Polk Family Papers Box 9 Document 12

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because, to say nothing else, our{underlined} laity{underlined} -- of the South would not tolerate it. Then where are we? Now, my dear Sir, the time was that I did not think it worth while to {struckthrough: think} discuss such things. It is with the extremest reluctance I admit the necessity now, but I must be blind -- as a churchman hopelessly blind -- if I did not see them. I say then where are we, as a church, in these dioceses cut off in feeling & sympathy & fact, from the dioceses of the north, with a wall as high as the heavens between us? Look over your clergy list, & the lists of all your brethren around you & see from whence it is, you & they have obtained the men that fill your & their pulpits. Look over the lists of the teachers of your schools, your governesses & your {illegible}, & from whence are they? It may be said the good book teaches, "Sufficient for the

day is the evil thereof". It is true but that good book never takes a one sided view of anything for we read in it also, that "a wise man, foreseeth the evil, & hideth himself, & the fool passeth on & is punished{quote all underlined}". Talk of slavery those mad-caps at the North don't understand the thing at all. We hold the negroes & they hold us. They are at the head of the ladder. They furnish the yoke & we the necks. My own is getting sore, it is the same with those of my neighbors, in Church & State. We think it safe to avail of the sensibility still left. There is such a thing as induration. We are afraid of it. But besides we are afraid of the Northern domination in our schools & pulpits at the South, -"these northern men with Southern principles." We are afraid of this influence of northern Seminaries, & Colleges on the minds of Southern youth. We revolt at the humiliation

to which the impotence of our position & resources subject us now, & still more at the deeper humiliation {insert symbol} into which we see it in the power of contingencies, at hand, to plunge us. And in short we see no way in which relief is to be had, but{underlined} by{underlined} rising{underlined} right{underlined} up{underlined} &{underlined} meeting{underlined} the{underlined} emergency.{underlined} We must shake off our lethargy, awake to the actual posture of affairs, & ourselves set about providing for our own wants. This is a first duty supposing no such feeling as that existing at the north had being. How much more in the face of that feeling.

I see what you say as to the influence of Theological Seminary & {illegible} {illegible}. All that is very well. But to kick against them is to kick against the public. The decree has gone forth -- they are inaugurations -- {insert symbol}they are enthroned -- they reign. They are carriages of the mind & heart of the age. They are necessities which its sense of

[Aug. 20, 1856]

its wants have demanded & do demand, & will have. The thing then as to them, to be considered, is, will you have them imposed upon you by somebody else or will you organize & equip, control & use them for yourself & employ them, if need be, {insert symbol}in imposing what you think the truth of God upon the minds of others. We must either receive or make impressions. We have done our share of receiving. And the time has fully come when we should enter upon the work of making. Aggression, is of the very essence of our commission. Educational establishments, in all departments, are the universally recognized arsenals from whence available armour is to be drawn for that sort of campaigning. And a sorry plight shall we find ourselves in, presently, cut off

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from those from whence we have been accustomed to draw, with no alternative resources of our own. No, my dear Elliott, I see nothing left us, but to unite at once, & heartily, for the common defence. I note what you say of a University. In the first place I think you are mistaken in the strength of the Church, as such, in all three states. I think if properly approached, with a full & fair exposition of our actual condition, we should find churchmen -- they{underlined} surely{underlined} have{underlined} the{underlined} ability{underlined} -- willing to come up to such a work as is now indicated & to lay the foundations of such institutions of learning as are indispensible for our security, our protections, to say nothing of prosperity. But{underlined} they{underlined} must{underlined} be{underlined} made{underlined} to{underlined} see{underlined} the{underlined} whole{underlined} ground.{underlined} To expect {illegible: which? while?} we have only to will it. It can be easily shown. But, my