The Winchester home journal. [volume] (Winchester, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-12-12

cIrcult court did. Let US take it up ant
see low much Baptist is found there
The court granted the charter, as the re
cords show, upon the application OF F
L. Estill, M. w. Garner, Jesse Arledge
Joseph w. Carter, P. Turney and VIM. E
! Venable, neither of whom is nor ever wal
member of the Baptist church, Th'
word Baptist does not occur in that char
ter 1t incorporates the school by the
name of the Tennessee and Alabama Fe
male Institute, and the spirit Of the char
ter is that the school is established alone
Tor educational purposes. The seventh
section Of that charter is in tho words
following, to wit:
"SEcTroN 7. The said Trustees and
their successors in Office shall have full
power and authority to make all ordi.
nances and bylaws which to them shall
seem expedient for carrying into effect
the designs Of their institution; provided
al,DoyS, that such ordinances or by-l0,cs
shalt not make the religious tencts Of
any person a condition Of admission to
any pr'v'lege IN said MslitutMe-that
no President, Professor or other mem,
Der Of the .taculty, shaN be compelled,
By law or otherwise, to subscribe to a'ay
religious tenets 'uhatsoever; prorided,
also, that none Of the by.laus, as ntorc.
sud, shall be Inconsistent mith the con-
stitution and lars of The State, and with
those Of the United &atcs,"
This section, Mr.. Graves, looks very
much like all can see that this school, in
its inception and founding, was Baptist
school; does it not? Read it, if you
please, and then say who has been guilty
Of misrepresentaton--saywh who has been
guilty Of betrayal of solemn trust re.
posed in them-say, too, who has been
recreant to duty and to honor-say fur.
ther, sir, who has attempted TO secure
and perpetuate the past and the present
character Of the school who is it that
has been trying 10 preserve in its purity
the obje of the founders Of the school?
We say founders. You would say (oun.
der, we guess, as the letter is the most
useful and important one in your beauti.
full article, from the reading Of which one
would think J. R. Graves was the atlas
upon whose shoulders the institution
from its inception to this hour, rested.
But to get back to the position 'ho, the
school was always Baptist school we
will ask how that position is to be recon.
cled with that part Of the section Of the
first charter which provides that religious
tenets are not to be made q condition Of
admission to any privilege in said Insti.
tule? How does this provision agree
with the proposed provision, that two.
thirds of the Trustees Shall be members
Of some Baptist church? How does the
proposed provision, that the President
shall be a member of the Baptist church,
agree with the provision of the old char
ter, that no President, Professor, or other
member Of the faculty, shall be COMPEL,
ed by law or otherwise to subscribe to any
religious tenets whatever! How do any
of the proposed provisions agree with
that old charter in its provision that none
of the bylaws shall be inconsistent with
the constitution and laws of the State or
the United States, when those constitu-
tons and laws provide that religious
opinions shall not be made a test, &c.?
Mr.. Graves, in these things you have
missed your mark, and mistaken the peo
pie to whom you write. You have relied
too much upon their ignorance, and will
see your error when it is too late. Mr..
Graves says that we either do not under.
stand the character and history OF the
College, or we have a sinister motive for
our course-that he has hitherto regarded
US as heightened gentlemen and men of
honor and integrity.
As to the latter remark, indulge US to
say that Mr.. Graves has at least one
mental resolution TO make as to US that
we do not have TO undergo as to him, for
we do not, nor have we for a long, long
time entertained the slightest thought
that he was either heightened or gen.
tleman Of honor and integrity. And it
has been our fortune to meet with but
few persons who harbored the least sus.
picion that he was either. As for our.
selves, our opinion has long been that