt with the question. But it is in church only. It is a pent up thing. It is tremendously pressed from the rear. It feels the pressure & now & then crys out, with{underlined} Hopkins article on Bishops{underlined} & slaves,{underlined} -- upon which I took occasion, by the way, to give him my mind very fully,) & it is not in the nature of things, if everybody else gives way that it -- the northern church mind -- should stand. It is not to be supposed if northern churchmen & every body else gives way, that these states can continue united. If they separate, can the dioceses maintain their union? The thing is impossible. Impossible, because they of the north will not desire it,