Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-07-20

HICKORY GRSVa, Franklin 90 Teun. /
Jnlv Is 1883.
E g. EASTMAN, ESQ 4:

Dear Sir "A more mature acquaintance with
yourself, than with tho other gentlemen connected
with you, influences me to address to you, remOn-
strance in reference to brief article in the UuOE
/ & AMEzIeAH Of the llth inst, very disparsging to
sewanee as The site Of the Unlvsrsity Of the South,
IS well to the enterprise generally and involving
the character of the gentlemen most active in Origi
mating and establishing it.
The article opens with an extract from the Nc
Minnville Rsu0 Era, which after announcing the con
frmation Of seWanee as the site Of the University,
remarks Thus hare The Bishops dstsrmsnsd to re-
tain the site for University Ohieh, II erected OH Be
psiasa at By future generations folly Of the nine
tenth esntary."
The article in question, proceeds to apologize, in
sOrffOr the folly of the selection, by remark
upon the indecorous agency Of the friends Of eve
~ little town and neighborhOOd within 8 circle Of
/ two hundred mies,-so that the Bishops, finding it
impossible to please all in locating it next every
mans door, wisely located nO.wheFe-that is, Sc
nee" Living within three or four miles Of Sewa-
nee, and having some acquaintance with the history
Of this enterprise from its inception, the injustice
of the foregoing remarks, Is most glaring-snd so
PARASITIC participation Of the UNIoS& AKERIgAS goes
astonishing and grieyOus.
Allow me, however, to say, that I trust the ignor-
ance in the premises, Of him who penned it, is at
once his condemnation, and his best defence.
! The gentlemen who conceived, and who have IN
derlaken the accomplishment Of this ennObling en-
terprise, appointed committee, most capable and
dligent, to select location This committee, after
careful consideration, determined that certain fes-
lures are requisite to make q site eligible.
lst. That the point mast be sufficiently elevated
to be above the line of prevalence of Intermittent
fevers, and other malarious affections. "a That
water must be abundant and of the most desirable
quality. 3D. That the security of large body Of
lend must be practicable, SO that the Jurisdiction Of
the University may extend far enough to keep of
every possible nuisance, which would iniure the
pupils-and that the University may, upon eligi-
be terms offer to it's friends and patrons, especially
those who live far South, sites forsummer dwellings
near their sons. 4th. That it must be conven-
iently accessible by railwayor other public facility
9th. That it must be conveniently near to scope
of country yielding abundance Of all necessary
provision; and 5th. That timber and other building
material must be abundant and near.
With these landmarks to guide, land the wisdom
of their selection know you will commend, they
went out in search Of the point where these advan
tages are most happily combined
Ben Lomoud, near McMinnville, was one of the
points whose claims we're earliest presented, and
must say, most iHdustriOusly enforced Lookout
Mountain, Huntsville and a variety Of other points
we're suggested.
The Committee Of Location proceeded, with the
aid of scientific gentlemen to examine these points
I Z
all know beautiful points, we're found to be too diff
fout of access and too sanity supplied with water,
and Huntsville, though having many delightful fsa
lures to commend it, is yet not sufficiently elevated
Atlanta, and various other points we're suggested,
but the objections to Lookout and Ben Lomond, on
the one hand, or to Huntsville on the other, were
found to lie with like force against them all.
gentleman, with whose residence in our county
we have never been honored, but who is most admi-
rably filed by nature cultivation and position to
give sound advice in the premises suggested to the
Committee Of Location SeWsnee as the best watered
point on the whole Cumberland plateau on the
Sewanee Mining Companys Railroad, and only
seven miles distant, by railway, to CoWaD, on the
! Nashville aud Chattanooga Railroad. WhereupOn
! the Committee came to examine sewanee, and found
| it to combine just the advantages they desired.
This as Uerily believe, IS a statement, and
full statement of what was done, in the outset to
favor the pretensiOns of sewanee. And the charge
Of indeooro1sy pressing her claims upon the atten
ton of the Bishops upon any one else, is grossly
untrue and unjust Nor did a man, from Franklin
county, attend upon the convention held at Mont
gomery, Ala, last November, to urge the claims of
Sewanee. Not such, am panied to say, was the
example US by of the friends Of Ben LOmOnd
By means of a bogus petition and other unfair
representations, they entrapped representative
in the last Legislature into proposing, early in the
session, bill for the relief of sufferers by milk
sickness, and Immediately upon the printing of the
bill, they dispatched copies to Montgomery, TO be
used before the Convention by their agents. as the
most damning proof against Sewanee.
These agents went before the Convention to testi-
fly to the most distressing prevalence of mlksick-
ness in our midst. But fortune sometimes favors
the innocent, to the confusion of those who would
injure them. And those gentlemen were unWarily
led to testify to the entire credibility and compe-
tence of two gentlemen in our vicinity, from whom
member of the Convention produced letters, sol
EMMY declaring sewanes and the country around,
eminently healthful.
After the decision Of the Convention at Mont
gomery, in favor of seWanee, it was again assaed,
through the public prints, by friend of Ben LO-
mond, styling himself warren; and the most
unfounded and injurious statements made in rela-
ton to its being infested with milksickness and
other maladies.
The people of Franklin county met publicly, and
fully refuted these charges.
And nor, that the Convention ct Beersheba have
sOlemnly ratified the decision made at Montgomery,
that they have accepted the charter granted them
at the last session of cur State Legislature, that
this greatest and most benign Of modern enterprises
has, guided by Providence, through the cOunsels Of
wise and righteous men, chosen her abode in our
own State, amidst the healthinspring influences of
our mountain climate: now, that opposition cannot
benefit MMinrville, am totally unable to divine
a Oor6y, or even q reasonable motive for the malig>
nant attacks of the 'MMinnville NsSC Era upon
this University and its founders.
The people of Franklin county, together with the
Sewanee Mining Company, have secured to the
University nine thousand acres of land
By means of the sewanee Railroad, the Nashville |
and Chattanooga road, the Huntsville and Win |
chester road, and the Tennessee and Alabama road,
tba wboIa Of the greaf limestoDs basin of Middle