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priate for our purposes. And this I do the more readily, as it is
beyond the reach of my immediate jurisdiction.

It so happens that trade, with her lynx-eyed vigilance for com-
mercial advantages, as inaugurated a system of railway enter-
prises, which, by the extraordinary facilities it affords for congre-
gating at a common centre, has gone far towards settling this point
for us.

North Carolina, by her Central railroad, beginning at Beaufort
and running west, places her population within easy access of the
Southern end of the Alleghany {sp} range of mountains. South Caroli-
ina, by her system of railroads beginning at Charleston and passing
through Rayburn’s Gap, does the same. The same is true of Geor-
gia, from Savannah. The same is true, or to be soon true, of Flor-
ida, also, from Pensacola via Montgomery and Atlanta; as well as
via Savannah or Columbus. Alabama reaches the same points by
her roads from Montgomery via Atlanta; from Selma to Tennes-
see; or by the Mobile and Ohio railroad and its intersections,
Lousiana, by its New Orleans and Great Northern railroad. And
Mississippi, by the use of tow last; both of which traverse her
entire length. Texas, by the connection of her own system of
railroads, by the Shreveport and Vicksburg railroad. Arkansas,
by its Little Rock and Memphis railroad, is put in connection with
the same locality, through the Memphis and Charleston railroad,
as is also West Tennessee by the same route. And Middle Tennes-
see, lastly, with the same locality by the Nashville and Chattanoo-
ga railroad.

Thus we have a system of railroads traversing Tennessee, Ar-
kansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia,
South Carolina and North Carolina, uniting and terminating in the
Southern end of the Alleghany {sp} range in the south end corner of the
State of Tennessee, by which the citizens of all those States can
be brought together in from thirty-six to about forty-eight hours.
This remarkable fact would seem to indicate these high lands as
the region for our union and co-operation. They have the merit
of centrality and accessibility, and from the rapidity of movement
attained by railway, of contiguity also. They offer mountain air
and pure water. Are beyond the reach of epidemics. The cost of
living is cheap, and they are within the pale of the plantation
States.

The urgent necessity of some provision for the education of the
young under our care, especially such as may desire to enter the
sacred ministry, more adequate than any now existing in our sev-

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eral dioceses, is realized by us all. Scarcely a convention passes in
which this subject is not brought up for consideration, either in
our Episcopal addresses or in the reports of our conventions on the
state of the Church. It is discussed at length, its paramount im-
portance is admitted, our inability to carry out what we so plainly
see to be needed is demonstrated, and it is dismissed in silence, or
consigned by the help of that convenient vehicle—a resolution—to
the “earnest consideration” of some future convention. The result
of all which is, that nothing is done. We are losing time, and a
large part of the most valuable and available work of our mission
is left unperformed.

I am satisfied, however, that this seeming absence of honest,
earnest, fruitful zeal, is apparent only, and that our inefficiency has
its root not so much in a want of real interest in the work to be
done, as in the settles conviction that we lack the conditions
necessary to success, should that work be undertaken by us in our
separate diocesan capacity. The experience of the past has not
been without its instruction, as we have been taught at least,
to have a prudent regard to the proportion which exists between
means and ends. It is in the light of that experience I would now
respectfully invite you to entertain the proposition herein submit-
ted. What we cannot do separately, and to our satisfaction in our
capacity as dioceses, we may, I submit, very easily accomplish,
and in the most satisfactory manner when united. The population
of our dioceses is homogeneous. The people are substantially the
same, their pursuits, their institutions, their sympathies, are one.
A single educational establishment, situated in a place so central
and accessible as that indicated, would serve the purposes of each
of us well as if it were situated within the precincts of our
respective dioceses.

Another consideration of weighty importance inviting to union,
is that in all enterprises of this kind a very natural element of suc-
cess—an element indeed without which there is no success—is, the
presence and influence of a public opinion of intelligence, discrim-
ination, and of wide extent, operating as an outside pressure, up-
holding and enforcing discipline, encouraging and stimulating a
high tone of moral sentiment, and rewarding successful competi-
tion for academic honors, with an approbation of so high a charac-
ter as to make them laudable objects of honorable ambition.

The advantages of such a public opinion, it is clear we could
much better show, if Faculties and students, instead of being un-
der the eye of the people of a single State, were subjected to the